Queen of the Lost and Forgotten

[Shadowcub]

Hoping for more, also hoping that the PRT and wards don't factor into this much. Even tho they'd try to get her on charges for the school, or useless publicity.

 

[MrStarbuck]

I awoke feeling rested and content. Dad and I had arrived at the PRT HQ late enough as it was and with the meeting with Deputy Director Renick I was given a check up well after what should have been my bedtime. The check up ran much longer than expected because the doctor kept finding odd things that didn't seem right. I knew something was off when the doctor was checking my pulse and she kept asking questions like if I was light headed or seeing spots. She explained later that my heart rate was in the mid forties per minute, something that was very low and should be double that. Also a human girl of my age and height should weigh 130, or 140-ish; I weighed 85 pounds.

The doctor wasn't the only one to learn something, as I had learned that iron and steel were something that I, as a fae should avoid. I had already known that iron and fairies didn't mix, but actually experiencing it was a bit different. Honestly it was better then it should have been, my reaction to iron was much lessened than what other fae might experience when coming into contact with the metal. When I touched iron with my bare skin my stomach gave a very unpleasant flip accompanied by a wave of nausea. It was actually a minor reaction compared to what many fae experienced, however I did refuse when the doctor wanted to use a steel needle for a blood test. That had annoyed the doctor, but he had relented stating that if I didn't give a blood sample that I would have to stay for at least 24 hours for observation.

Rubbing at my face I looked around the little hospital-like room that the PRT had allowed me to use. It was very utilitarian, no furniture except for a few folding chairs and a closet like bathroom. Getting up, I glanced at the clock and stopped. The little hand was pointing almost directly at four and the big hand was right behind the one. I certainly felt rested but I didn't think that I would have slept in till four in the afternoon. Looking out I saw the sky was dark and when I turned on the tv in the corner of my room and I flicked it on to some news program, and I was surprised to see a 4:05 AM displayed in the bottom corner.

Then I remembered that I wasn't human anymore, and my sleeping habits reflected the oddity that was fae. If I desired to, I could sleep an entire week away, but I didn't need that much sleep. I had less than 3 hours of sleep and I felt completely rested, and I didn't really feel like curling back up in bed. So I was well rested and needed to decide on what to do with several hours of free time.

I resisted the desire to simply stare at myself in the mirror for several hours. While it would certainly be a pleasant activity it wouldn't be productive. I now had some time where I was being questioned or watched, and I felt that I should use that time to plan, and think. Sadly, thinking clearly was more of a task than it had been before. While the former Queen of Fae had succeeded in merging the two of us together I don't think she did it as she had intended.. It was odd trying to puzzle out the thoughts and intentions of a former part of yourself, but I didn't really feel like Titania. Also while much of her memories were foggy I knew that she was selfish enough that I didn't think she would have wanted to have sacrificed so much of herself. I was most certainly thinking more like Taylor instead of thinking like Titania. Hindsight being more accurate, I think that Titania had wanted more of herself to have been transferred, and something had gone wrong. To be fair the former Fairy Queen had been very weak when she had attempted her rather desperate last resort.

I couldn't be too hard on her, or myself; we had accomplished the primary objective, and I would need to ensure that magic stayed strong. The easiest way of doing that would be to bring magic back into the limelight. If I could get the world to really start to accept the existence of magic we could cement its place in the hearts of humans.

There was also the thing that Titania had discovered about Scion. As soon as the former me had identified Scion as a magicless alien she had hated him, and I was of two minds on the subject. There was definitely something odd about super powers in general, and many would argue that the world would have been better without them. However, he spent all day, every day rescuing people from disasters and kittens from trees, how could that be bad?

I pondered my contradicting thoughts, and if it was only former Titania's contempt for Scion that kept me thinking. I knew that Scion had a direct connection to the source of powers and I would have been a cape if Titania hadn't hijacked the queen power I would have had.

It all brought into question what were the purpose of powers? Was he trying to share them for the betterment of the world? Was it a mistake and he was going around trying to lessen the impact of his errors? If powers came from Scion did it mean that he bore some responsibility for their use? While heroes tried to use their strength for good, the majority of capes used their power for selfish reasons; and then there was whatever the Endbringers were.

I pondered what I should do with the little information that I had when a thought occurred to me. "One may smile, and smile, and be a villain." I muttered to myself. Just because he went around performing good deeds didn't mean that he himself was good. There was also the way he performed his acts of virtue as though saving a kitten was the same as saving a child. Did he even have the state of mind that could comprehend good? There were too many questions that I couldn't give Scion the benefit of the doubt. I would need to find out more about Scion and why he was on earth.

Before I could even begin with that I needed to refresh my grasp on magic. I think one of the reasons why former Titania's ritual had gone awry was because magic had changed since she had last used it. Magic wasn't static and even though it had been weakened, it had still been altered as the world changed.

The relationship between how magic, life, and cohesive thought was a complicated subject. Magic couldn't directly affect or control something that was inherently more important than itself; life and a focused mind being two of the rare things that trumped magic. However, each of those three were connected and altered each other in subtle ways.

The world had changed dramatically, and there wasn't as much importance seen in something like the heart of an eagle collected during a full moon. With my odd dual perspective I could feel the small ebbs and flows of magic and how it had changed. Knowing this, I would need to devise a new way of performing magic. It wouldn't be easy but I had thousands of years of knowledge to help me sort it out. Sure, Titania's knowledge was out of date, but I didn't think I could get a better foundation to build off of.

Sadly, I ran into the problem of knowing how to do something, being different from actually doing it. I spent an hour trying to feel out how best to manipulate magic and the best I was able to do was make a faint green light in the middle of my palm. It didn't help that the room I was in was basically so bland that it almost was an anti-magic room. Since I wasn't getting anywhere fast I decided to think over everything that Titania knew about magic; perhaps, if I refreshed the basics I would get a better idea of where to start.

However, thinking of everything old Titania knew about magic might be one of the reasons why magic wasn't working for me. Manipulating magic is a very personal thing and because of it's chaotic nature it doesn't respond the same way for each person. I was enough of a different person from old Titania that it would explain why her techniques weren't working for me. There was also the problem that my modern education combined with Titania's knowledge of lore caused me to view magic history differently. I felt pulled between modern science and myth and my rationalization of magic was different from old Titania. She despaired, convinced that magic was dying, but I knew that magic had to be hardier than she had thought. To be fair, from her point of view it might as well have been dying, since it had weakened to the point that she couldn't sustain herself. However, magic itself couldn't die, and even faded as it had been; it wouldn't spell the END taking everything else with it like she had feared.

Simply put, magic is weird. In most cases, the weirder something is the more magical it is, or at least the more magical potential it has. Before time was time, magic was the spark of chaos that caused the bland boring nothing to explode, I imagine that it had to have been a very magical event because it's very odd for nothing to suddenly explode. Afterwards magic probably busied itself causing clouds of boring gas to explode staying in the background until life showed up. As a semi related fact magic's forte for explosions might also explain mankind's fascination with combustion.

Humans being what they are, are very weird creatures, at least in comparison to the vast majority of instinct driven animals. Therefore humans are quite magical, and early humans helped to really kick start magic into gear. It was human's fear and dreams of what went bump in the night that actually made there be something that caused the bump. Of course those early humans didn't know what they were doing, but it was their dreams, fears and beliefs that were making the earth weirder and even more magical. Magic shaped humans and humans bent magic, changing the ways magic affected things on earth.

Things born straight from magic and dreams popped up; primordials, dragons, unicorns, krakens, etcetera. Then of course some very odd humans decided to get a bit too involved with some of these new magical creatures and created new mixed magical beings. Races of Merfolk, Centaurs, Minotaurs, came into existence, and lore and history once were one and the same. Eventually after enough human chaos and magical shenanigans the fae showed up.

For thousands of years, magic was common. Its powerful presence allowed the gods to shape early human society that eventually built the cornerstones of modern culture. Eventually there was a major shift in culture and most things that were magic became reviled and viewed as something to despise.

Humans have a particular talent that they excel at beyond any other being on Earth, once they put their minds to it they are excellent at killing. Not just killing but wiping something out entirely, extending to even the memory and history of that thing. With the altered culture and destruction of magical things humans again caused a major shift in magic, causing it to lose much of its punch like old Titania lamented.

Now with the paradoxically odd, but non magic superpowers popping up it gave old Titania the first domino to push over to cause a chain reaction so magic could make it's comeback. I just needed to ensure that magic didn't fade away again, and luckily conditions were right to help me. Society loved the strangeness of para-humans, some of them even saying their powers were magic. The world was ready for its chance to become more magical, I just needed to figure out how I was going to use my own magic.

A knock on my door pulled me away from my rather unfruitful attempt of trying to brute force my way into controlling my magic. "Come in." I called, grateful for the distraction.

"Hey kiddo." My dad said as he stepped into the room. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good, kinda bored." I shrugged.

"Oh well, that's too bad. Nothing on TV?" He jerked his head at the TV hanging in the corner.

"Not sure, haven't looked. I've been trying to get a handle on my magic."

"Uh, are you sure you should be trying to experiment with your powers?" My dad said his voice was uncertain, and his body language indicated his unease. "Maybe you should wait till that power testing they mentioned."

"I'm not doing anything big, not doing much of anything to be honest. I'm not having much luck." I answered with a bit of annoyance.

"Alright, I just want you to be safe." He muttered, and there was something off, he was acting stand-offish.

"Dad what's wrong?" I asked reaching out to grab his hand so that I could get a better feel for his emotions.

"Oh it's-" I could feel the fear and uncertainty running through him.

"No dad!" I cut him off squeezing his hand firmly. "Please talk to me."

"God, Taylor." He sighed running a hand through his thinning hair, and walking to a pair of folding chairs to sit down. "There is so much that I don't know what to do right now. Last night I was so worried about you, and then you came back changed but safe. Then there was what you told Miss Militia, about what's been going on at school. It's all just- then there's what they told me about lone cape statistics."

"Wait, slow down." I said leaning in and hugging him, hoping to prevent any emotional breakdown I felt building in him. He was such a mix of emotions; anger, fear, worry, sadness.

"Taylor, I-" He started and I cut him off again.

"Shhh." I hushed him squeezing harder. "It's okay, calm down, you're too tense."

I waited, feeling his boiling emotions slowly calm, before he really wrapped his arms around me and returned my hug. Eventually his turbulent emotions calmed until only a deep well of sadness remained. "I'm so sorry Taylor, this mess is all my fault."

My dad's emotions were causing mine to simmer, but I could feel that my dad needed something to channel his emotions into something productive. So channeling a bit more fae queen I bundled up my emotions. "What a silly thing to say. Did you hire Emma to bully me since the beginning of high school?"

"What no!-"

"Then you must somehow be a cape with the power to make me foolish." I interjected. "Otherwise I would have been sensible enough to tell you that the staff at Winslow were incompetent."

"I don't have any po-."

"Then how could this possibly be all your fault?" I said leaning back to smile at my dad, and I was glad to see that his face looked more bewildered than depressed.

It took a few moments for him to answer as another wave of sadness washed through him. "I should have done better, ever since your mother..." He trailed off, not saying what we both understood.

"I miss her too." I nodded, feeling the depression still pulling at him.

"It's been so hard without her." He muttered, pulling me back into a tight squeeze.

An idea popped into my head that sort of sickened a part of me but I couldn't dismiss it outright, It was such a fae idea. "Dad what if I could help take some of the pain away?"

"What?" He asked, turning to me, but I kept my head resting on his shoulder.

"I want to make a deal with you." I answered, unsure if I really wanted to do what I was planning. Old Taylor wouldn't have done it, but I wasn't old Taylor anymore, just like I wasn't old Titania. "I can take away some of the pain from losing mom, and in return you will work with me with the situation we've gotten into. You'll have to focus and help get the most desirable conclusion from the situation with the PRT."

"Is this part of your powers? You can do that?"

"Yes, do you want to make that deal?" I answered feeling a bit sick that I was pushing a fae agreement on my father. It was such a one sided agreement, old Titania would have been proud.

"I'm not sure we should be using your powers, and-"

"Don't you want to help me?" I asked hating myself even more, as I felt some of his resistance weakened.

"Yes, of course." He took a moment, as though he was battling with his indecisiveness. Eventually he sighed and asked. "How does it work?"

"Just accept the deal." I answered, pulling back and looking into his eyes.

"Will it hurt?"

"No, it won't hurt." Physically. I thought to myself. "I promise."

He looked into my eyes as I showed him my own mix of concern. "Then I accept."

I reached up and pulled my dad's head down, pressing my lips to his forehead, sealing the deal with a kiss. I now understood how old Titania viewed mortals as so often foolish. The deal I had just sealed with my dad had given me a blank check as long as I took away the pain of losing mom. If I wanted to, I could have taken away all of the love he felt for mom, then losing her wouldn't hurt; It would also ruin him.

I wouldn't do that to him, so I focused and followed what came naturally to me now that I was a fae. I was bound to the agreement just as much as he was and I let that pull me towards the pain he felt from losing mom. I found a massive ball of grief in his past that colored everything afterwards, and I started to prune. Using old Titania's centuries of experience as well as my new instincts I took dozens of memories of him waking up where the other side of the bed was cold and empty. I took times where he drank himself to sleep, because then it didn't hurt spending another evening alone.

I then found the blackest mess of pain and looked into that. The worst was after he insisted on seeing mom's body, her arm badly mangled, chest misshapen, purplish-blue and yellow splotches across much of what he could see. I wanted to take that, but I felt that it was too important and that he needed that memory to accept her death. Now I just needed to soothe the jagged edges of her loss and found some-whens and wheres that I could take some pain.

I hadn't known that while I was away at summer camp dad went through all of mom's stuff, sorting what to give away, what to keep, and what he wanted me to have when I was older. It was so sad as he went through all of her stuff digging himself into depression as he went through each item and tainted the good memories of mom with sadness. I took all of those memories, there was so much grief that he had piled onto himself then. He didn't need the fresher and easier to remember memories overshadowing all the older pleasant memories of his time with mom.

I pulled away finishing my part of the deal, those tainted memories were now mine. I received my own understanding why most fae preferred happier memories, as best as I could describe it my dad's memories tasted brownish purple; which is to say they tasted awful. It wasn't completely gross there were some brighter emotions such as love and fondness tied to the melancholy that it gave the memories a mild aftertaste. While the sadness and grief were unpleasant, that didn't mean that I didn't benefit from having them. The memories had changed how he had lived two years of his life, and therefore were important and very magical, a sort of essence that I could keep stored for when I needed more strength.

As I pulled my mind away I was filled with a wave of sadness and disgust. What I had done might help my dad, and just like I had promised I hadn't hurt him physically; still I had damaged him. My dad was lessened, I took a part of him away, and I couldn't hold my guilt in. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I wailed burying my face back into my dad's shoulder.

"Taylor, what?"

"I'm sorry!"

"It worked didn't it?" He breathed in rubbing at my back to comfort me, but only succeeded in making me feel even worse. He didn't know, couldn't even feel the missing part of him because it was so thoroughly gone. "I think it worked, I sort of feel- uh, lighter?"

"That's because there's less of you now." I moaned, tears leaking from my eyes wetting his shoulder.

"Less of me?" He asked, confusion still evident in his tone. "I feel fine, maybe you can help me understand."

"I took some of the memories of grief and pain from you." I hiccupped.

"Wait, is that why you are crying?" My dad asked, still rubbing my back. I could feel that he didn't really understand what I had meant, but his concern for me occupied his thoughts. "Honey I didn't want that, I came in here nearly a mess and now you are."

I sniffled trying to calm myself. "I didn't really know what you were going through. I had Emma for right afterwards, and then I was at camp. It still hurt but at least I was distracted. It was easy not remembering the pain when I was on a canoe. You didn't have anyone, I wasn't there, I'm sorry."

"Oh, my Little Owl." He sighed, giving me a firm squeeze. "I don't know what you could have done to help back then. But you have helped now, it's a bit odd but- the way I feel now, it's better than what I was feeling just this morning."

I pulled away, glancing at the wet spot that I had made on my dad's shoulder, and rubbed at my eyes. "Are you sure you feel alright."

"Yes, I feel fine, it didn't hurt." He said smiling at me.

"Just like I promised, and now my part of the deal is finished." I said, pulling away from his arms as I tried to sort myself out.

"Well then I guess I better do my part then." He nodded.

"You'd better, it's very bad to break a deal with a fae." I stated, trying my best to lightheartedly enforce the severity of the contract.

"Taylor I'm not sure." He paused as though uncertain how to continue. "I just- I was talking with one of the agents and they said it wasn't uncommon for new capes to have some sort of coping mechanism. I just want what is best for you, and they suggested that you have some sessions with a psychologist. They keep them on staff because hero work can be stressful, if you wanted to they offered free of charge."

"I don't think I would mind." I muttered but I doubted that I would put any effort into their treatment. "However, I doubt it would do any good since I am a fairy now. They aren't going to convince me otherwise."

He looked uncomfortable, not looking me in the eye. "Why do you think that you're a fairy and not a cape that had an odd trigger?"

"Because I made a deal that would change me and now I'm not really human anymore." I mumbled slightly, it was oddly embarrassing and unnerving to say those words out loud. I could tell that he was a bit unnerved too and that he would require a bit more convincing. "What would it take for you to believe that I'm now fae."

"I don't know Taylor." He muttered scratching at his head. "It's not like you have wings."

"Yes I do." I stated plainly, earning myself a surprised look from him. Standing up, I walked to where I had a bit more space. "Watch."

One of the reasons I expected that I weighed much less than I should have is because when I was in the normal world, not all of me was entirely there. Fae always had part of themselves in the Faewylds. I just needed to gather some of the parts of me that were on the other side, which because of the nature of the Faewyld bits of me were scattered everywhere. It was very odd when I thought about it, but weird was just part and parcel when dealing with fairies. So I called the parts I wanted together and with a small bit of will brought them over. They appeared with a faint shimmer that could have been a trick of the light, slowly fading in till they were all there.

I didn't realize my mistake until it was too late, my wings were so beautiful. They were a lovely light green color that had a mesmerizing translucent shimmer. Obsidian black veins separated each perfectly formed section, with silver spots around the margins that completed everything. They were just the right size, not too big to get in the way as their wingspan was smaller than my outstretched arms. However, they were large enough to draw attention to me, perfectly framing my body.

"Taylor." Someone called, whoever it was wasn't important, I was much too busy. I reached out to them wanting to know if they were as pleasant to touch as they were to look at. However, just before I connected they fluttered languishly, taking too long to come back to where I could reach.

"Taylor!" Someone yelled, and there was something shaking my shoulder. I was pulled from my examination, and looked in front of me to see my dad. It was a struggle to keep my mind focused and away from the desire to go back to looking at my wings.

"Sorry!" I groaned, closing my eyes tightly to better resist the temptation.

"Are you alright, you kinda spaced out there." He said in a slightly incredulous tone.

"Yes I'm fine, just a bit embarrassed." I grumbled. "I'm still getting used to being a fairy."

"Well, you have me convinced now." He chuckled. "Is there a reason you are keeping your eyes shut so tight?"

"Fae are known for their appreciation of beautiful things, as well as their vanity." I answered. "However, for me right now, I feel what's almost an addiction to stare at beautiful things, and what better thing to look at than my own beautiful self."

"Wow!" My dad exclaimed. "Thats- this is a very odd situation, I almost want to laugh, but it seems a bit too serious for that; almost sad."

"I would prefer if you didn't cry." I shrugged, opening my eyes as I released my wings to fade back to the other-side. "After all you've made a deal with the Queen of Faerie to help her."

"I guess I did." He laughed ironically. "Can I still call you Taylor, your majesty?"

"I magnanimously accept your request." I snootily replied in a sarcastic British accent.

He laughed, I laughed, It wasn't even that funny but it was nice. Much of the tension and stress that had between us when he had first entered the room had faded. We couldn't erase the situation that we were both in and it was so surreal to be comical. It took us a minute to calm down, as we had built off each other laughing because the other was laughing.

"Oh wow." My dad chuckled.

"Yeah-- we're doomed aren't we?"

"Uhhh!" He groaned with a smile. "No, besides it is looking up, I came in here worrying that my daughter might have gone a bit crazy. I don't think I have to worry about that, instead I think I'm the one that's cracked."

"Well, to put it bluntly, that usually helps when dealing with fae."

"Good to know." He shook his head, rubbing at his face before straightening with a smile. "So I came in here to talk before I had a near breakdown, there's a lot to talk about. Good news or bad news first?"

"Um, might as well rip the band-aid off quickly."

"Right, so despite the PRT's efforts your identity has been made public. Too many students were spreading correct enough rumors and mentioning it online. A few websites picked it up, and a stupid cable news station blabbed."

"Oh, well I guess that's not too bad, I was already going to have enough trouble from just my ears." I said, not minding that my identity was out there. Most capes wanted to have a secret identity for a large variety of reasons. I didn't want to mask up, and it wasn't just because it would cover some of my beautiful face. I needed to become important, cementing myself in the minds of people around the world. My goal was to plant the idea of magic and fairies back into the collective minds of humanity, so me being public wasn't terrible news.

"We could have sorted something out for your ears, it's just going to make our lives a bit more complicated. Good news though is the PRT's good at damage control. There isn't going to be trouble we will have to deal with from wrecking the school, meaning no criminal or civil cases against us. They're planning to put all the blame where it belongs, the school administration."

"Was that something we needed to worry about, and what about the bullies?" I asked.

"I guess people have tried to sue after trigger events before, civil cases can easily get into the grey zone of law depending on a few details. Since you didn't do anything wrong they've assured me that they are taking care of it. As far as the bullies, they didn't say much. I guess because they are minors their names aren't being made public, but they won't get away with what they did. The PRT takes trigger events very seriously, and there are some unique criminal charges if you are directly responsible for causing a trigger in someone else. Makes sense, they don't want people going around and basically torturing people into gaining powers."

"Oh alright." I muttered, I didn't know how I felt about my tormentors receiving justice. I had been hoping for this for years, but now I felt slightly cheated. I had a very large desire to deal with them myself, not just have the justice system arbitrate their punishment. I felt they owed me, and fae weren't ones to forget a debt.

"Anyway, if it's alright with you, they want to keep you in here for today. They mentioned something about potentially dangerous power interactions, and just being cautious. If you want I can stay with you, but-" He trailed off.

"But you have much more important things than keeping me company, and they need to be done." I finished for him. "You have your end of the deal to complete after all."

"Yeah." He nodded with a reluctant smile. "I've got to find a lawyer, and make sure the Union can run without me for a few days. I shouldn't be gone too long, Is there anything I can get for you?"

"I could use some more clothes." I admitted, tugging at the ruffled green dress that I had slept in having refused to wear the papery hospital gown they had provided.

"With the changes you've gone through you might need an entirely new wardrobe." He sighed, and I found myself rather enjoying the idea of new clothes. I would have to see if I could get more dresses as they were so enjoyably eye catching.

"Oh and if I'm going to be stuck in here could you get me a notepad, I would like to make some notes to keep track of magic stuff."

"Alright, my Little Owl." My dad said stepping in and giving me a quick hug. "Stay here, be good and don't turn anyone into a rabbit or something, and I'll be back soon."

"Why would I turn someone into a rabbit?" I asked while at the same time thinking of what I would need to do just that.

"I don't know, it just seems like something fae would do." He grunted while walking to the door before turning around. "I love you."

"I love you too dad." I replied, and he opened the door and left.


Not long after my dad left a nurse looking woman came in with food and to check if I was alright and inquired if I had everything I needed. It was a bit embarrassing to request a bra that properly fit, but she was very professional and returned with a sports bra that fit my new needs. The food was a very standard bacon and eggs with a slice of toast, I wasn't very hungry but I ate nonetheless and was very glad that they had given me plastic silverware.

It was a very long morning of doing almost nothing. My dad came back with a notepad and a set of clothes that included a comfortable hoodie and a pair of jeans that had been baggy on me before but now squeezed at my hips. He didn't stay long because he had to go finalize things with a lawyer that specialized in para-human law.

Beside that, I spent the rest of my morning jotting down ideas for some magical foci. There were the classics that I could try like a staff or wand, but I knew something like that would have to come from an odd or important source. I would need a rare wood or a tree that grew in an important location. I had once heard that there were several hundred trees that had been grown from seeds that had orbited the moon during the early lunar landings, those could easily fit the bill.

It was only at about 3:30 as I was making some notes about brushing up on my astronomy since Titania's knowledge was quite out of date, that I heard something that distracted me. A distant whispering coming from the hall made me put my pencil down and listen.

"Remember try not to stare, she's very pretty, so much so that it's still thought to be a minor master effect." The faint but familiar tones of Miss Militia made my ears perk. "I spent last night and most of the morning in M/S containment just to be certain. However, if it is a master effect it seems to be a localized and temporary affect."

"I go to school with Glory Girl so I think I'll be alright." A pleasant voice said in a smooth baritone.

The pair of footsteps eventually made it to my door and there was a gentle rapping. "Come in." I called, and in stepped Miss Militia as well as a red clad young man I recognized from TV as Aegis.

"Good day Miss Hebert. How are you feeling?" The patriotic cape greeted.

"I'm fine, a little bored, but at least being stuck here has been relaxing." I shrugged.

"Sometimes boring can be good, especially when things have been chaotic lately." She smiled with only her eyes. "Let me introduce Aegis, if you didn't know he's the leader of the Wards team here in Brockton Bay."

"It's nice to meet you Aegis." I said as I examined the older boy, he was tall with an impressive musculature that his costume couldn't conceal. Looking at the only part of his mask that didn't cover his face, I was quite pleased that Aegis wasn't doing a good job at not starring. I couldn't help the coy smirk that appeared on my lips, although I did resist fluttering my eyes.

"Uh- yeah, um it's nice to meet you too." He recovered clumsily, as he went into a stiff military-like stance, his eyes fixing at a point above my head, as he offered a hand out to me. "I heard that you were considering joining the Wards, and it would be uh- a- we would love to have you on the team."

I stepped forward, and gently took his outstretched hand in both of mine. "It's nice to meet you too Aegis, you're much more impressive in person than videos of you would suggest." I sent him a dazzling smile when his eyes shot down to look into mine.

"Uhh, thanks?" His response lilted into a question, and a thrill shot through me as it seems I had vexed him.

"So what brings you two here?" I asked stepping back from the young man in red, I could always tease him later.

"We're here to check if you wanted to begin on some of the power testing. We have the needed staff and supplies to get started on the basics, so it wouldn't be any trouble." Miss Militia began. "Testing can take quite a while, it really depends on the nuances involving powers. Getting some of the smaller things out of the way is boring, but it should be better than sitting in an empty room all day."

"Isn't this something that should be done after the Ward contract is worked out?" I asked uncertainly.

"Because of the situation as well as your outing we've been able to quickly work out the details with the lawyers. They should at the very least be able to get the groundwork started."

"I was hoping to be there during negotiations. If I'm not there there could be certain wording that might cause me problems later."

"You shouldn't need to be there, it's only the initial meeting anyway. I'm sure it would be boring anyway, besides you can check it out before anything is finalized." The older cape said, and I could practically smell the wariness coming off of her. If I had to guess, it seems like someone had done some basic research and found some of the many warnings about making deals with fae.

I pondered what to do for a moment, I didn't have to sign anything until I was happy with it. I just didn't want to have to send the lawyers back five times and waste my dad's money. I was also torn between seeing if modern technology could discover something I didn't know about myself and concealing my talents until they were needed.

"Alright I don't see any harm in starting the tests." I said making my decision, I could always back out if needed.

"Alright come with us." Miss Militia said turning to the door only to be stopped when Aegis spoke up.

"I want to tell her." He stated cryptically, and Miss Militia turned back looking between Aegis and me. "I feel like I'm at least partially responsible that she got away with what she did. It's the right thing to do, and you know it."

"The Director will be very unhappy about this." She sighed.

"I'll accept any consequences, but I want to be honest without the legal ass covering that Piggot is certain to do. We screwed up, and we should own it." Aegis said firmly.

I looked between the two listening intently as Miss Militia shrugged and gestured for Aegis to continue. "Hey Taylor, I need to tell you something and I want you to listen so that I can explain everything before you jump to any conclusions, please." He said, looking directly into my eyes, and since he asked so nicely, I could only nod.

"Sophia Hess, you obviously know her, well I know her too. She was a vigilante before she became the Ward Shadow Stalker." Aegis said slowly as though deciding what were the best words to use, Then he quickly continued as though he wanted to get his say before I did anything. "She was on probation and I didn't know what she was doing outside of the Wards and it should have been dealt with before now, and I'm sorry."

I was a bit shocked that Sophia was considered a hero, but with him mentioning vigilante on probation it implied that she wasn't on good terms with the other heroes. I decided that I wouldn't jump to conclusions like he asked, even though I could make a few jumps in logic that could paint a very ugly picture involving Sophia and the PRT's involvement with my torment.

"She joined the Wards because it was that or jail after she nearly killed someone during her time as a vigilante. It was hoped that she would settle down and become a member of the team, but as long as I've known Shadow Stalker she's always been a bit, well- It would be kind to call her a prickly individual who didn't want to open up, but in truth she's been a bitch." Aegis explained flatly, earning himself a reproachful look from the Protectorate member. "It was partially my responsibility as leader to keep her in line, but because of how she acted with us I didn't really care what she did as long as she didn't cause me trouble. She was the only member of the Wards that I didn't have an easy way of keeping an eye on outside of cape activities and I assumed that she wasn't doing anything that might tarnish the ideals of the Wards. I'm just- if it's worth anything I'm sorry, all capes know what it's like to go through a trigger and I wish I had done more to prevent yours."

"So she was a cape with a history of violence before she became a Ward and nobody checked on what she was doing at school?" I asked a bit tersely. "It's just a little hard to believe that a hero with a history of problems fell through the cracks that badly. It wasn't just me they targeted, Sophia has been a bully since she and I started high-school, and from my point of view the staff were actively covering it up."

Aegis looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I don't know the details, Sophia went to a different school than the rest of the Wards and I wouldn't have let her get away with stuff like that,but-."

"Because of the secrecy that capes need to establish between our real lives it limits how we can interact with each other out of costume." Miss Militia answered, explaining things for the faltering Aegis. "I can't go into Winslow in my costume and start demanding information about Sophia Hess, and I can't go in without a costume because I shouldn't have any business in the school. Besides, we have handlers that should be doing that but obviously didn't. I'm not saying that the Protectorate or the PRT didn't screw up but if we had known we wouldn't have allowed that. We feel that it's best to try and start off with a clean slate, and Aegis feels that telling you this without forcing you to sign an NDA is a good start."

"I just wanted to explain it properly because the way I see it Shadow Stalker is basically a traitor." Aegis said with some vitriol in his tone. "She's run off to do who knows what, I would expect that she didn't want to face the consequences of her actions."

"She ran off?" I asked.

"Yes." Miss Militia nodded. "Now listen, I don't want you to get any ideas of dealing with Shadow Stalker yourself. We know how to deal with her and we're not going to let her get away with what she did. The PRT is thoroughly investigating what was going on at Winslow, and we don't need you looking for revenge."

"I just want what's fair." I answered honestly, the scales were imbalanced and I felt a need to see them brought closer to even. "I just want to know a few more things so I can get a better picture of what's happened."

"Sure." Aegis agreed.

"I know Shadow Stalker has been a Ward for about a year, is that about how long she stopped being a vigilante?"

"A little longer, she would have already started at Winslow for several months before she got caught." Miss Militia answered. "She was getting increasingly violent with her form of justice. Most criminals won't stop if you leave them with a broken nose or a new scar, it only slows them down and many return more violent than before."

I nodded understanding the situation with Sophia a bit more. "Do you know of Emma Barns? She was my best friend before high-school and then one day Sophia becomes her new best friend and both of them begin their bullying."

Aegis looked at Miss Militia, the name obviously not ringing any bells for him. "I believe she was one of the character witnesses Shadow Stalker used to make herself look better so that she could even be considered to join the Wards. Shadow Stalker saved her and Mr. Barns from an ABB mugging or attempted kidnapping."

Now I was very curious. I knew that Emma was a traitor, but I didn't know why she had done what she had done. There was still a connection between us that I could faintly feel, and I needed to understand what had so drastically changed someone that had been all but a sister to me. It was just another thing I had to do.

"Thank you for being honest with me, I'm glad it sounds like you're determined to see justice done. However at the moment I would like to get out of this dull room." I nodded toward the door.

"Oh yeah, of course." Aegis said, stepping aside to let me pass. "It's always exciting to see new powers, especially if they aren't being pointed at you. Most powers are instinctive, do you know what you can do?"

"I don't think you will believe me but I'm the Queen of the Fairies." I sighed.

"Um, I'm not really sure what that means." Aegis confessed. "The only thing I really know about fairies is Peter Pan's Tinkerbell and whatever is with Glaistig Uaine."

"Well Tinkerbell would have been a sprite, or pixie, they're some of the weakest creatures of the fae. And Glaistig Uaine is a pretender, who obviously doesn't know what she's talking about!" I answered with a bit of heat in my voice. My apparent dislike for the false queen caused Miss Militia to glance over, but she kept her face passive while we walked toward a nearby elevator.

"So what are the powers of fairies, since you're The Queen I would guess you are the most powerful?" Aegis questioned, and I couldn't tell if he was placating me or not.

"Well I guess you could say that fae are creatures with an innate connection to nature and the universal rules that bind humans are a bit more flexible for us."

"Nature eh, so like what you did at Winslow?" He asked and I nodded. "But, what do you mean about rules that bind humans."

"Oh you know universal laws that we've all learned in school, time, gravity, Newton's laws of motion." I answered, and a part of me realized how remarkable that sounded. Even Miss Militia seemed a bit more interested as she watched me taking her time activating the elevator.

"Wait, you can break fundamental laws of the universe?!" Aegis gaped.

"Bend not break, very important difference." I said, while trying to think of a way to explain how gravity could be reasoned with that didn't sound insane.

How would one go about, bending the laws of physics?" Aegis asked skeptically.

"Um, carefully..." I said, the reservation obvious in my tone. "As long as you keep the concept the same it can be bent a little. Gravity is basically about things being pulled to each other. If you boil it down to the idea of what goes up, must come down, then I can fudge the when and how hard if I'm careful."

I got a bit of a bewildered look from Aegis and before I could awkwardly explain further the elevator doors opened. Miss Militia led us on a short walk into an impressive room that looked to be large enough to play basketball in but it had rubberized floors as well as padding on the walls and ceiling. There was a group of people mostly dressed in lab coats, but I quickly spotted my dad standing beside a man in a sharp business suit. The stranger beside my dad looked to be a very stereotypical lawyer complete with the gelled dark hair and briefcase.

As soon as I walked in the mix conversation died down as many heads turned towards me, and I was torn between wanting to curl into myself and standing taller. I wasn't used to having so many eyes on me, but at the same time there was a desire that I should be the center of attention.

The quiet didn't last long when a woman in a less formal button down shirt and beige pants stepped forward. "Miss Hebert, It's nice to meet you, I'm Rene Patterson, with Youth Guard." She said brightly.

"Um thanks, nice to meet you too." I greeted, a bit taken aback with her smile that seemed slightly artificial. Looking past her I studied the other people in the room. They had a mix of looks on their faces, some were a bit glassy eyed, or were looking at me as though I was a particularly interesting puzzle.

"How are you feeling?" My dad asked as he walked up and gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"I'm fine."

"That's good." He said before gesturing with his head to the lawyer looking guy. "I'm filling out my side of the deal."

"Good morning Miss Hebert, I'm Jacob Norris. I'm here to assist you and your father with any legal concerns. I specialize in parahuman law, and work regularly with Brandish." The upper twenty something looking lawyer introduced himself with a confident smile. "Your father has had dealings with our law firm before and he's secured my services. I'll be working with your father to see what your best option is going forward."

I sent my dad a bright smile, when he made a deal he didn't disappoint and it pleased me in a way that I couldn't really describe. "So you're going to negotiate a Ward contract that pleases both parties?"

"That is the initial plan, but your father was very specific and there are other options if becoming a Ward isn't for the best." He nodded, but his eyes tracked over to another man in a business suit that I assumed was the PRT's lawyer.

"I would like you to understand something before negotiations begin so that you aren't wasting time later." I disliked declaring my weakness in front of everyone, but eventually decided that old Titania had often worked around the restrictions of her nature and so could I. "Because of a peculiarity regarding my powers, I am entirely bound to any contract I make. So you will need to word things mindful of how it could be taken to the extremes."

"Bound how?" He asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Normally I can't break any deal or agreement, also I would likely be harmed if something forces me to break an agreement." I explained. "For example if I agreed to not break the law, I couldn't jay walk even if I wanted to save someone's life on the other side of the street."

"That sort of agreement seems impossible, especially when you consider tax law." He muttered, I hadn't even considered something as complex and full of contradictions like tax law. "So if I understand this correctly, what would happen if your contract said that you had to follow Armsmaster's orders while out on patrol?"

"Then while I would be patrolling I might as well be called Armsmaster's slave." I growled, the simple idea detesting me.

"That might make negotiations difficult." He said while rubbing a thumb across his clean shaven chin. I could practically see the wheels in his head turning as he tried to imagine the wording needed that didn't enslave me, as well as something the PRT would agree to.

"If you are ready, they would like to get started on baseline tests." Miss Militia said gesturing to the group in lab coats.

I looked over at my dad as he seemed to know more of what was going on since I had only just gotten out of my little medical observation room. "Yeah, I'll take care of it. I plan to mostly be with the lawyers but I might come by to watch some of your tests; we'll get this all sorted out."

I followed Miss Milita as she followed the people in lab coats into a sterile looking room with a plethora of medical equipment. The eggheads began moving to individual stations and one approached with what looked like a computer tablet in his hand.

"Hello I'm Doctor Ritter I'm the head researcher here at PRT ENE, If you could sit down right there." He said politely, pointing at what looked like a high tech dentist chair. "We're not going to ask you to activate or use any of your powers, we're only getting a baseline on your physical condition. However, I'm sure there will be plenty of questions and if there is anything you want to add please feel free."

I nodded as he walked over to a wall where he looked down at his tablet and the woman from the Youth Guard approached. "Miss Hebert, As your advocate, I want to remind you that if for any reason you are feeling uncomfortable with any test I want you to say so. Sometimes researchers can get too excited and forget that you aren't just a test subject. Is there anything you want to make clear before we start?"

"No needles." I said, sitting down in the medical chair and causing a person in a lab coat to glance over with a slightly disappointed look.

"Of course." She nodded before sending some pointed looks around. "After all this is all voluntary, you can quit whenever you want."

She seemed nice. Some of the Wards on PHO had mentioned the Youth Guard, often complaining about the organization being a wet blanket that kept them from getting any real world training. I would withhold any judgment for or against the Youth Guard until later.

"Miss Hebert, not to sound judgmental, but you haven't had any eating binges recently; have you?" Doctor Ritter asked from beside me as he intently studied the tablet in his hands.

"No." I shrugged, "While the food given to me yesterday wasn't particularly appetizing, I haven't been eating excessively."

"The chair you are in has some minor tinker-tech in it that helps us track your vitals. During the routine medical check you were given when you came in you were 90 pounds, and now the chair is saying you weigh 112.592 pounds. We calibrated the chair before you came in, do you have any ideas of the discrepancy?"

"Physics isn't always constant around me, I can change it a bit if I want to." I answered, and a stray thought that if I was going to weigh something it might as well be something simple for them to get their oh so important baseline. I didn't even feel that I had done anything but I saw his eyes shoot down to the tablet and back up to me.

"Oh, well then, you now weigh 100 pounds exactly." He groaned. "If that was intentional Miss Hebert, I ask you not to do that again, I fear that with your explanation of your powers we'll have a hard enough time getting any reliable data. That is something that is hard enough to acquire with most capes, let alone someone who can casually alter reality."

They began with what seemed to be another basic medical examination with a different doctor mentioning things that were jotted down by an assistant.

"Visible Inner ear looks normal, despite the changes in the shape of the outer ear." He reported after using an otoscope to look down my ear-canal. Then moving on to my eyes.

"Iris color seems to be outside of human norm. Iris' response to light seems to be faster." A woman doctor said passing the light in front of my eyes multiple times as I tried not to squint. Then she took some time looking down the scope, the light shining directly into my eye before she addressed me. "Have you noticed enhanced low light vision? Your retina is partially reflective, similar to a cat but less obvious."

"Not that I've noticed." I answered, and thought about the question. "Although last night I woke up early and didn't need to turn on the light to see things, the little light coming in from the windows was enough."

She hummed and nodded, and the basic medical test continued without any other obvious abnormalities. Then the entire chair I was sitting in moved slowly down towards another piece of medical equipment that I was quite familiar with. I had hoped that since my eyesight was perfect as the rest of my body I wouldn't need to have to sit in an optometrist chair. Luckily it didn't take long as they simply had me look in and read the several lines of numbers and letters.

"20/10 Vision." A woman in a lab coat said. "Much better eyesight than the human average but not unheard of even without super powers."

The next was a hearing test where they placed some ill fitting headphones over my pointed ears and had me push a button as quickly as I could whenever I heard a noise. After a long series of beeps and some shrill whistles and low rumbles they instructed me to take them off.

"Well those ears aren't just for show, I guess. You have more sensitive hearing and can hear frequencies above and below the human average." Dr Ritter said as he tapped at his tablet. "We have tests for smell and taste but unless you think your powers involve either of those senses it's easier to just skip those, at least for now."

"How do those tests work?" I asked, curiosity and caution battling in my mind.

"It's to see if you can taste the difference between Pepsi and Coke." A younger man in a lab coat grinned, but then shook his head. "It's more to see how sensitive those senses are. There's a PRT affiliated cape out of Atlanta that can out sniff dogs, he's able to pin-point explosive compounds from 50 yards away just by scent."

"I don't think I can do anything like that. Also I don't think I want to find out, I'm guessing that many of the tastes and scents are unpleasant." I said, earning a shrug from the younger man that made the Coke and Pepsi joke.

The chair moved down to another station where they positioned a camera over me that I recognized from dental x-rays and the time I broke my arm. "We're going to take some x-rays just to see if we can detect any internal changes, and the chair will help so that you won't have to move. It's very rare but some parahumans have had their powers interact with x-rays, so we'll do one of your hand before moving on to more full bodied scans." A click sound accompanied by a buzzing tickling sensation that passed over and through my hand.

I couldn't help the giggle that escaped my lips. "I felt that!" I gasped, and several of the lab coats looked around at each other.

"Painful?" Dr. Ritter asked.

"No, I laughed." I stated. "It sorta tickled."

"Give us a moment, while this is a partially Tinker Tech camera it still takes a bit to develop the image." The doctor said as he began studying the tablet he was holding half a minute later he hummed contemplatively before he turned the tablet around so that I could see it.

"Well Miss Hebert, seems we have another oddity." He said holding up the image of a black and white x-ray photo. "From what it looks like, your x-ray shows that you have no bones, or if you do they seem to be the same density as the surrounding tissue."

I looked at the foggy image and saw that the expected white outline of bones were missing. I ran my fingers across my knuckles, it still certainly felt like I had bones. I wasn't too concerned as my body was odd, and it could have simply been that my hand was mostly made of fae nonsense at the time they took the image. Fairy bones didn't need to follow conventional density if they were partially magic.

"We would like to take some more x-rays as long as it doesn't affect you any more than some tickling." Dr. Ritter said hopefully.

I shrugged not seeing the harm in a few more x-rays. With my agreement the people in lab coats bustled around me positioning the x-ray camera to take images of different body parts from different angles. Each time there was a distinctive tickling sensation that caused me to laugh out loud multiple times, which earned me some curious look from the researchers. It was distracting enough that I almost didn't notice Dr. Ritter showing his tablet to some of the other researchers as they made odd faces when they looked. There was enough conspiratorial muttering between them that I was getting curious what was so interesting. Eventually after what seemed to me like an excessive amount of x-rays since they x-rayed everything at least twice but often much more did they eventually stop.

"That should be enough thank you." Dr. Ritter nodded. "Oh and if you were worried about radiation don't be, if you didn't notice we're not wearing any protective equipment. Since the x-ray camera is tinker made, you receive more radiation standing out in the sun."

"That's good to know." I mention, although I wasn't concerned about it to begin with.

"We would like some more time to examine the x-rays before we continue." Dr. Ritter said, glancing around at his other researchers. "We might discover something interesting that could alter how we conduct additional tests."

I knew a stretched truth when I heard one, and they had obviously found something very odd regarding my x-rays, and I felt that my fairy nature might be vexing their technology. I still wanted to know what they found, but I was fine with taking a break and getting out of the chair. Standing up I stretched and could help but notice how the action drew the eye of every male in the room. "How long do you think it will take with the x-rays? It's a bit late for lunch and early for dinner although I'm not all that hungry."

"Depends on what we find." One of the researchers answered. "I think they are planning Manton tests in the safety room."

Heading back out into the rubberized padded room, I saw that it was mostly empty except for Aegis and Miss Militia were moving around an assortment of boxes and equipment that hadn't been there before.

"Oh hey Taylor." Aegis greeted as the sound of the door closing sounded through the room. "That was pretty quick, they aren't done with the preliminaries are they?"

"No," I shook my head. "There was something odd with my x-rays that they wanted to examine. I'm sure there is still plenty left, but they said I could take a break. What's going on out here?"

"Oh these are for basic small scale tests. Although the PRT usually wants to start with Manton limit tests." Miss Militia answered. "The PRT is often interested in how it limits a cape's powers. It's also a good thing to know how dangerous your power is so as to avoid collateral damage later on."

"That's the thing that seems to prevent a power from working on biological things?" I asked.

"Yes, many capes seem to have some sort of restriction that usually involves biology. For example, Vista can't warp the space in or directly around anything alive. Even I have an odd Manton Limit with my powers." Miss Militia explained before the knife at her side morphed into green shapeless energy before it coelesed into a vicious looking steel mace. "I can make this easy, but I can't make a wooden club."

I nodded, as it was a subject that I was also interested in. The Manton limit as it seemed to share some of magic's limitations. Magic couldn't affect things more powerful than itself such as life. So you couldn't really create a direct death spell since life would trump the magic, that didn't mean I could magically send a bolt of lightning to kill someone. Magic was stronger than lightning and most living things couldn't survive a lightning strike.

Cape powers seemed to be odd as sometimes they didn't always have a limit, and a part of me was fearful that it meant they were somehow more powerful than magic. However, from the memories I had received from Titania that weren't clouded in her hate of Scion she refused to accept that such a mundane creature could be more powerful than the chaotic energy of the universe.

Deciding to put the idea into the back of my mind I returned my focus back to the two local heroes, and looked over the boxes they had brought out. The was an assortment that had a variety of labels such as metals, liquids, technological, chemical. However what drew my eye was a box labeled 'Biological' that was already open.

Inside was a clear plastic cage where at least a dozen white mice stared up at me with beady red eyes. Their focus caused me to greet them without really thinking. "Oh. Hello little ones."

My greeting had an immediate response as the mice began squeaking rapidly, some of them standing up to get close to me others scrambled to the back of the cage where they froze and made themselves as small as possible. Each one of them squeaked out an interested or terrified inquiry in a confusing cacophony of rudimentary messages. "Wait, calm down, I can hardly understand any of you." I shushed, trying to settle them.

"Wait." Aegis gaped. "You can talk to animals!?"

"Yes." I answered as I tried to decipher their squeaks. "Well sort of, their accents are terrible, I'm guessing that being lab mice they're not as connected to nature as they should be."

"Can you explain how they are communicating?" Miss Militia asked with a canted head. "Are you enhancing their intellect or is a more rudimentary communication?"

"They're still animals, I guess you can say my presence makes them more focused. They instinctively know that I'm important, and they're asking things like what I want or if I'm going to eat them. And no, I'm not going to eat you, you're all too small and furry for my tastes" I said in a calm tone, as I gently lifted them out of the box and opened the trap door on the top, causing a particularly brave mouse to jump up and pull itself out. "It's a very basic communication, but I can understand them."

"Okay, I might be seeing the idea of you being a fairy queen." Aegis scratched at his head. "Are you able to control them or command them?"

"I'm The Fairy Queen, but just because I'm queen doesn't make my orders absolute. I would have to convince them that it's in their best interest to follow my instructions and that's hard to do with most animals that are driven purely by instinct. Really their only concerns are about surviving and breeding." I didn't say that making a deal with animals was possible and if I could get them to agree their instincts would help keep them focused and ensure they kept up their end of any fae deal.

"Little one, do you see that one in red?" I asked leaning down to the brave mouse on top, while pointing at Aegis. "Attack him and I will declare you the strongest and therefore fittest to breed."

"Hey, don't sick a mouse on me!" Aegis grunted and suddenly hovered a foot off the ground.

The mouse looked between me and Aegis before squeaking a roughly translated. "I'm not suicidal."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at the mouse's blunt answer. "Seems you have some wise mice. You don't have to worry this one's not suicidal enough to attack something that could literally crush it."

"Alright, fairy queen or not it's got to be weird. I mean I don't know if I would be able to eat a burger ever again if I could talk with animals." Aegis muttered.

"I can understand, but I don't think it's really a problem." I responded, as I guided the brave mouse back into the cage. I closed him back in and put them all back in the box. "Just because I can communicate doesn't mean they're intelligent. Some of what they say isn't even difficult for anyone to understand. I'm sure a butcher knows what a cow is saying when it moos in fear and pain. That's just the way nature works, and humans are usually more merciful than most predators."

I was somewhat surprised by my own words, it sounded almost callous. However I knew that nature itself was often uncaring and that wasn't something that I could deny even if part of me hadn't thought like that before I had changed.

"I guess so." Aegis nodded slowly.

I looked between the two heroes as they seemed a bit uncertain how to respond to my last statement, and I guess it could have been taken as somewhat cold. However, I was now connected deeply with nature and it was useless to denia the truth of nature's callous apathy. Luckily I was saved from any awkward conversation when the sound of the door opening echoed through the mostly empty room.

Looking to the entrance I was glad to see who entered. "Oh hi daddy!" I called.

"Hey kiddo." He greeted with a smile on his face, but his tone of voice seemed a bit too serious. "How's testing going?"

"Fine, kinda boring so far." I answered. "How's everything going with negotiations?"

"Actually I was wanting to talk with you about that for a moment; alone." He said, the last word said with a serious tone.

"Okay." I nodded and I followed him out into the hall.

Once we were someplace where it didn't seem we would be over heard my dad turned to me with a very serious look on his."Taylor before we continue I need to know if you feel you could defend yourself if someone like capes from the E-88 came to cause you trouble."

"Defend myself? As of right now I'm not too confident." I answered, because without having a good grasp on my own personal magic I lacked decisive offensive capabilities. "However, I feel that I would easily be able to get out of trouble, or simply not be a position where they could threaten me. Fae have always been experts of misdirection, and if anyone were to come after me to cause harm I have loads of ways to simply leave or disappear."

My dad didn't look too pleased with the explanation but he nodded in understanding. "I needed to know because as of right now I'm not sure that the Wards is the best option for right now, at least not how negotiations are going."

"How so?"

"I've been involved with plenty of deals during my time with the union, and as of right now they don't want to agree to a contract that would be flexible enough for you. They're negotiating from a position of power, you're a new cape that's been outed, the Wards gives you both protection and an effective job." He explained. "A common tactic for negotiations is to walk away and let the other side sweat thinking that they blew an agreement that both sides would have benefited from if they hadn't been so stingy. If you think you can keep out of trouble for maybe a week or two we can come back and they should hopefully agree to cover your needs."

"What if they don't want us to come back though? You want me in the Wards right?" I asked, and at the same time I really began to think of my options. It had always seemed to me that the natural path of young capes that weren't villainous, they joined the Wards. When I was younger with dreams of becoming the next Alexandria, step one was to acquire superpowers and step two was join the Wards.

"I want you safe, honey." My dad said. "The Wards would probably be the easiest, but I have a deal to uphold. I don't think that asking that you not enslave yourself is too much, but as of now there are a few key points their lawyer isn't budging on. Maybe if they get an idea of what they are going to be missing they'll ease up."

"What they'll be missing?"

"I have to work with a lot of different professions and people, so I have to understand the value of each individual. So I tried to think of what the Wards would gain by you joining." My dad said while lifting his hands in a measuring gesture. "The Wards do a lot of public appearances and charity stuff, and even if you weren't very powerful compared to many capes they would be stupid to not want you with the Wards. I've always thought you were beautiful, but with your changes on a scale of 1 to 10 you shatter the scale."

"Daddy!" I gasped in a slightly scandalized tone, however, I couldn't help but want to preen myself with the flash of pride.

"I'm serious." He shrugged. "I've always feared the day you bring home a boy, but when we get home I'm going to have to start polishing my shotgun."

"Should I go looking for a large stick in case I need to beat any would be admirers off of me?" I asked, my ego swelling all the more.

"It wouldn't hurt, but they would need to get past my shotty first." My dad laughed. "What I'm saying is that you're going to be the sort of Cape that attracts attention for doing something as simple as smiling for a camera. Good PR is something that the Protectorate and PRT always likes putting at the forefront in the public's mind."

We were interrupted when the woman from the Youth Guard popped her head out of the testing room and quickly spotted us standing in the hall. "Sorry to interrupt. Is there anything that I can help with?" She asked, sounding earnest and remorseful.

"No thank you." My dad answered. "I'm going to take my daughter with me to the lawyers for a bit, we should be back soon."

My dad turned, jerking his head for me to follow and a short distance down the hallway I heard two slightly raised voices coming from behind a door.

"What about this one?" Jacob Norris's voice all but demanded. "If this remains in the contract my client might as well not have powers if the PRT determines they are unsafe."

"That is in place so that we can place guidelines on when and where Wards use their powers. No one wants an incident where a Ward causes an accident by showing off with their powers."

"Yes, but for my client those guidelines would be absolute law." Jacob countered. "What if the PRT determines that the only safe time to use her powers would be on patrols?"

Dad opened the door right as the other lawyer sighed in a condescending tone "Of course we wouldn't be that restrictive."

I couldn't help myself, this lawyer seemed so flippant. "Would not isn't can not. Would you sign an agreement that removed your ability to choose what food you ate, and did it so completely that other parties could restrict your ability to eat at all?"

The PRT lawyer's head snapped over to me as my dad and I entered. There were dozens of pieces of paper spread out on a large table, each of them seemed to have multiple sticky notes attached to them. He had a very annoyed look on his face as he looked at me. "Excuse me Miss Hebert, but the Ward's purpose is to help guide young parahumans. How is the PRT able to do that if they can't put some restrictions on power use and activities that are either harmful or destructive? The contract your father is asking for seems to be nothing but suggestions, all while you keep the backing and good name of the Wards behind you."

"Well perhaps the Wards isn't the best place for my daughter." My dad said as he squared his shoulders, before turning to our lawyer. "Perhaps we should look into other options."

The threat was pretty clear, and it wasn't long before my dad decided to double down clearing up everything so that we could go home. I didn't know what my future would hold but I had a lot of things that I needed to do. I had to reconstruct my own magic, find the remnants of my kingdom and collect some debts, and most of those things would be easier to do without the PRT breathing down my neck.

 

[Bobot-Man]

Wowwie, you have really given us a new chapter - 13k words. Keep up the good work.
I look forward to reading more of your story.

 

[Ninelotus]

Im not particularly interested in Danny. Especially not the interactions between Taylor and Danny in this story.

 

[Elychari]

I always found it stupid when characters give away their weaknesses to an institution. It's not like you can trust every person in that institution. Also I find it weird that Taylor is even entertaining being bound by contract to the PRT.

 

[them8]

I liked inte interactions in this chapter, especially the interaction between Taylor and her dad. Many writers skip over Danny as a part of the story.

 

[Filraen]

Great story so far.

Danny? Interesting play here, giving an in-universe reason for being more proavtive in dealing with Taylor and stop being depressed over Anette. Looking forward to see more of him.

On the scene about the reveal on Sophia, I wonder on how Taylor wanted "what's fair " about her. (mostly about what is fair and who decides it, etc; I'm sure a lot of in-universe discussions can be told about those)

I didn't see coming the whole "rejecting the Wards (at least for now) because they wouldn't be able to do proper compatible legalese" thing coming but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense. However, that can be so much trouble in the future if this point is followed*: does that mean Taylor is fae-bound to follow stuff from the social contract and the laws of USA-Bet to EULAs of any software she uses, etc?

EDIT:

* a modern lifestyle like Taylor's implies there's a series of agreements she must have accepted implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) we usually take for granted; how does that meshes with Taylor's current nature as a fae?

 

[Colorstrike]

Love the story so far, I am exited to see more fae madness.

 

[ptbptb]

however I did refuse when the doctor wanted to use a steel needle for a blood test.

Click to shrink...

This is pretty lame. The PRT / Protectorate must have had issues with strange allergies and conditions of other capes (particularly Case 53s). For example, Weld can't be touched with anything metal unless they don't mind it getting stuck. A mundane workshop (and certainly any tinker) should be able to work up a copper needle or something in much less than 24 hours.

The should get working on that anyway. What if she's allergic to bee stings and they need to give her an adrenaline shot urgently to save her life? I mean, that example is extremely unlikely to be true but they don't know that. Having a medical kit that won't kill her has got to be high on the list of "Must dos".

 

[Inbetweenaction]

When I touched iron with my bare skin my stomach gave a very unpleasant flip accompanied by a wave of nausea. It was actually a minor reaction compared to what many fae experienced, however I did refuse when the doctor wanted to use a steel needle for a blood test. That had annoyed the doctor, but he had relented stating that if I didn't give a blood sample that I would have to stay for at least 24 hours for observation.

Click to shrink...

Soo, i know that it's your fic and it's fictional and all... but this is actually actual malpractice. While rare, there are metal allergies. And this is very, very much a power granted allergy according to their tests.

Now the way it's done in actual medicin, is to use gold-plated needles (i think some places also have titanium/platinum, but don't quote me on that. vage memories of there having been bambu and glass needles aswell, but they are really rare or archaic. and bambu is mainly for acupuncture if memory serves, and not really in western countries). They are much more expensive, so hospitals don't like to use them. But we do have them, and when someone comes in that we can prove have actual allergic reactions to normal needles, we do use them rather than stick someone with something they are allergic to. Not just because anything else is inhumane, but taking a sample with something your body reacts severely to can taint the testresult.

for scalpels, there are titanium you can use. again, hospitals don't LIKE using the thing that costs five times as much, but if that is a major factor in keeping you alive...

I always found it stupid when characters give away their weaknesses to an institution. It's not like you can trust every person in that institution. Also I find it weird that Taylor is even entertaining being bound by contract to the PRT.

Click to shrink...

In this case, i do give her some leeway. the metal is for her own safty, and something that would easily be found out. For her own safty, she does need to tell them that she is alergic to iron and it's deravitives.

To prevent her contract from chaining her, she does need to tell them about how it would master her into compliance.

she is very obviusly a cape and had a publical trigger and was taken from her house immeadiatly, so there never was an option of NOT dealing with the PRT. It was just a matter of "How do we do this" where she needed to not get iron poison or chained by contracts.

"Excuse me Miss Hebert, but the Ward's purpose is to help guide young parahumans. How is the PRT able to do that if they can't put some restrictions on power use and activities that are either harmful or destructive? The contract your father is asking for seems to be nothing but suggestions, all while you keep the backing and good name of the Wards behind you."

Click to shrink...

and yet you didn't answer the question about "Would you enter a contract that is enforced by Heartbreaker? He promises not to rape you, just enforce the terms of the agreement, but there will be nothing in the contract that PREVENTS him from doing so."

Yeah, maybe new wave is a better option. It's not like you have a secret id anyway

 

[MrStarbuck]

"Alright Dr. Ritter I've made some time; what can you tell me about Miss Hebert?" Director Piggot asked as she entered the testing area.

"Well, since we didn't get much testing done before she left, I don't have much." The Doctor replied. "Come, I'll show you. I'm not a psychologist, so ignoring the things about her being a fae queen Miss Hebert seems to be in excellent physical shape. All the standard tests were skewed towards high or sometimes above human norms. Her reaction time, heart-rate and blood pressure were what you might expect when examining olympic athletes. Her eyesight was excellent, rated at a 20/10, something only about one percent of the population has. Her hearing was so good you might consider giving her a thinker rating for it alone. She could detect extremely quiet sounds and also frequencies well above and below the human norm." Ritter explained before they stopped at an x-ray viewer.

"These were the baselines?" Piggot asked. "She wasn't using her powers."

"With the minor description of her powers that she explained to Aegis and Miss Militia it could be hard to know anything for certain regarding Miss Hebert. However, I didn't see anything overt, and beside a spontaneous shift in how much she weighed none of our equipment detected anything." He explained with a shrug.

"Everything was mostly normal, then we got to the x-rays and that was when things tumbled down the rabbit hole." Ritter shook his head.

"I don't need anyone feeding the girl's delusions." Piggot chastised.

"Oh, I am well aware of that ma'am. However, well- it will be easier to show you." The doctor said as he turned on the x-ray viewer before he pulled out a very thick manila folder. "Miss Hebert explained that she could actually feel when the x-ray machine was active, but since she described it as a tickling sensation I decided it was safe to continue."

"Those look like a lot of photos." Piggot stated. "If there was an odd interaction with x-rays why did you continue? Even if our x-ray machine is low radiation, there could have been something else going on. Why did you take the risk?"

"We had her vitals closely monitored, and after the first x-ray an odd reaction is an understatement ma'am." Ritter said as he put the first photo up. "As you can see it appears that there are no bones in this picture of her hand, it is as though everything is a relatively uniform density."

"So we took another one." The doctor said replacing the first photo with a different slide. "Looks normal, all the bones where they should be. Then the next one that simply appears to be the outline of her hand with no bones or tissue."

"The next two were blank."Doctor Ritter explained, while quickly replacing the photos, his voice taking a tone of amused incredulity.

"So we moved on to her other hand, and as you can clearly see it looks as though Miss Hebert is flipping us off. However, she was well behaved the entire time she was with us, and all of my colleagues agree that her hand was flat the entire time. So we took another photo and watched her hand carefully, and it seemed like everything was okay." He chuckled at his own joke as the x-ray photo showed a skeletal hand performing the O-K sign."

"You know I'm going to have to put you and your staff into M/S holding after this right?"

"I suspected as much." Ritter nodded nonchalantly. "That can wait until later, since up next we have the peace sign, then live long and prosper, surfer's hang loose, three, two, one, and blank, blank, blank. We watched the camera's afterward, and Miss Hebert stayed relatively still the entire time with only some slight fidgeting from the tickling sensations. We usually don't need to print out actual photos but we did in case if the phenomenon only targeted my tablet."

Piggot rubbed at her temple trying to head off the headache that she could feel beginning to form. "Please don't tell me that her powers decided to have some fun while messing with a partially Tinkertech x-ray camera."

"Not to feed into her delusions but fae are known to be tricksters." The doctor shrugged. "Unless it was her powers messing with the camera I'm not sure how else to explain it. Especially since if you want to describe it as such, her powers seemed to have had enough and we moved on to her legs. Every picture we took was blank, as far as the camera was concerned Miss Hebert doesn't have legs. With no success we moved on and I started to suspect that we weren't going to get any additional x-rays. That is until we did a chest x-ray."

Clipping the x-ray photo up, Piggot leaned in seeing the white outline of a ribcage and spine. "It looks normal."

"I agree. Then we took this one." Ritter said, putting another photo up.

Piggot looked between two in bewilderment. While one looked normal, the other the bones oddly faded, but that might be so that you could easily see a cartoon heart shape inside of her chest, as well as a good half dozen butterfly shapes where you might expect her stomach to be.

The director stepped back to see them both together, then up close again just to be sure she was seeing things correctly. Turning to look at the doctor she saw him give her a look with raised eyebrows, pursed lips and repetitive shallow nods. He was completely aware of the mad contradiction between the two images.

"This damned city! I swear there's got to be something in the fucking water." She grouched, wondering why it had to be her city that a cape like this had to show up in. Between the mix of powers, the casual manipulation of reality, the plant stuff, and her delusions of regency, Director Piggot just knew that Taylor Hebert was going to cause her many more sleepless nights.

The situation was looking to go pear shaped at any time. Danny Hebert taking his daughter home despite their warnings of her identity being outed, was sure to cause problems with the local gangs, They didn't even stay for the medically suggested 24 hours. With a potentially powerful cape like Taylor on the loose, the other para-human groups were going to get involved. It was only a matter of when and how bad the fallout would be.

Then there were the complications regarding Shadow Stalker. She was still missing and they had no idea what her intentions were. The girl had to know that once she was caught she was going straight to Juvenile Detention. The problem was, what lengths Hess was prepared to go to keep from being caught? Her actions at school highlighted that Shadow Stalker didn't have the mentality of a hero. While she might enjoy punishing gangsters; Sophia at her core was a thug. It was Piggot's worry that instead of a rogue vigilante the bay had another villain to worry about.

The Director's thoughts were interrupted when her phone rang, and she pulled it out to see that her secretary was calling.

Sighing Piggot answered. "Yes." She said not bothering to disguise the annoyance at being called, when she had cleared enough time to be out of her office.

"I'm sorry ma'am. I know you're busy, but I have Glenn Chambers on hold and he's being very insistent that he talks with you." The woman's apologetic tone didn't do anything to sooth Emily's annoyance.

"He must have heard that we weren't able to get the elven ultra-super-model as our newest Ward." She grumbled, she was in no mood to deal with the man's eccentricities. "Tell him that I'm too busy to have to worry about PR right now, and that I will contact him later."

"He said that you might say that." The secretary replied. "He also said that if you didn't talk with him right now that he would be on the next flight out here so that he could deal with Miss Hebert himself, something about not losing the biggest PR windfall ever."

Piggot gritted her teeth, wondering if his threat was a bluff or if he would actually follow through. Eventually she decided that a phone call wasn't worth the risk of having the Head of PR in her city. It would be better to have to talk to him than actually see him. "Tell him that I'm getting a coffee and will speak with him in ten minutes.

"Yes ma'am, one moment." The phone went silent as her secretary put her on hold. "He said that he'll wait on hold, and if he doesn't hear some good answers in fifteen minutes that he's ordering flight tickets."

---------------------

Emma Barns leaned towards her vanity as she expertly applied a line of eyeliner. She enjoyed the daily ritual of preparing her appearance, it was akin to putting on her armor. Beauty was a weapon if used correctly and she had to look fierce.

It was especially important as today was when she would have to speak with some PRT agents about Sophia and Taylor. Her lawyer father had been able to delay them but it seemed like Sophia's and her backup plan was going to need to be put in place.

Emma did feel bad about what needed to be done but between the three of them Madison was the weak link. It was a shame, because Emma really did like the petite girl, but she had never been tested like she or Sophia had been. Madison might be strong in her own right but secretly Emma thought that the strength was brittle.

The most concerning thing was that Sophia hadn't been able to text on the burner phones they had set up. It looked like her cape friend was under more pressure than they had anticipated. It was no wonder why. Taylor's trigger had been quite spectacular, and Emma suspected that Winslow would be demolished. The school was already in a state of disrepair and the plants and trees growing everywhere wouldn't have helped the already crumbling walls.

Emma brushed her vibrant red hair away as she jealousy thought about her former best friend. Why hadn't she gotten powers that one time in the alley. Sure Sophia had already explained that some people just didn't have the chance to get powers even if they were placed in a situation where they might trigger, but it just wasn't fair.

Still she had plans to make it all better. Taylor had powers now, and it looked like she was even stronger than Sophia. Emma might not have powers but she knew how to manipulate people, it would take some effort but she was confident that she could get back into Taylor's good graces. The biggest problem in her mind was figuring out how to help Sophia. It would depend on whether her dad could help reduce the punishment that Sophia would receive. If that could happen, then she guessed that 'all's well that ends well'.

Yes, Emma could see it, with just a bit of luck, herself, Sophia and Taylor would join together and- Well they could achieve anything. Maybe they would go to Arcadia and climb the social ladder, even outshining Glorygirl and Panacea. After high-school Taylor and Sophia would be in the Protectorate, while she went to school for law or marketing. After she got her degree she would help the two of them climb up the power structure in the Protectorate until they were the head of one of the hero branches and from there, who knows.

Emma sighed and smiled at herself in the mirror as she enjoyed the promise of her plans. Leaning in she did a final inspection of her appearance, turning away she moved to grab a hair barrette. It was just then that out of the corner of Emma's eye she saw that the reflection didn't move. Snapping her head back towards the mirror she stared at her reflection. Moving her head it looked like everything was as it should be, after all it was a mirror. Suddenly snapping her hand up her copy followed her movement, but there was something off. It looked like the reflection had moved just a split second slower than it should have.

Leaning forward she really studied her reflection for any indication of something being off, scrunching up her eyebrows in concentration. It all appeared correct; that was until she saw the reflection blink, and of course you couldn't see your own reflection blink.

"Hello Emma." The reflection suddenly spoke, shocking the redhead enough that she fell backwards off of her stool.

As she pulled herself off of the floor she could hear a familiar voice laughing at her. Brushing her vibrant hair out of face she looked up to see a copy of herself still chuckling mirthfully at her.

"Oh that was good, you should have seen- your face." Her doppelganger spoke and it comically pointed at itself showing an exaggerated shocked look.

"Taylor?" Emma questioned knowing who that voice belonged to even if her face didn't match.

"Yep, it's me." She said before shaking her head, and like a dog shaking off water her face shifted to be Taylor's face in the mirror.

"I thought you had plant powers?" Emma gasped.

"It's not just plant powers. Anyway, may I come through, I feel like we need to talk." Taylor said as her image stared at her through the mirror.

"Just to talk?" Emma asked as uncertainty tingled at the back of her neck. Now that the situation had changed she wanted to work things out with Taylor, but this seemed off. Taylor wasn't usually this assertive. "You don't want to…"

"Oh, I am absolutely furious at you." Taylor snarled, her eyes and glasses flashing angrily. "However, I have learned some things recently and I want to sort some things out. Besides if I was going to hurt you do you think I would do it in your own house when you can just yell for your family downstairs? Even if I did, it would be stupid because I would be the PRTs prime suspect."

"Yeah I guess so, you are too smart for that." Emma complimented, deciding that it would be best to start off on the right foot. She could work with this, and she had years of experience in how best to deal with her friends. Sure, she had been terrible to Taylor, but in the end it had all led up to Taylor getting powers, just like they had always dreamed of. "Alright you can come through."

"Thank you." Taylor said with a smirk and leaned forward. It was a little disconcerting as the raven haired girl crawled through the vanity mirror. It took her just a few moments as Taylor maneuvered to get her feet under her. As she straightened, Taylor's hair fell away as she released an almost sensual sigh. Emma couldn't help but gape as she looked at the changes to her friend and was struck dumb.

"Yes, this is how I look now." Taylor said as she brushed her flowing hair back from her face to reveal the flash of a pointed ear. "What do you think?"

"Y-you're gorgeous!" Emma replied her jealousy drowned out by the awe that Taylor's looks inspired.

"Hmm, flattery will get you nowhere." She said with a very pleased smirk on her lovely face.

"Anyway as I said I needed to sort some things out with you, so we might as well not beat around the bush." Taylor said as she reached into her pocket and stepped closer. "Do you remember this?"

The raven haired beauty pulled out something that sparked in the light between her fingers and extended her arm presenting a silver charm necklace that had a half heart with ST- ENDS- EVER carved down its face. Emma easily recognized it as Taylor's half of a gift she had given her during her tenth birthday. Emma had the other half of the pair somewhere deep in her jewelry box that she hadn't looked at in nearly two years.

"This evidence of a broken promise isn't really as good as thirty pieces of silver is it?" Taylor said sadly as she turned her hand over as though to give the necklace to her.

"Listen Taylor." The redhead started as she reached up to take Taylor's hand. "I know I've been terrible to you, but-"

Emma's plan to cut Taylor off before she could get started was interrupted as the taller girl suddenly clasped their hands together. Her hold was firm as her claw like grip pushed the necklace between their palms.

"Silver is known for it's chilly properties; fitting isn't it!?" Taylor asked as her angry words passed her lips in chilly puffs. "Don't you think that revenge is best served cold?"

Emma fell to the floor shivering, It felt like her body had been plunged into the frigid waters of a lake during the depths of winter. All of her strength seemed to be drained from her as her extremities became numb, and all she could do was shiver. She tried to scream, to call out for help, but her faltering breaths prevented any sounds from passing more than a few inches past her cold purple lips

"You know even before Titania and I became one I spent a long time thinking of ways to get even, what punishments I would like to see you suffer through." Taylor began, her beautiful voice taking a cruel chilly tone. "I was such a child then, the punishments that Titania has given out- well you should be very very glad that I'm mostly not Titania. Some of the punishments she performed on those that had earned her ire had them begging for death, and they would gladly go to their ends only to be free from her. Then just as it seemed it had ended they would be pulled back, their release was simply an illusion and Titania's torments would begin anew."

Emma shivered even harder as while she didn't quite understand what Taylor was talking about there was something that seemed to ring true to her words. There was even a hint of revulsion as she spoke.

"So I had to think about what would be fitting, what would be fair?" Taylor asked herself as she sat down beside Emma's curled shivering form. "I thought about trying that one thing from the movie we saw as girls; To the Pain. You know, where you lose your feet, hands, nose, tongue, and eyes, so that you can wander around in freakish misery till the end of your days. Oh, but that seems a bit harsh, and it doesn't quite fit right. So I thought of transforming you into a hag, that way your outside can reflect what's inside. Perhaps I could create a special place inside the Faewylds just for you, where I'll have mice and insects constantly gnawing on you for two years. The nice thing about that place is I could have those two years take two days, or it could be twenty years, who knows with that place."

"P-p-pleease n-nooh." Emma managed to sputter out.

"Oh, shh, shh, shh." Taylor hushed with false care. "I said I wanted to be fair. So, let's find out just why you decided to betray me, and then you'll get to feel what your treachery has cost you."

Taylor reached down to Emma, her angry claw like hand covering the redhead's eyes. As soon as her eyes closed she was back in that time and place that she had never wanted to think about again.

"Hold tight," her father said.

'No no no!' Emma thought frantically as her past played out exactly like it had before, the dumpster not moving and people closing in from behind.

She tried to tell her dad to throw it into reverse and floor it but her lips wouldn't move, she couldn't do anything to change what she was reliving. New fear was layered on top of the old as her feelings from before felt just as fresh as they did when it was actually happening.

The pain was there as they pulled on her hair and smashed her into the glass covered ground. Emma tried to fight back earlier, to actually make an effort instead of the wild flailing she had done before. Nothing worked as she was left a passenger reliving the terrors of her past.

"One eye, the nose, the mouth, or both ears. Yan here thinks she has what it takes to be a member, instead of a common whore, so you choose one of the above, and she goes to town on the part in question, proves her worth." Emma was asked again as the knife traveled down her face.

"Ugh!" Taylor's voice scoffed. "Now I really feel unoriginal. Someone already thought of doing To the Pain, although they got it wrong, remember you keep your ears."

The interruption didn't change anything, as the past events repeated themselves. Seeing Sophia waiting above, having the pieces of her hair shoved in her mouth and told to eat them, She could even hear her own thoughts about not wanting to become like Taylor, because she wasn't as strong as her.

"Now that's just- hmm. Well I'm not sure if that's an insult or a very odd compliment." Taylor's voice pondered. "But you're right, you're not as strong as me."

Emma got a measure of relief as her past self fought back and Sophia jumped in just as she had before. She had hoped the experience would be over but the playback continued as she relived the days where she stayed in her room as a useless traumatized lump.

The review of her past eventually led to her going out and meeting up with Sophia, where the cape explained her view on the world. It was still a terrible experience reliving that terrible time of her life but even seeing it from a second time Emma couldn't really see anything that would change how she had been living for the past two years.

"Oh you poor, sad child." Taylor sighed, and there was a note of pity in her voice. "That was quite terrible. It's just a shame that you had to encounter that dullard Sophia when you did, but who else could you turn to? A father is every little girl's hero, and yours was left perhaps even more helpless than you were. I love my father but I've known since we were young that yours is better at emotional support. However, if our situations were switched I would bet that my father would have died fighting for my safety instead of uselessly lying on the ground calling out my name."

Emma felt a flash of anger shoot through her at Taylor's snub to her father. It was only made worse that she could find any reason to disagree. Danny Hebert had always had a certain wiry grit to him that Alan Barnes didn't possess.

"So you don't understand yet? Hmm, why would you, after all it's just about predator and prey?" Taylor asked. "How narrow minded, not even the unseelie court is that black and white. Let us see how you feel after you learn the price of your betrayal."

Emma's memories shifted as she saw a younger tanned Taylor walking up with a wide smile on her face. It was exactly as she remembered it, and even moreso. Emma watched through her own eyes as her younger self lied, driving her friend away just so that she could distance herself from what she once was. Again she felt the knot of negative emotions of guilt and shame, but there was still that little bit of relief that she was one step away from her old weak self.

Then the feeling of relief was almost painfully ripped away leaving just guilt of betraying her best friend. It continued from there as all the time she spent rebuilding herself with Sophia was picked away at, all of the thrill of growing stronger and every moment of joy and laughter. They were all stripped of their happy feelings.

"Taylor no!" Emma begged as her mind quickly understood what was happening.

"WHY NOT!?" Taylor snarled as she snatched the joy of her first days of high-school, of her forming her social circle and earning the admiration of the other girls. "This is the price of your betrayal, this is fair! Friends, an enjoyable school social life, this is what you stole from me, and it could've been something we could have had together!"

As all the cheap thrills of becoming popular were plucked away the more Emma felt the weight of what she had done, what she had become. The guilt of all the little pranks started to add up as there was nothing to balance the other side of the scales.

"Taylor, please I beg you." Emma whimpered.

"Funny that, because I think we're at the part where I first beg you to stop." Taylor said, her voice as cold and uncaring as a winter's night.

She saw in her mind's eye as Emma and her clique surrounded Taylor and insulted her looks and clothes, till the raven haired girl ran away in tears. All the feelings of relief of growing stronger, of being glad that she wasn't Taylor were taken away.

It wasn't just the good moments with her friends, Taylor took all the sparkling thrills when boys would watch her as she walked down the halls. Each of the vain confidence boosts that she got when she was asked out only to turn her admirers down because she was too good for them. All that was left was the underlying embarrassment, and hidden insecurity.

Some moments were worse than others as particularly fun days with Sophia lost their meaning, and it just continued as each cheerful moment at parties, and gatherings were left bland and empty.

Emma's first year of high-school passed and her memories seemed to jump around as Taylor seemed to focus on summer get-togethers with Sophia and Madison.

"Oh, so you've noticed my mercy, be grateful." Taylor blithely said as she cut the laughter out of her time watching a comedy with her friends. "Your time with your family you get to keep, while your betrayal might have colored my time with my father, it was still mostly my fault for what my family had become."

The next school year came and Emma's memories became centered on Thomas Williams, a handsome senior year wrestling star. He had only come to her attention because Cassandra couldn't stop talking about him. Cassandra was one of the prettier girls in their clique and Emma felt the need to prove that she was better and stronger than the other girl. It hadn't taken much, just some intense looks in the hallways and a few words that were passed down the social whisper way that eventually made it to him. It wasn't long before he asked her out, and since she felt the need to knock Cassandra down a few pegs Emma accepted.

"Not here Taylor!" Emma pleaded.

"But it's just started to get interesting." Taylor replied with a merry tone.

Thomas had taken her out to a nice Italian restaurant and to see what turned out to be a boring horror movie. Emma had listened to the other girls gossip about their dates and Thomas didn't disappoint with his arm going to the top of her chair only to fall to her shoulders soon after. She was hardly paying attention to the movie as she concentrated on her part, turning away and leaning into his shoulder during a scary scene. After enough cuddling and about three quarters of the way through the movie she turned and looked up at him. Emma could see the light of the screen reflecting in his eyes as she spent a little too long staring at him. Eventually Thomas turned, and he quirked his eyebrows as she gave him her best doe-eyed look. He tucked a strand of her hair behind an ear as Emma glanced down at his lips. It worked out as planned as they leaned in together and Emma received her first kiss.

Emma could sense a particular vindictive glee as Taylor harshly tore away everything good from her time with Thomas.

All the joy of her date was taken away. The flattering dinner conversation was made dull as Thomas talked about the wrestling scholarship that she cared nothing about. The warmth of the handsome boy's strong arm was taken leaving a particular sense of too much body-spray. The butterflies in her stomach from anticipation disappeared as she was left with a predictable horror movie. The pleasant touch of his lips that triggered her rushing heart was gone, leaving her in slight embarrassment, wondering if she was a good kisser.

It didn't end as Taylor took all the pleasant feelings from the other times she hung out with Thomas, the slowly growing passion of their kissing disappeared, leaving the slowly growing realization that she didn't really like the boy. The thrill of turning aside his adventurous hands was tainted as she was left with the distant reminder of the ABB pulling at her clothes and hair. The smug satisfaction of seeing Cassandra's jealous face left her with a new and different guilt of intentionally hurting a friend. It was only a small relief when Emma broke up with Thomas as she wouldn't have to be left with any more meaningless kisses that truly became empty once the pleasure was removed.

As much as Emma wished that was the end of her punishment it wasn't, she still had nearly half a school year until her memories caught up with her present.

As every joy was removed leaving behind only the previously overshadowed guilt and sadness Emma could do nothing but admit to herself that Taylor had been right, she was a horrible person. Her emotional scales broke and she knew that she was beautiful on the outside, and ugly on the inside. Perhaps becoming hag would have been a better punishment. Still Emma desperately clung to the idea that supported her, she might be a horrible person but she was strong. She needed to keep that idea in her heart, because if she didn't have that then she would be useless.

At last after far too long came the return from Winter break and the planned locker prank. Taylor took the pleasant anticipation and the sadistic releaf of not being the person shoved into the putrid metal box. She was left hollow with the truth of what she was. She was a traitor.

Emma's memories ended and the frigid bone deep chill returned. She resumed her uncontrollable shivering but this time she had another reason to shake as her fractured emotions left her in a blubbering wreck on the floor.

Tears flowed freely from the red head's eyes as she waited in anguish and terror, wondering if it was over or something worse was to come.

"That's... it?" Taylor asked, her voice lilting as though she was uncertain of the question.

"That's IT!? The raven haired girl screeched, as she leapt to her feet and started pacing the room in anger. "That's all the joy your betrayal earned you?! Ugh, it's all so petty, I still feel cheated! You don't even really like most of the girls you hang around with, it's all; UGH!"

Emma looked up, the sheen of her tears blurring her former friend. Taylor's hair seemed to flow as though in a light wind, each turn of her pacing caused it to ripple around her head.

"Since you're so popular I had expected that I would at least have gotten the passion of your first night, but nooo; you're almost as untouched as I am!" Taylor growled down at Emma. "That's it! How is that what's fair for the hell you put me through? Do you know I contemplated suicide on multiple occasions!?"

"I-I-I'm s-s-soorry, buut youu d-din't-t doo h-it b-because y-yoou're s-st-t-stroong." Emma sputtered through her shivering mouth.

"Oh! Be silent!" Taylor snapped. "I don't want to hear that boorish rufian's words passing from thine lips! You may have convinced yourself that you were doing that for my benefit, but we both knoweth that 'twas mostly a delusion you crafted to make thyself feel better! Thine art a dunce emotionally stunted mort-"

Taylor stopped, pausing for a moment before she turned away in a huff.

Emma didn't know what was happening to the other girl, she obviously wasn't acting like she usually would, especially with her going all Shakespeare.

"Emotionally stunted, huh?" The taller girl muttered in a huff.

"T-Taaay-l-lor whaa-what-t-ts-" Emma was able to say before she was cut off.

"DAMN IT!" Taylor shouted with a stomp of her foot. "Now I feel bad!"

A shiver of fear was lost amongst the other trembles of Emma's body as Taylor walked over and sat back down beside the quivering redhead.

"Oh Emma, you sad, pathetic, emotionally stunted little girl." Taylor sighed as she reached down and brushed back some of the red strands of hair that had fallen loose from her trembling. "You are traumatized, always have been since that time in the alley. You've been desperately trying to cover up your weakness with lies."

"N-nooh!" Emma blubbered desperately. She needed to refute Taylor's words, she needed to keep herself convinced. "I'm-m-m st-s-strong!"

"Don't lie Emma, ask yourself, what do you really excel at?" Taylor questioned as though she already knew the answer. "You're like a brittle and hollow tower built on sand. The ideal that is keeping you together; predator and prey, is such a dull and simplistic idea that... That it is exactly what I am trying to fight against."

The raven haired beauty paused looking down at Emma as though measuring her worth. Eventually Taylor reached over and pried open the fingers of Emma's frozen hand, and pulled out the charm necklace that she didn't know was still in her palm. As soon as the metal left Emma's skin the bone deep chill abated, she was still cold but the warmth of her well heated house was slowly suffusing back into her.

"Listen well Emma!" Taylor commanded. "You've been cutting yourself off from the true joys of life. Ask yourself, what does a predator care for a song so wondrous it causes goosebumps. Can prey see the beauty of freshly fallen snow, or does it simply care that it hides its food? Does a predator care for the majesty of a night sky, or does it only use the star's light to find its next meal?"

Emma didn't know how to respond as she was still dealing with her slowly lessening shivers.

"There is so much more if you just look and open yourself to it." Taylor sighed in rapture.

"T-Taylor I don't underst-stand." Emma stated, her former friend was acting beyond weird, and she was still quite terrified of her.

"So you want to be strong? Would you like to see our childhood dreams become true?" Taylor questioned. "Well, lucky for you I can do many things, one of them being the ability to grant power!"

Taylor reached down and touched her shoulder and suddenly Emma was amazed as warmth rushed through her body. Colors popped out and became more vibrant, the subtle scent of her perfume almost became overwhelming as her senses heightened. She felt great, as she was filled with enough energy to run two marathons.

"That is just a taste of what I can do." Taylor said as she pulled her hand away and the feeling of strength vanished. "Just so we're clear I don't forgive you, and I'm still furious, but I want to make a deal with you."

Emma picked herself up off of the ground, as she sat up and looked hungrily at Taylor. The lingering chill had vanished as soon as she had been filled with power, and now that it was gone she desperately wanted it back.

"I want two things from you. First, I want the color of your hair, call it nostalgia or whatever, but I want it!" Taylor said as she looked intensely at the hair atop of Emma's head. "I won't have you foolishly following that brute Sophia. So the second thing in our deal is that from now on, you work for me. In return I will help you grow from the miserable self you currently are. Perhaps in time you will understand what true strength really is."

Emma paused for a moment, she really didn't know what was going on. While all the joy from her friendship with Sophia was gone, she still had the echoes that she yearned to have back. However, everything about the new Taylor was beyond intriguing. She was beautiful and terrifying, calm and kind one moment, and murderous the next. It was the rush of power she had felt before that really drew her in. Taylor was obviously very very powerful from all the things she could do. The plants at the school, the mirror, the freezing cold chill, and the still agonizing punishment she had received. Overall it was her jealousy and lust to have the sense of power back that overshadowed her recent trauma.

"So Emma, do you agree to the deal?" Taylor asked as she magnanimously extended her beautifully pale hand expectantly. "Do you promise?"

 

[Shadowcub]

Emma ffs girl! Are you for real?

Sorry Glenn, you're not going to be able to make money off Taylor, where she makes a dollar and only gets .15 the Queen doesn't have time for you.

 

[Bobot-Man]

You have given us another good chapter. Keep up the good work.
I am looking forward to reading the next chapter.

Do you Promise. Three simple words that are among the greatest and most powerful tools a faerie possesses.

 

[ThatSlacker]

Do you Promise. Three simple words that are among the greatest and most powerful tools a faerie possesses.

Click to shrink...

Along side 'Do we have a Deal' and 'To business'.

 

[Windborne]

Wow, that was a powerful chapter, right in the feels.


One criticism I have for you @MrStarbuck is that I'm not sure I like that Taylor is taking Emma's hair color unless you're planning to add it as streaks to her own color of black. One consistent thing that Taylor has always had is the love of her hair that she inherited from her mother. Even changed as she is in this story, I cannot see her changing her hair color completely. Adding it as streaks or two toned ala Space Ishtar from Fate Grand Order would be acceptable but a complete change would be extremely out of character for Taylor even merged with a Fae Queen.

Edit: Redid link, not on my phone this time. Should work.

 

[Bobot-Man]

Space Ishtar

Click to shrink...

This link is broken. Your point about Taylor's hair is valid.
Thank you for bringing it up.

 

[Windborne]

This link is broken. Your point about Taylor's hair is valid.
Thank you for bringing it up.

Click to shrink...

Reload it, I had the exact same issue, but reloading the page did fix it.

Edit: Redid link should work now.

 

[ZeroAngelus]

Wow, that was a powerful chapter, right in the feels.


One criticism I have for you @MrStarbuck is that I'm not sure I like that Taylor is taking Emma's hair color unless you're planning to add it as streaks to her own color of black. One consistent thing that Taylor has always had is the love of her hair that she inherited from her mother. Even changed as she is in this story, I cannot see her changing her hair color completely. Adding it as streaks or two toned ala Space Ishtar from Fate Grand Order would be acceptable but a complete change would be extremely out of character for Taylor even merged with a Fae Queen.

Click to shrink...

The other way that part of the deal could be interpreted is, "since I own your hair color, I can change your hair to be whatever color I want. You'll no longer have red hair. Now it is poop brown."
The follow-up about nostalgia could be misleading. After all, even though Tay-tania can't lie, it doesn't mean she can't misdirect.

 

[Windborne]

The other way that part of the deal could be interpreted is, "since I own your hair color, I can change your hair to be whatever color I want. You'll no longer have red hair. Now it is poop brown."
The follow-up about nostalgia could be misleading. After all, even though Tay-tania can't lie, it doesn't mean she can't misdirect.

Click to shrink...

True, and I wasn't thinking about that follow up part being the issue though it could be interpreted that way for sure.

 

[MitchMash]

And now for the song of my people:
Dooo~ noooot~ make~ deals with the bloo-dy fae

beautiful chapter tho, it's nice seeing revenge and (one sided) forgiveness

 

[MrStarbuck]

I'm not sure I like that Taylor is taking Emma's hair color unless you're planning to add it as streaks to her own color of black. One consistent thing that Taylor has always had is the love of her hair that she inherited from her mother. Even changed as she is in this story, I cannot see her changing her hair color completely.

Click to shrink...

I agree that she wouldn't simply change it to red, her mother given hair means too much to her. However think of it as basically a new hat that she can wear when she feels like it.

 

[ptbptb]

"This damned city! I swear there's got to be something in the fucking water."

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'to god' (or 'to God', depending how religious you're feeling, I guess).

Emma Barns leaned towards her vanity as she expertly applied a line of eyeliner.

Click to shrink...

"Do you know of Emma Barns?

Click to shrink...

Shadow Stalker saved her and Mr. Barns from an ABB mugging

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Barnes, although she may belong in a barn.

because I would be the PRTs prime suspect.

Click to shrink...

PRT's

 

[Windborne]

I agree that she wouldn't simply change it to red, her mother given hair means too much to her. However think of it as basically a new hat that she can wear when she feels like it.

Click to shrink...

Great! Though I wouldn't mind her (you) taking that multicolored hair trick I linked to and using it to tweak Emma's nose. That being said I'm getting serious Leah vibes ala Dresden Files if Emma is going to be working with Taylor. I can totally see Emma acting like Leah, transforming Sophia or Madison into dogs or cats to "protect" them.

 

[Orphiex]

Well. This is going in an interesting direction. And it's distinctly fair, too, which is a good sign when one is now Queen of the Fair Folk. (Yes, both meanings do apply.)

And it looks like Emma may have unintentionally given Taylor a major hint as to what she's up against:

The ideal that is keeping you together; predator and prey, is such a dull and simplistic idea that... That it is exactly what I am trying to fight against.

Click to shrink...

Not just in terms of what she hates or despises, but it basically describes the mechanistic processes of the shards themselves. She has an insight into the nature of her true enemy. That's gotta be worth something, even if it was obtained indirectly.

 

[BlackBaron]

I would think that taking Emma's hair color would leave her hair either a blank flat white or a dull gray in color since her hair color is such a distinctive feature of hers.

If she were to take the deal, Emma would need to be both useful, but still punished for her actions. Like giving her a power that is a power but it comes with a cost. Like she can exsit and move through shadows, but cannot leave them and it must be shadows not just a dark windowless room that's pitch black. There needs to be some light that exists in the area in order to provide shadows otherwise she cannot exist in that room. The same is true for a fully lit room. Just an idea.