What we fight for

Something I had in mind, just a silly quickie... which evolved into a trilogy. I have to stop letting that happen...

Part 1: What We Fight For




Taking in a deep breath, the tiny fairy flew around in circles for a moment, glittering within the blue mist. Then she turned towards a nearby bush.

"Coast's clear." she whispered, with an oddly low voice. Immediately, several other fairies sprang up from behind the bush, flying slowly behind their leader, whose long, crimson hair seemed to motion them to follow.

For anyone observing, those fairies had a strange manner to themselves. They were barely moving, and they all seemed mildly alarmed, yet grinning with an overzealous glee. Also, they were all floating around the same height in the middle of the forest.

"Hey, shouldn't we be dancing, frolicking, singing... I don't know, something?" one of the fairies behind the leader asked, sounding kinda uninterested. She was the shortest, with barely any features on her asian-ish skin, short black hair and narrow purple eyes.

"Mmm, that sounds like a good idea!" one of the fairies behind her pouted. She was another redhead, with four pigtails, specially pale, and wore a strange necklace. Then she pushed the complainer forward. The complainer gasped, but regained her balance, and turned around, still flying, despite she'd gotten the push right on her back.

"No fair!" the yellowish fairy squeaked, slamming right into the other one and catching her. Two other fairies next to them started cheering, the group as a whole stopped as they started making out.

That's when the first fairy finally turned around.

"What the fuck is wrong with you two!?" she growled.

"Can I help it if we both like girls?"

"It's healthy for us."

"After all, there are no men in our group..."

The leader coughed.

"There's a damn good reason for that."

"Yeah, boss doesn't like sharing the men with anyone else..." another fairy, this one farther forward, giggled, getting a glare. "What?"

The leader shrugged.

"Whatever, cut it out." she said. "Focus, or else we're not getting anywhere. This is the fucking Fairy Kingdom."

"Yay for fucking fairies!" a blonde next to him said. She wore a blue bodice.

Her glare suddenly shifted, she bit her lower lip. The group suddenly stopped, watching her eyes glow blue.

"Oh, shit, boss's got that look in her eye again." one of the troublemakers said, suddenly cowering.

"Sorry! We just got kinda carried away!" the other one said.

After a moment, the leader relaxed her features, and closed her eyes.

"Moving on. You all know the plan." she sighed, gifting her group with a smile. "Keep your eyes peel..."

Before she could finish, the leader was smacked in her back by something sticky, binding her wings together. She let out a gasp, and then a low bellow. Gritting her teeth, she reached behind herself, got a hold of the frog's sticky tongue, and, with a strength that was bellied by her size, pulled it closer, until she was even with the animal's surprised eyes.

"Big mistake there, buddy." she growled. After a moment of looking into its eyes, she smiled and it disappeared. Then she caught an odd look from her partners; in response, she gasped a little and then pat her belly. "Nevermind, we're not getting anywhere at this rate. Headcount. One?"

Five fairies on the back raised their hands.

"This's been the weirdest trip I've ever been to..." one in the middle of the other two exclaimed, her soft mauve hair drooping over her smooth shoulders. "And I've been tripping on everything..."

"Two?" she asked.

Twelve other fairies raised their hands.

"You still with me, Mad?" the leader asked.

The blonde fairy in a bodice nodded.

"How much longer do we have?"

"Long enough." 'Mad' smiled.

======

After a long enough time, Mad tapped the leader's shoulder. The leader turned, her straight antennae reaching almost as far as her arms.

"I've got a bad feeling..." Mad said. "Check our map?"

The leader looked her up and down.

"Alright." she sighed, a map appearing on the air in front of her. She frowned, and then grimaced. "Damn right you've been having a bad feeling..."

"Is anything wrong?" one of the fairies from group one asked. Her purple hair contrasted strongly with her slightly greenish skin.

"Shut up, you cunt, and let me do my job!" the leader growled. Then she sneered. "Damn right, a bad feeling... apparently, something found us. I wonder what that is, that has the gall to fuck with twenty..."

"You don't have to be so rude!" the back fairy protested.

Some of the fairies looked concerned and scared. But most of them actually managed to put on a relaxed expression, as if they'd been expecting it... and knew what to do about it.

"Well, come on, whoever you are, come out and let's play..." one fairy laughed. Rather than a pastiche of different colors, most of her was just uniform golden yellow, whether eyes, skin, hair, beetle wings, or antennae.

A low hum came from the theoretically empty area in front of them.

"Ghost." the leader spat. "Mad, break its spell, I'll slow it down."

The rest of the group quickly understood, except the five in the back. They still hadn't really gotten it.

"Ghost, as in, a person who died...?"

"Ghost as in run the hell away!" the golden fairy growled.

The leader made a quick gesture, while Mad pointed at the space in front of them. Both of them recited some arcane words, and then the group as a whole sped away from the colossal pair of red lips that suddenly materialized in front of them, pouting forwards and closing on the space where they used to be.

"Man I don't think I've ever ran this fast...!" the green-haired fairy let out, flying through the air.

"Shut up!" another fairy spat at him. "Really, shut up."

Behind them, the giant mouth licked its lips... and then smiled, disappearing.

======

"What the hell was that beauty?" a fairy with tan skin, brown hair, and large eyes asked, when the group was finally out of danger. She didn't look that scared.

"That was beautiful, but dangerous. Beauty is danger, danger beauty, that's all you know on Felarya and all you need to know." the leader growled.

"Hey, that's like the one by Keats, isn't it?" the brown-haired fairy smiled. "Nice variant."

"Right now, everything wants to kiss your ass goodbye." the leader spat. "It's not the time to compliment me on my reading. I'm feeling something from that direction..." she turned to face their left.

"Do we run again?" the brown-haired fairy shrugged.

"If you dunno what it is, you might as well not run here." the leader growled. "No, it's a dimensional disturbance... wait a minute." she said, floating towards some nearby bushes. "This could be important. Mad, keep an eye out there, okay?"

"Okay." Mad nodded, taking a deep breath. "Don't do anything weird, Flo..."

Flo's brow twitched for an instant. Then she floated through some foliage, which shook straight below her. This didn't seem to alarm her too much.

Eventually, she got to a clearing. And there, she contemplated her find.

"White pork", also known as humans, were a staple of the local diet here. Fairies gobbled them up all the time, but here, there were so many fairies that it was rare to find any without finding out that they were either protected by another predator, or, well, already preyed upon. But no one else had gotten to it first. And licking her lips, anticipating her satisfaction, Flo thought of her group. What would they think of this? Without inviting, without asking them? They never took to it well. Ah, well, being the leader had its perks, like people putting up with you.

The first human in sight (why was it the dimensional disturbances always brought in humans? That was one annoying trait they had. Oh, well, beggars can't be choosers.) was a healthily thick-bodied brunette with all the curves in the right places. You know the kind, only... thicker around the waist and juicy around the cheeks. Flo's mouth watered just from looking at her breasts, she wasn't sure when was the last time she saw such a rack on someone's chest. It was so huge, she wanted to help her carry them. And those hips... it was difficult not to undress her in her mind, though a trivial task nonetheless, with that snug shirt on her chest, the nipples almost poking out. The paleness in her face and limbs, barely covered by her patterned skirt, was that a pantyhose? And those shoes... well, she never looked at the shoes. For a moment, she looked at her scared expression, while her arms wrapped around her body. Wait, poking nipples, pale limbs, arms wrapped around her body, was she cold? Flo wanted to put her somewhere warm and nice, somewhere she could give her a long warm bath and scrub every inch of her skin with something rough and spongy, within a room lined in red and white. If only she could get another girl for that, with two it was even better.

Next to her, another fine masterpiece with a black ponytail. This one was taller, and it suited her slim figure better than fine. Her chest was a more moderate size, but everything else was trim, tan, and toned, issuing the statement that she'd worked hard for that body. Frankly, Flo thought it was worth it. She could only hope that woman did too. Her rear was barely covered by a pair of short jeans, cut and ripped around the height to leave unclothed her goosebumped thighs, perfectly unsuitable for anything that weren't what she was doing right now: drawing attention. She also had a purple T-shirt, and running shoes with red socks. Her eyes were brown, not that anyone was looking. Now if she could scrub those two together... that'd be great.

Younger than either of them but just as doable, another woman, maybe this one'd be fit for the term "girl" rather than young woman. She was pretty skinny all around, and kinda pale too, with bright orange hair. But it meant nothing when weighed against her attitude. Wearing nothing but a thick brown strip around her chest, and a short brown skirt around her hips, covered by like a million studs with different motifs... Flo would down this one with a smile, that's right. What she didn't have in attributes she more than made up in the attitude within those blue eyes. She didn't look scared.

But then Flo saw something right next to the first human, a little girl. All impure thoughts died where they stood. What she wanted to do to the young woman wasn't PG-13. And this one was clearly... oh, damn! Yes, if she wasn't thirteen, she was younger. The many similarities between their faces (which she wasn't really looking at) clearly showed those two were either sisters, clones, or mother and daughter. And that little girl already looked spooked, though her clothes were a bit better suited for the cold. She opened her mouth... damn, she was even missing one tooth. Now THAT was one hell of a way to throw the excitement out of the window. As a general rule, little kids weren't doable.

Angry at the little girl for having ruined an otherwise perfect moment, she floated up to the small group.

"Where... the fuck are we?" the orange-haired one asked.

"I really don't know..." the darker-colored one admitted.- But I think we're... high.

"High? How high?" the brunette murmured.

"Like LCD-high." the second woman said.

"Is that a fairy?" the kid asked, pointing at Flo.

Flo sighed. Looking at the expensive watch on the tan one, she realized this was going to be really, really difficult. Then she grimaced, realizing this COULD be a trap from these goddamn ghosts. She had to make sure those really were humans.

"Damn right, we're high..." the orange-haired one said.

The orange-haired girl was wearing a band around her chest, like it were a two-piece dress. But the group had all come together, and they weren't looking at each other to see if one of them knew anything. They had been together before coming in. Now, a dress that revealing suggested a warm location... and a party, probably.

"Erm..." Flo said, approaching them." You're lost, aren't you."

Trying not to be distracted by the sexy, Flo turned to the brunette. The one with a kid next to her. Probably they were at a party, but what kind of party was it for them to dress up like that? The ginger chick was wearing something very revealing, and there was a little girl with them? This was either really sick or an illusion...

"And what's it to you?" the orange-haired one exclaimed.

"Marissa, that's no way to..."

"She pops out of nowhere, I don't know if she's nice or maybe she just wants to eat us... and it's just the drugs, she doesn't exist!" 'Marissa' mouthed, smacking Flo upside down. Flo took the blow surprisingly well for her size, bouncing back to position with no bruises or anything, only a little ruffled hair.

"Holy shit..." the tan-skinned one sighed. Flo locked her paranoid eyes on her.

Were their clothes any indication, they had been indoors or at a party. The little girl hopefully suggested indoors. Grimacing, Flo continued, trying to buy herself some time.

"I get that a lot." Flo growled. "Now listen carefully, because this is a life-or-death matter. Do I have your attention?"

"Sorry about that..." the brunette chipped in.

"It's no problem, err..." the fairy sighed.

"I'm Daisy." the brunette answered.

"Don't tell her, you don't know what she's going to do with that!" Marissa chided her.

"Nice to meet you, Daisy. Marissa, let's cut it short. I want you to tell me exactly what the fuck were you doing when you suddenly appeared here."

"Who says we suddenly appeared here?" Marissa asked, raising her face defiantly.

"I'll fucking kill you if you trespassed into my property willingly." Flo answered, her face displaying a contemptuous grimace.

"Who are you to talk to me like that? Who says this is your property?"

"Shush, the grownups are talking." Flo said, turning to Daisy. "Now, answer."

Daisy took in a deep breath.

"We... I... I'm sorry for getting into your property... yes, we just appeared here, I was walking back home from the arcade with my little sister, we'd been having so much fun, we didn't notice, it was getting dark, so I stopped at her house." she pointed at Marissa. "I called a cab, then we heard the honk, we walked out to get in... and then... you know... where are we?"

"Oh, I see. You wouldn't happen to have a cellphone?" the fairy sighed. "There used to be signal where you were, wasn't it?"

"And what's it to you?" Marissa spat.

"Mind your words, young woman." Flo growled. "I'm around three times your age!"

"Really? You don't look fifty."

"Bet I don't look like a human being either, huh? Save me time. Check your cellphone."

Marissa raised her eyebrows in defiance.

"I have a cellphone..." Daisy said.

Flo's gaze fell upon her.

"Then why did you need to go into her house to call a cab?"

"I spent all my credit!" Daisy squeaked, scared. "Plus I like visiting my friends..."

"Oh. Nevermind then. And you are?"

"Petra." the tan-skinned woman replied, visibly dazed.

"Really? Would never have guessed."

"By the way, you are?"

"Call me Flo."

"No, if you don't mind... what are you."

"Oh... a mercenary." the fairy answered.

"The battery's dead." Marissa hissed.

"Just as expected. You, little girl?"

"I'm Wendy."

"Excellent." Flo replied. "Look, girls, it's freezing here. Why don't you come with me? I know a place not far from here, and it's going to get freezing soon."

"That sounds great!" Petra smiled.

"Wait, you're going to trust her just like that?" Marissa exclaimed.

Flo sighed.

"I want to explain, I really do..." she grimaced. "But this is a really long story, and no one ever believes it at first. Please, follow me. It'd mean the world to me."

"Wait, first, answer me a simple question. Where are we?"

"In a forest."

"That's not an answer. You're dodging..."

"Living Forest, southern side of the Fairy Kingdom, East of the Forest of Whispers. In Felarya." the fairy growled. "Does that help, now, will you stop making stupid questions, Marissa?"

Marissa let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Whatever!" she said. "I'm not moving from this spot until I get some clear answers!"

Flo grimaced.

"The answers won't be clear until LONG later. Now stop being a cunt unless you want to die."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I'm warning you! This place's dangerous, specially for moronic tarts who say the wrong things to the wrong people!"

Marissa looked really offended. She quickly grabbed the fairy.

"Who're you calling a moronic tart, huh?" she said, shaking the screaming fairy up and bending her in all the directions she was never meant to bend in. "Who's a moronic tart now?"

She expected the fairy to give up and start crying, mangled. She never expected the fairy to release herself, shove her arms off, and twist her arm behind her back. From midair. With a single hand.

"Arrgh, you're hurting me!"

"That's the idea..." Flo growled. "I'm trying to help you and what do I get, huh?"

"Okay, release her, please..." Petra cut in.

Flo let go of her. Marissa walked away.

"What's wrong with you, freak!?" she growled.

"What the fuck is wrong with YOU!?" Flo said. "Stop acting like a kid and come with me right now. Or I'll leave you there for some fairy to eat."

"Some fairy, eh? So you fairies eat people?" Marissa grinned.

"Marissa, seriously... we should listen to her..."

"Why?"

Flo smirked.

"Girls, if I force her to listen, do you promise not to freak out?"

Petra seemed desperate.

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Cool." Flo grinned, floating up to Marissa, who suddenly gasped and fainted. "Help me carry her?"

=======

A moment later, Flo had rejoined the fairies. With four humans in tow. One of which was literally in tow. The fairies around them looked at the humans, with mixed feelings. Most of them looked concerned.

"Flo..." Mad asked. "What the hell just happened?" she continued, looking at Marissa's body.

"Details, details!" Flo protested. "Look, Mad, those four are new here."

"You know we don't really have the time to explain, do you?" Mad replied. "This is one hell of a danger we're in, Flo, it's the goddamn Fairy Kingdom."

"But aren't you girls fairies?" Wendy said. "Can I fly with your wings' dust?"

Mad laughed a little.

"We're not your average fairies." she grinned.

"No, you're naked!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, but the thing is that there are other fairies in here. Who can eat you up in a blink." Mad grinned, floating up to the girl. "If they don't feel like doing naughty things first. What's your name?"

"I'm Wendy."

"Hi Wendy, I'm Mad." Mad grinned. "But you can call me Tinkerbell."

"Those are Petra, Daisy, and... Marissa." Flo said. "Marissa didn't want to trust me."

"You should've left her there..." Mad sighed. "I'm serious, Flo, why that one too? Now we're going to have to carry her..."

"First, it wouldn't have sit well with the others, not that you'd get it, kitty. And second, a mixed group will reinforce the notion that we're fairies."

"Wait a moment, so you're not...?" Flo flew up to Petra's mouth and placed her hand up to her lips.

"Not so high. If anything hears you, we're ALL as good as dead. I know, I know, you're in danger, it's never been like this before, but bear with me. Or die."

Petra pushed Flo's arm away from her mouth, and pursed her lips.

"You'll have to explain sooner or later, now would be a good time."

Flo looked around.

"Alright, you're in Felarya, which is a world, where fairies can eat people like you, and they do. Gladly. There's plenty of other things that eat humans, too."

"But if fairies eat people like me, why did you...?"

Once more, Flo put her hand to her lips. Then she winked.

"You almost say it before."

"Oh, I see." Petra said.

"I don't understand." Wendy said.

Flo looked at Wendy.

"Follow me, do everything I say, and don't talk to strangers." she finished, smiling.

Mad looked at Flo.

"That's one nice mess you've gotten us into, Flo..." she giggled.

Flo just rolled her eyes in response.

"Don't worry, as long as I'm here, I'll protect you from everyth-"

With perfect timing, a giant something fell from the canopy with a soft squelch, and grabbed both Petra and Daisy with two pale hands. Its antennae twitched greedily in its short hair as its mouth gasped in enthusiasm, shoving the two screaming morsels into her delicate mouth before everyone's eyes.

======

Flo was the first one to react.

"False moves." she mouthed, pointing at the newcomer. She was surprised at how easy it was to affect her; she almost opposed no resistance. She just let out a scream as the two morsels fell from her hands, thinking she'd eaten them already. Two fairies quickly ran towards position to catch the two of them, while another two pulled Marissa out of the battle. Bringing her greedy hands down again, she screamed as several darts pierced them. And then she withdrew, crying, her delicate hands stiff and immobile in pain.

That had been too easy...

Flo stepped back, looking at the newcomer. She was a hairless caterpillar from the waist down, though one at least eighty feet long. And a giant... girl... from the waist up, unmistakeably young, with a tiny round belly, short, stubby arms, and the kind of face only a soulless monster would ever hurt.

Right now, she was hunching away from her, and crying in pain, her hands off the humans, and bleeding through the many arrow wounds. The feeling of misery that came with watching this would've been enough to make her put a gun in her mouth and pull the trigger, had she brought a gun.

"We've gotta get away..." Mad pointed. "She's dangerous."

"It's just a little girl..." Flo mouthed. "We shot a little girl, Mad, we can't just get away with that."

Mad and the rest of the group were already a safe distance away, looking at Flo with worried and scared eyes.

"Flo, we need you with the group." Mad said. "You're one of our best."

Flo looked at the girl, then at his group. His group was the reason he was here, to guide five people to Sunfall Thicket. Now this little girl would've probably gobbled her up without a second thought weren't it she thought she was a fairy, matter of fact she was close to probably having eaten Flo anyway. But she needed them. Not that it was her problem, but it could cause problems in the long term...

Grimacing, Flo decided to abandon the crying tauric caterpillar.

"You're right, bo... girls." Flo sighed, moving away from the baby. "Let's go."

And then, what she never expected happened. Daisy, while still winded and catching her breath, shaking in fear, and clutching herself, several buttons in her shirt popped by the sudden pressure of the giant baby's brutal hands, hair ruffled in the fall... let out a last gasp and then collected herself.

"E... excuse me..." Daisy interrupted. "Are we... just leaving her there?"

"Yes, she'll be fine."

"But... she's hurt, and she's a baby!"

"She just tried to eat you, she's a big girl."

"But doesn't it come naturally to her? You said everything ate humans..."

"You're too good for your own good, girl." Flo growled. "If you don't leave her there, she'll eat you."

"Maybe if we talk to her..." Daisy grimaced. "We can't just leave her there, it's wrong!"

"Damn right we can, and it's the right thing to do, too." Flo interrupted. "Now we better get going, her cries ARE going to attract something. It's a defense mechanism, you hurt the baby and its mother will rip your head off so that you don't do it again."

"You should listen to her, Daisy..." Petra cut in. "I wouldn't be too happy if I were that baby or her mom..."

"But... we can't abandon a baby all by itself in the forest!" Daisy cried. "Can't we ask it to come with us?"

Flo sighed.

"I know what you're feeling, it was tough for me at first too. But it's like that here. The norm here isn't good will for everyone: to that thing you're just a wild animal." Flo sighed again, seeing her words didn't even dent Daisy's stubbornness. "Wild game, easy game. Candy-coated, easy wild game. Come on. She's probably lived for a dozen years without our help and she can pull through a dozen more."

"But... but she's hurt! Do we really have to be like that?" Daisy cringed.

"Or die." Flo shook her head. "Look, we can't, take my word on this one..."

"Are you sure there's nothing we can do?"

"Yes." Flo grimaced.

Daisy shook her head.

"But we can't leave it like this! We can't just go and abandon this kid to save ourselves! I would never do that to Wendy!"

"Can you do what you did to Marissa?" Petra asked, obviously still winded.

"It's already hard to carry one person, we're just twelve." Mad shook her head.

Flo grimaced, looking into Daisy's eyes. Then she looked into Wendy's eyes.

Daisy was right, in a way. Children were children. And this one was a mortal danger to those witless arrivals. All the same, abandoning a little kid was abandoning a little kid. It was the right thing to do.

But Flo didn't want to do the right thing in front of Wendy. This was a cruel world, but Flo was there to make sure it wasn't as cruel as it would be. They'd seen its feral side already, with something out of the blue coming for them, and they took it so well... maybe there was still hope for them. The real cruelty of it would have to wait.

That didn't mean she wanted to be a pussy about it, though.

"Daisy, do you promise that you'll go with them, keep your trap shut for the rest of the way, and do as you're told if I help this... abomination?" Flo asked, glaring.

Daisy sighed.

"Alright, I'll do it."

"Good. I'll help her."

"Flo, you can't be serious..."

"Call me Locust, please." Flo said, standing back. "Thanks for the help, Mad. Think you can make it to the checkpoint without me, Sena?"

"Without you...? What's this travesty, Locust?" Mad asked.

"We could, but think carefully about what you're doing..." the golden-skinned fairy said, behind Mad.

"That'd be awesome." Flo nodded. "Get going once and for all. No stops from this point on! I'll meet you there."

"Okay. Take care, Locust." Mad said. Then the blonde fairy saluted, to which Flo responded with another salutation, before turning around and leaving.

"Come on, let's go." Mad chuckled, tugging on Daisy's hand.

"Huh? Oh, right..." Daisy took a step forward, and then gasped in pain.

"Is anything wrong?"

"My ankle!" Daisy squeaked. "I think I sprained my ankle."

"Take off your shoes." Flo sighed.

"What?" Daisy asked, looking surprised.

"I said TAKE OFF YOUR DAISY, SHOES. NOW!"

"Not to rain on your parade, but..." Petra began. Flo turned around to glare at her.

"Do what I'm telling you and fuck whatever you think you know." Flo bellowed. "You said you'd obey me, so..."

"No, expl..."

"Take it off, bitch!" Flo grunted.

"Okay!" Daisy grimaced, taking off her shoes. "You don't have to talk to me that way!"

Flo motioned at two fairies, who quickly got under her arms and started pulling her up. Then the rest of the group moved away.

"You know, Locust... my illusion won't hold for long after I'm gone. Are you sure you'll be okay?" Mad asked, finally.

"No, but I'm sure they will be, with you." Flo sighed. "Take good care of them, will you? We rarely get to actually SAVE anyone... and if I don't make it back, tell Lorelei that she's the next one in charge."

Mad nodded.

"Take care." she finished, leaving. The rest of the group disappeared in the brush, while Locust himself turned around and went towards the caterpillar girl. For a moment, all that Locust wanted was that someone else came and took care of this. That way, he'd be sure everything was fine and could go back to hide with the rest of the group. Come to think of it, he could simply escape. But if the caterpillar's mother ever appeared, it was best someone was close by to lie about what happened.

Floating towards the caterpillar, Mad's illusion ended, showing Flo for what she really was: a fat, short guy with coarse auburn hair, rosy spots in his fat cheeks, a twitchy mouth, wearing a green camo suit, carrying a backpack and wearing a sock puppet of a redhead fairy in one hand. Four magical letters emblazoned in his chest made him a sight for sore eyes, whether prey or predator in the world of Felarya.

For different reasons, of course. He put the puppet in his pocket, and pulled something from his backpack, a round, small, stout shield studded with long spikes. And a whip.

I must be nuts, he thought to himself.

No, scratch that.

I'm not insane, I'm just clinging to my humanity. For those who can't.

======

The giant caterpillar was crying really loud, and really hard, tears streaming from her round, squinting eyes. Her tummy hurt, she knew she shouldn't have tried to eat those fairies' friends, but she was really hungry, and she couldn't hunt, and her mommy wasn't there, and she was hungry. And now she knew they were mad at her, and she was hungry, and it wasn't fair! They'd hurt her hands, too, now how was she supposed to eat anything!? Her mommy hadn't shown up in two days already with anything to eat! Mommy had been angry before leaving, she was angry at her! But she'd come back, but she hadn't come back, and she was scared, and hungry! And now her hands hurt like her tummy!

And then she felt someone put her arms around her. Feeling their warmth around her body, their soft-yielding pressure, she was relieved that someone cared.

And then she cried harder.

"It's okay, it's okay." she heard someone whisper in her ear. "It's okay. I'm here right now." she softened her crying into sobbing. "Why are you crying? Are you sad, little girl? Why are you all alone here in the forest?"

The caterpillar looked into the newcomer's eyes, and then, with a grimace, shrank away from the friendly face, with golden eyes and long, red hair.

"Hands huwt. Hun... gwy. Whew mommy?" she answered. The newcomer's face hardened in anger for a moment. "You... mad?"

Flo closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. The caterpillar sobbed, looking back into her eyes.

"Sowy."

"Don't be, little girl. I'm Flo."

"Fo." the caterpillar mouthed.

"What's your name?"

The caterpillar sobbed. And then she looked away.

"What's your name? Please, can you tell me? I want to know your name. I want to be your friend."

The caterpillar shook her head, her face turning quickly from a surprised expression, to a pouting one, to a grimace, to right back near the edge of crying.

"Sowy."

"It's okay, it's okay. Maybe you don't have a name yet." Flo said, her arms pressing her tighter. "Do your hands hurt? Let me see them."

Her gentle fingers wrapped around her arms, drawing them softly lower and lower.

"We'll have to take those arrows out." Flo sighed into her ear.

"Huwts!"

Flo stepped away, and then sat in front of her, sitting down, eye level with her, even if standing up she was so much taller.

"That's okay. Close your eyes now, please, and tell me, what do you like eating?"

"Umm..." the caterpillar mouthed, closing her eyes. "Umm, ike wange fwuit, ike nekos... ike eves, ike humans, ike towtoise much, ike eves, ike nekos, ike humans, ike wed fwuit," She stopped to take breath. "and ike blue fwuit, ike nekos. Ike elves, not much. Ike humans much. Ike wed animal much, ike black animal."

Locust labored with his teeth grit, while the illusion kept the colossal baby content, even as he pulled (very carefully) every arrow out of her hand. Not that he particularly minded her mentioning that she liked humans, nekos or elves. The problem was how she said it. That creature hadn't been taught how to speak, she was just mouthing out sounds that she had managed somehow to associate with concepts. He wondered what the hell that thing was, it was nothing he'd seen before. Once he was done, he cleaned her wounds and bandaged her hands.

"I'm done!" Flo beamed. "Here, look at your hands!"

The caterpillar opened her eyes.

"No huwts!" she beamed. "Zankyu!"

"You're welcome, little girl." Flo smiled, standing up.

Locust sighed, a world lifted off his shoulders. He had succeeded in not doing the right thing, and living. Or rather, on fixing things after doing the right thing. For the children.

Knowing he had hurt a fairy was okay in his book. They were... irrational things. Trying to judge them was useless, trying to preserve them was merely a formality. He preferred not to kill them, knowing that retribution bred satisfaction but an equal amount of hate, as the most beautiful Lily easily proved... albeit, frankly, it made no difference. With hate or without it, predators did the same thing.

And he was not sure about this last one, but it was nice to think mercy bred mercy. Hopefully, one day this thing, whatever it was, would remember his example. Hopefully, what he did today would help at least one person live... hopefully, this act of wrongness would save a life other than hers. Hopefully she'd learn to praise virtue and not the virtuous, hopefully one day she'd help someone in need.

And that was a lot of hope for such a little act but a man could dream. Raising his eyes to meet the caterpillar's, he smiled briefly. Her eyes were locked on the illusion, but he could still see the kind of eyes that seem to promise that all your hopes for the future will come true. She'd never know he existed... only the example would remain. Hopefully, that would be enough.

He turned around, and had Flo turn around as well.

"Be seeing you." Flo giggled at the larva.

The larva let out a screeching pitch. At first, Locust discarded it as baby talk. Then he understood.

But it was too late.

"NONONO DON GO!" she screeched, pouncing on Flo, losing her balance, and falling on top of the mercenary. He let out a short curse as she rose again, cradling the man in her hands, opening her salivating maw, grateful for the parting gift even if the nice fairy had just disappeared. Looking into her eyes, Locust's blood froze and boiled at the same time as he realized he needed to act very quickly to get out of this one...

Part 2: Breaking News


Away from Locust and a very personal crisis, Petra, Daisy, Wendy and Marissa had a new world to cope with. And eighteen fairies to start with.


The first thing Daisy realized was that her sprained ankle didn't hurt as much. She looked down at her foot, wondering for a moment why was that. One of the fairies had given her first aid, doing a pretty good job, but she'd sprained her ankle before and it had never been this good. She was also surprised at how massive the fairy under her arm felt.

Well, she knew they weren't fairies. However, "not a fairy" was quite a broad cathegory, it included everything they knew of, and everything they didn't know of, such as the impossible creature that had just assaulted them. A gigantic caterpillar who was a little girl from the waist up.

Marissa would never have believed it. She'd have believed it was either animatronics, or drugs. She'd been quick to point at the drugs. Which was an explanation Daisy herself was inclined to believe, even despite the fact she'd never done any. This was probably just a trip she'd wake up from.

"So, huh..." one of the fairies before her mumbled. "Some day, eh?"

Daisy looked at the fairy. She was quite odd-looking, pretty skinny, almost white, with pointed ears, two segmented antennae out of her forehead, and a mane of black hair. Her brown eyes were located a bit further down Daisy's face than was comfortable. Looking down, Daisy realized most of the buttons in her shirt had popped during the violent grab, leaving her cleavage for everyone to enjoy.

She raised her arm to cover herself up.

"Haha, should've gotten a bigger shirt." the fairy giggled. Then she sighed. "I wish I had that problem myself."

Daisy was about to take a deep breath, but she decided not to.

"Umm... thank you."

"Still shaken, eh?" the fairy asked, flitting back, until she was sitting on her shoulder. "You know what, sod ol' Flo. If you've got any general questions, right now's as good a time as any."

Daisy's mouth was dry. She salivated a little, trying to understand the situation.

"So... you said everything ate humans...?" she said. "Like... animals?"

"Is that what Flo said? Oh, actually, no. Only what can eat them eats them." the fairy giggled.

"I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"My name? Oh, um... call me Marcy!" the fairy giggled.

"Is that your real name?"

"Ummm... no?" Marcy giggled. "But it'll do for now."

Daisy's mouth trembled.

"So what's wrong? Spit it out! Come on, tell me." Marcy asked, grinning. "I don't bite..."

"That... thing..."

"I think it's a fairy larva."

"Uh?" Daisy asked, bewildered.

"You see, fairies are like butterflies... they lay eggs, out come the larvas, and then comes the cocoon, and finally... pretty!" Marcy giggled.

"I... don't understand..."

"Neither do I." Marcy grinned. Then she pouted, putting a finger on her mouth. "I had never seen one that size, though... I wonder why?"

Daisy shrugged. Marcy let out a happy giggle on her shoulder.

"Was it... really... going to..."

Marcy looked on interested.

"Was it really going to eat us...?" Daisy asked, with a saddened expression on her face.

Marcy looked down.

"Oh, I see... I thought we'd gotten over this already. Yes, it was." Marcy said, her expression hardening.

Petra turned to them.

"Why?" she asked.

Marcy flitted out of Daisy's shoulder to perch herself on her other shoulder, closer to Petra.

"Because it's hungry. I thought Flo had been clear about this... there's no more to it, girls. It was going to eat you, that's that."

"But how can she do that?" Daisy asked, putting both her arms over her chest, fingers on her collarbone, covering herself up a little more. "How?"

Marcy's lip twitched. She sighed between her teeth.

"Well..." she raised her gaze. "I think... babies will put anything in their mouths, you know."

"So when it grows up..." Daisy asked, smiling. "It... it won't... right?"

Marcy frowned.

"You already know the answer, I'm afraid. Now don't be dense for the sake of it. That thing'll grow up to be a predator, and then it'll eat every human it finds."

"But it's a fairy..." Daisy pouted.

Marcy sighed and shrugged.

"Hey, Sasa!" she giggled. "Get your fuzzy ass here!"

One of the fairies turned around. She didn't look particularly distinctive... no, scratch that. This fairy had a dark complexion and a huge mane of black hair. She flitted over to Marcy.

"Hmm?" she asked, smiling.

"Someone here needs to be acquainted with the concept of predation."

Sasa opened her mouth, revealing two horribly sharp canines. Petra grimaced. The fairy sat on Petra's shoulder.

"I don't remember giving you permission to perch on my shoulder..." Petra frowned.

"Petra, why are you being so uptight?" a voice came from another fairy sitting on her other shoulder. This one had the features of a white moth on a caucasian black-haired woman. "They mean well!"

Sasa stood up.

"No, Petra." she whispered in her ear. "You can't trust them! They're just waiting for the right moment to pounce on you, and then they'll eat you all! You have to run if you want to save your friends!"

"Eh?" Petra asked, grimacing.

"Don't give in to your fears!" the fairy on her other shoulder whispered. "You have to trust these fairies!"

"But they aren't human!" Sasa whispered. "They admitted they eat people!"

"What the hell's wrong with you!" Petra finally broke down. The fairies both floated out of her shoulder, and nodded.

"Sorry, that usually cheers people up." Sasa replied. "Anyway..."

"Picture this." the white-moth fairy said, floating up to Daisy. "Imagine a bar, and there's this guy on a corner. He looks cute, really cute... you with me?"

"Hm." Daisy hummed, affirmatively.

"Great! You see him? He's sooo cute... but when you look at him, you really don't know what he's like inside. there's only one thing you're sure he's going to be good for, and even THAT you've gotta find out." Sasa continued. "You could be in for a disappointment, he could be a rapist, or he could not be into condoms..."

"But I can't assume that!" Daisy said. "I wouldn't eat him!"

Sasa and the white-winged fairy both looked at each other and giggled.

"I didn't say you would, silly!" Sasa said. "Like we were saying, you look at him, you only want one thing... and guess what, he's going to give it to you!"

"We've got one for you too if you want!" Marcy said, looking at Petra, who seemed quite uncomfortable with this.

"Leave me alone." Petra snorted.

"Geeze, yer no fun."

"I... don't really like guys..." Daisy said.

Sasa and Marcy looked at each other.

"Neither do we!" they giggled. Then Sasa continued. "Now, as I was saying, let's imagine for a moment... that there was a way in which you could get what you wanted and then you wouldn't have to worry in the morning about what kind of slime he could be."

"I'm still not eating him."

"Then let's make it a girl! Any better?" Marcy asked, giggling.

"I wouldn't eat another person!"

"Again, I never said you would!" Sasa grinned. "Let's try again. There's this girl in a bar, and she's all alone and so cute..."

"...that I'd eat her right up?" Daisy said, seemingly annoyed.

Sasa sighed.

"Girl, don't flatter yourself so much. It's getting annoying. It's not about whether you would eat someone, you wanted to understand, and you're not working with me." she said.

"Now, whatever you make of this, they'd eat you if you were wrinkled old and ugly too." Marcy added.

"Can I continue with my analogy?" Sasa asked.

Daisy shrugged.

"Okay. Like I was saying, there's this girl. You want only one thing with her, and there's nothing wrong with wanting it. I NEVER SAID YOU WANTED TO EAT HER. Let's assume you're in this for a one-night fling, because you're into that sort of stuff. Note how I NEVER SAID YOU WANTED TO EAT HER. Now in the morning, once you two get up, you'll both be parting ways. See how I NEVER SAID YOU WANTED TO EAT HER?" Sasa asked, smiling.

Daisy nodded.

"Cool." Sasa replied. "Now, once you part ways, it's no longer your problem, right? In a week from now you won't even remember her name... and you'll never ever think about her again. You with me so far?"

Daisy took a deep breath. Then she nodded.

"Cool. Now let's say you've enjoyed this woman, who, you don't bother to remember this, is a race car driver. Now, one day, sometime in the future, she has an accident at work and dies. Not any of your business, is it?"

"What are you getting at?"

"That's my cue to speed up, isn't it?" Sasa grinned. "For all you care, her life isn't your problem anymore. All you did was having some fun, and then she died on her own. Now, it's the same with most predators. They're just having breakfast, whatever happens to you comes with your territory."

"So we're just food?" Petra cut in, grimacing.

"If it's any consolation, I know you're more than just food." Marcy said.

Petra grimaced.

"This doesn't make sense..." she said. "It... doesn't make sense..."

The white-winged fairy looked at Petra.

"Let me try to make it make sense, then." she grinned, flitting up to Petra's face. "Let's say... you are walking on your way home. You're hungry. More than hungry, you're starving, you've been on a diet, everything you eat is a morsel the size of your finger. And then you see a twinkie on the ground!"

"I don't eat things from the floor." Petra protested.

"I know, that'd be sick." the white winged fairy grinned. "So you see this twinkie, and suddenly it opens on its own. Out comes... a little guy!"

"I'm not really interested in..."

"Oh come oooon! Pleeease?" the white-winged fairy asked. "So you see this little guy, all made of chocolate. And he looks up at you and says 'Alas! 'tis be a land of giants indeed! Fair maiden... no, fair monster, what's thou business in zese lands of mine?' he asks. And then you open your mouth. And he yells 'oh have mercy on me! It is not mine choice that I hath been borne of mould!'"

Petra cracked a smile.

"You see? Now let's say he's Australian! He's Australian and made of chocolate, what's there not to like? And you have to look at him and say... seriously, he's three inches tall and sounds like an Aussie. Is this REALLY a person? Or is it just a funny twinkie? Is it the missing link between twinkie and person? Probably his genes help combat obesity worldwide simply by finding out how to remove twinkies from people!" the fairy giggled.

Petra smiled.

"I still don't know if I would..."

"Well, that's the gist of it, Petra. You just have to get over the certainty that they're people with lives as important as yours, wrap your lips around their body, taste the humanity, and then gulp. For things the size of that larva, every little bit of meat helps, and they probably have enough friends. Also, they go around eating only things that they can swallow whole and alive, everything else is just too risky to attack." the white-winged fairy finished.

"It's still insane..." Daisy commented.

Marcy nodded.

"Then I'll have to try explaining it myself." Marcy said. "First of all, you perceive me with your eyes, right? Daisy? You can see me, I presume?"

"Yes, obviously."

"Now look, Marcy. If you close your eyes, you can still hear me. But, without your eyes there to guide you, you have no idea what colours I have, or what size I am."

"I can kinda tell you're small..."

"Great. Now let's say that I turn around, and you find a zipper running up and down my back. Would you still consider me a person after that?"

"At this point, yes."

Marcy nodded.

"Well, let's say... that the first thing you knew was that I smelled like food. How would THAT be?"

"Even if I were hungry, I wouldn't eat you."

"Good to know. Now let's say that it was both the first and the last thing you knew, with nothing in-between. Let's say I wasn't talking, let's say I was chirping. Would you eat me if I were just a bird, incapable of speech, or even resembling you?"

"Mm... probably, yes."

"Now let's say you were so hungry that you wouldn't listen to anyone talking. You wouldn't hear your friends, Petra or Marissa, if they told you not to eat something. Would you listen to a complete stranger?"

"I'd say... it depends."

"Wise choice. Now, if you knew I was edible, and sentient, you would sooner not eat me than do. I was there too, once I was really happy about all the non-human intelligent life thing. But the thing is, here, sentience isn't a human thing. Many of the things that go around here are sentient, and to their predators, who are sentient as well, the fact that their food is sentient is not really important. Not when they're hungry. You, my dear lady, overrate sentience, and that's not the healthy thing to do here."

Daisy sighed.

"I think I understand..."

Marcy nodded.

"Many predators have a special sense that tells them what is edible and what isn't. Theirs is a simple life, mostly based around eating and not getting eaten. But most of the time, they're little more than hungry animals, sentience only making them worse. We keep that in mind. You wanted to know what we are?"

Daisy nodded.

"We are Eff Oh Oh Dee." Marcy grinned. "Acronym for 'Fuck off or die'. We know what we are to everything in this place, and we have accepted we can't change how we are seen or thought of."

The group stopped.

"But mostly..." Marcy grinned. "we are mercenaries."


======


The first one to notice something amiss had been Sena, the one disguised as a golden fairy. She quickly recoiled as she saw something emerge from the ground, crossing into the air without so much as a ripple. A bubble of silvery blue light, followed by several tendrils. She backed off quickly, but the medusa followed. Another fairy pointed at the ghost, and two arrows flew out of its hand, driving right through the monster, which quickly grew still. The fairy grinned, its special arrows having performed just as expected.

But then dozens of these medusas started flowing out of the ground!

"CLEAR WAY!" Sena yelled, raising her hand towards one group of medusas. Arrows flew out and then pierced the monsters, while the rest of the group did the same thing, nearly a dozen arrows sinking into the medusas.

"FOLLOW THROUGH!" the golden fairy yelled, as it ran towards the opening they had just created. The group started running towards the path recently cleared, ignoring the rapidly closing amoeba-like monsters on both sides, with a smaller group, composed of the four humans and the five fairies who looked the most scared, in the center.

"Flo'd be really convenient right now... If we lose a single man, I'm killing that nimrod myself..." Sena grumbled, rapidly flitting away from the cloud of predators. Four of the fairies suddenly went all the way into the back of the group, and somehow placed one large gnarled wooden cane on the ground each, each with a dreamcatcher-like design on top. The medusas hit the webs, and then bounced away. Then they proceeded around the webs.

"What wouldn't I give for a holy hand grenade!" Sena grunted. "What do we do now!? They're too many!"

Mad looked back at them.

"This." she grinned, producing a staff from her hair. Then she pointed the staff in the general direction of the monstrous group. And a gigantic gout of blazing white fire followed.

By the time the smoke cleared, Sena looked at Mad with her mouth agape.

"Am I good or what?" she asked, grinning.

Sena sighed.

"No, you are worth ten times your weight in gold, it's been twice already that you save our hides just today."

"Ah, if only you girls were paying me ten times my weight in gold..." Mad chuckled. "But it's okay, you're almost as good to me as I deserve... comes with babysitting all you tough girls."

Sena bit her lip and shook her head.

"Let's go."

"Why the hurry? You still haven't begun telling me how awesome I am." Mad chuckled, as the group proceeded on. "Also, it costs a hundred skevols to get one shot out of this thing..."

Then Daisy screeched.

"What's wrong?"

"Marissa... isn't here!" Daisy screeched. "Where's she?"

"Right there!" one of the fairies said, pointing upwards. Looking up, Daisy could only scream.

"It's got her!" Wendy screeched.

Mad grimaced, trying to think of something. One of the ghost medusas had Marissa, who was slowly starting to disappear as well, the invertebrate's tendrils wrapping around her form, slowly making her body transparent as glass while the medusa's head stretched in anticipation of its meal...

"Quickly, fly up and rescue her!"

"Can't do, we can't fly that high..."

"Then shoot her!"

"She's got Marissa, it'll hurt her too!"

"I can try!" Marcy cut in, suddenly changing to human size. Then she pointed a small bow with a large arrow at the medusa, or at Marissa, and took a step to correct position.

"No, you'll kill her!" Daisy screeched, trying to tackle Marcy. Just before she got there, Marcy let the arrow fly. With barely a second to spare, the arrow pierced the medusa's head, formed two exit wounds, and made its wriggling tendrils release its catch. Marissa slowly floated down to the ground, half-transparent.

Daisy quickly moved up to her, trying to catch her. She let out a short scream, realizing her friend was now incorporeal and moved freely through her arms. Mad quickly moved up to Daisy.

"Here, let me try..." Mad said, placing her hands around Marissa. With a little effort, Mad made her fully opaque. Oddly enough, this also woke her up. And then she fell the rest of the way to the ground, hitting the back of her head.

"Ouch!" Marissa protested. "What the hell was that for... where's that redhead? I've gotta..."

"Marissa, you're okay!" Daisy sighed, cradling her. "You got us worried for a minute."

The white-winged fairy turned to Petra, smiling.

"You stopped trying to make sense of this a long while ago, didn't you."

Petra stared blankly at her.

"Nah, I mean... I haven't seen you cry, or laugh, or anything, you're pretty quiet. Just like Wendy."

"I know everything will be okay." Wendy said, smiling. The fairy didn't dare ask whether she really believed it or not.

"What... what happened?"

"A ghost medusa ate you." Daisy said. "But you're okay now."

"Oh, I see... where's that redhead? Flo, I think. She better..."

"She left, after we were attacked by a giant half-caterpillar, Marcy thinks it's a fairy larva..."

"Looks like I missed out quite a lot, didn't I?" Marissa grunted. "Let me get up... and now, you're going to tell me..."

"...to get going." Sena, the golden fairy, interrupted her. "We have to keep moving! We'll never get there at this rate!"

Marissa glared at the fairy. Then she put her hands forward. The fairy smiled.

"Flo's very nice compared to me." Sena answered, suddenly putting her whole body forward, towards Marissa's face. "So why don't you try not to make an ass of yourself any more?"

"You are going to tell me..."

"Every answer will only lead to another question. We're going somewhere safe, and that's all you need to know." Sena roared.

"No. You're going to tell me, right here, and right now, where we are."

Sena pursed her lips. Then she turned to another fairy.

This one was smaller than the rest, but a little more voluptuous. She had black short hair, and a stern expression.

"You still have some of that gerridi poison?" Sena asked. "Looks like someone needs their reality checked. Very quickly."

"Do you want to waste it on this broad?" the other fairy asked, her expression growing nearly disdainful.

"All four of them." Sena said. "It'll save us lives."

"Wait, you're not going to poison anyone! If you poison me, I'll scream at the top of my lungs, and scream, and scream..."

Sena smiled.

"Actually that's kind of the impression we want to give. Mora."

The stern fairy nodded, and frowned, glaring at the humans.

"Look, no need to poison anyone, we're cooperating..." Daisy blurted. "Marissa, they mean it! Don't provoke them!"

"I already got eaten by a medusa today and knocked out by a fairy, how can it get woAH!" she screeched, feeling something prick her belly button. She pulled out a dart. "Who fired thiiiisss...?" she mouthed, as the world around her rose higher and higher.

She gasped and fell on the ground, bewildered, flipping around and realizing she'd just landed on some grass. When she looked to the side, she saw a gigantic wall of... Daisy's shoe. Looking up, and up, and up her skirt, and up her shirt, and up into her eyes, she finally got it. A little scream followed as Daisy bent down to reach for her.

"No, don't...!" Marissa screamed. Then she felt Daisy's fingers brutally wrap around her waist, and hoist her up like a rollercoaster, bringing her level with a mouth that could easily accomodate her a dozen times over. Looking up into her friend's cyclopean left eye, unable to see both at the same time, she shuddered at the sound of her familiar voice.

"Marissa... you're tiny..." she mumbled.

"No, you're huge! Now put me down!" Marissa spat.

Daisy smiled.

"You're kind of cute, you know..." she brought her other hand towards Marissa's hair.

"Hey, watch those fingers!" Marissa cried, squirming powerlessly in her grasp. Daisy wasn't minding where her fingers were, she had her hand wrapped all over the wrong places.

...but before she got anywhere, Mora walked up to Daisy, and looked down at the ginger chick. Now that she had her feet on the ground, she had taken Marissa's original size... and inverting the relation had sure given Marissa one hell of a scare.

"So..." the fairy cooed, her breath rolling over her back, sending shivers down her spine. "Will you be good?"

"Uh..." Marissa had never wanted to deal with a situation like this one before. She'd never prepared for it, either. And frankly, she wouldn't have ever taken it seriously if mentioned. Unfortunately, it was reality now. And all she had in herself, all that rang true, was defiance.

Unable to decide whether she should laugh or cry, Marissa put on a worried smile.

"Change me back... now!" she said, without much hope.

"Oh, if you won't be good..." the fairy said, placing her hands around her. Daisy jerked her hand away.

"Look, don't..."

"Oh, what the hell." the fairy said. A moment later, both Daisy and Petra felt a sting on their side. To Petra, this was too much to take in. To Daisy, she was still not even close to saturation; she felt Marissa grow larger and larger in her hand, until they were both around the same size.

"So I'm kind of cute?" Marissa smirked, looking down at Daisy. Seemingly, she'd been given more, as she barely came up to Marissa's waist.

"Uhm, look..." Daisy mumbled, trying to explain what had come over her. That's when they were both picked up from the ground, screaming, and placed inside a jar, where Petra was already in.

"Was that necessary?" Mora asked. "Do you want some too, little girl?" she asked, turning to Wendy.

"She'll be fine! Wendy, do whatever they tell you to!" Daisy cried. Wendy looked up at Mora, and shook her head quickly.

"Good. Let's get moving then." Sena said. "I don't know how comes it we're not all eaten yet!"

Mora looked into the jar.

"Uhm... when are we going back to normal?"

"When you take the antidote." Mora answered, calmly. "Or rather, when I give it to you."

======

Finally, the group arrived at the right spot. Sena checked the trees... they were all small, check. There was a dry spring, check. A circle of stones, check. The sun was high in the sky, check. Rose bush, check.

Sena sighed, and moved up to one of the trees. There, she pushed one gnarled knot, and a lamprey's maw appeared in midair. Wendy gasped.

"Don't worry." Sena replied. "It looks like that to scare the fairies out."

Damn, it could scare anyone out. That maw was huge, lipless, perfectly round, in raw flesh, decorated with spikes, a snaky, slimy tongue, and smelled acrid, moist and warm. Slavering and merciless, a low whirr came from it, with an occassional growl, as it frantically surveyed the meals set before it.

"Everyone ready?" Sena asked. "Jump in."

Mad was the first to jump in. Marcy followed. Then Mora, Sasa, the one with white wings, and one by one, all the fairies disappeared down the mouth, until only Sena and Wendy remained. Wendy was gasping, mesmerized at the sight.

"Don't wet yourself, kid." Sena smiled. "Now go into my little friend!"

Sena grinned, suddenly grabbing Wendy, hoisting her up, despite the mass difference, and throwing her inside the maw. Her cry of terror was stifled as Sena jumped in too. Once all were inside, the maw itself disappeared without so much as a poof of smoke.

======

One by one, the fairies flew out of a small tunnel. Wendy walked out, too, surprisingly dry for someone who had just gotten eaten alive. She had her mouth open, and her breath held, as if she was on the verge of letting out a long, long scream.

Sena flew out behind her.

"Here we'll answer any questions you have." she smiled. "You've been a brave girl."

Wendy blinked.

"You can scream now if you want."

"Thanks, fairy. WAAAAAAAAARRRGH!"

Sena let out a chuckle.

"Girls will be girls..." she mumbled, seeing something approach from the woods before her.

This creature was one of the most bizarre in Felarya.

It had the hindquarters of a tiger, the thick body of a horse, and the head of an elephant, trunk and everything. But its arms were those of an ape, ending in a tiger's clawed paws again, and it walked along the ground dragging them. From the ground to the top of the head, it was covered in fine golden fur, and had to be at least twelve feet tall, even hunched as it was.

It bent down to look into the girl's eyes. And in its eyes... its eyes were jet black, so human, and so ancient, so wise. It blinked several times, and then somehow managed to produce a smile.

"You've been a brave girl indeed." it spoke, with the voice of an old sage. "What's your name?"

"I'm... I'm Wendy."

"Hello, Wendy. You can call me Ted."

"Oh, hi, Ted..." she mumbled.

Ted nodded slowly.

"You want to ask what am I, don't you?"

She nodded, slowly, visibly horrified.

"Don't worry, I don't mind. I'm a friend." it chuckled. "I'm a shirokinukatsukami. Do you play Pokemon?"

Wendy shook her head slowly.

"That's a pity, I love Pokemon. Drowzee is modeled after a shirokinukatsukami, you know?" Teddy chuckled.

"And... what are shiro... kami?"

"Eaters of dreams! We hunt down evil spirits!" Ted chuckled, leaning back up. "Follow me, now, you all must be tired..." it completed, with a chuckle, moving towards a place deeper in the woods. But after taking a few steps, it stopped. "Just take off your shoes first. You know what I mean."

"Ah, right." Sena said. "Mad?"

"Of course, Marcel." Mad answered, dispelling the illusion. Wendy looked as, one by one, the fairies around her exploded in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind people...

...more or less...

The golden fairy was the first, leaving behind a muscular, tall, well-shaved man with auburn hair, waving backwards like the King. He wore a green and blue camouflage suit, with the word F.O.O.D. emblazoned on its chest.

It's a trap! Wendy thought to herself.

The second was Mad herself, who, after the poof, became a tall woman, dressed like an exotic dancer, wearing a pair of cat ears... no, those were her real ears! And she had a tiger's tail! But other than that, she looked exactly like the fairy.

Third was Mora. The glaring, voluptuous fairy left behind a short, rather unendowed woman, with many earrings, dressed like Sena, no, Marcel was. She was holding under one shoulder a large jar... so that's where she'd hid it?

Now it made sense! Those weren't fairies, that was an illusion that allowed nearly two dozen people to masquerade as fairies!

Fourth was Marcy, a wide-shouldered blonde woman in that same strange uniform. Then that strange asian-ish fairy, who became an asian-ish... guy, also in that uniform. And next to her, a pale fairy with four pigtails became another guy, a pale man with short blonde hair, also in uniform. The two of them high-fived, and in their hands, Wendy saw two puppets that resembled the fairies they used to impersonate.

"Awesome!" they laughed.

Double trap! Wendy grimaced.

Seventh amongst them was a fair-skinned fairy with mauve hair and black eyes. She became a MAUVE!? haired woman, in a different, black uniform, kind of reminiscent of a policeman's uniform. She had a large backpack, and a bemused smile.

The eighth fairy had purple hair and a greenish tone to her skin, she became a purple-haired, fair man with green eyes, dressed the same as the woman.

The ninth had large eyes, and brown hair. She became another woman, with large eyes and brown hair too. Her skin became a little darker, though. She was dressed the same as those two.

Tenth was Sasa, who became another kitten-thing. She was much darker skinned than anyone Wendy'd ever met, and her hair was so glossy. Her crimson eyes seemed to lure everything in with an otherworldly beauty, marred only by that ugly uniform.

Eleventh was the white-winged fairy, who turned into a man with short black hair, wide, frenzied eyes, and a maddened smile. He was in uniform as well.

Seven more fairies turned into very diverse women and traps, some of them with feline features, and some of them with strange hair colors.

"How's that for concentration, huh?" Mad grinned. "Nineteen different disguises, I dare you top that."

"Alright..." Sena/Marcel grinned. "There we are, is this any better?" he asked Wendy. "I'm Marcel, formerly known as Sena, that's not Mad, but Demeter, that's not Mora, she's Giselle. Marcy over there..."

"Uhm..." Wendy pursed her lips. "Can I have my sister back, please?"

Giselle looked into the jar, and then stifled a gasp.

"Oh, no, not yet..." she said. "I'll go prepare the antidote right away..." she strode behind the eater of dreams.

"Antidote? For shrinking?" Ted asked. "Did anything strange happen? It usually doesn't need an antidote..."

"I'll explain later..."

"You better do."

The platoon strode behind Ted, who led them to a really large log cabin in the middle of a clearing.

======

Sitting on a couch by the fire, having just dropped all the heavy stuff, Marcel stretched merrily. Then he saw someone enter the room, and head straight for him. Daisy, now clad in a spotted, pale violet pajama. He flashed his best smile, probably not having paid attention to the fact she just wasn't interested.

"You're Marcel, right?" she asked, her mouth curved into a shy smile.

"The one and only." he smiled. "Is there anything you want?"

"Just one thing." she said. He stretched his neck a bit...

...and got his face swat on the side, violently.

"Hey what was that for?" he asked, grimacing.

"That's for touching my shoulder!"

"I didn't touch your shoulder..." Marcel said, rubbing his cheek a little.

"Sure you didn't, 'Marcy'." Daisy complained.

Marcel glared at her.

"I was Sena, actually."

"Sena, the golden one?"

"That's right."

"So you were the one who told her she could shrink us."

Marcel took a deep breath.

"Yes."

"Why the hell did you do that?"

"Marissa was missing a hands-on experience, unlike the two of you. She needed someone to break the situation to her fast and we really didn't have that much time."

"Couldn't you talk to her?"

"I wasn't sure how long it would take for her to listen."

"You did right." Daisy said. "But you know, it wasn't necessary to shrink Petra too."

"That one was just in case she freaked out." Marcel answered.

"Just, you know, the antidote's not working on her." Daisy crossed her arms over her chest. Marcel was mesmerized for a moment before the next sentence came. "She might stay little forever."

Marcel gulped, looking up at Daisy's eyes. Frankly, he didn't want to imagine what would they look like to someone who now had to get used to the idea of looking up at them, and finding each of them bigger than their head.

"But we... don't know that."

"She's freaking out right now."

Marcel rolled his eyes, and let out a sigh.

"I'm... sure she'll be okay..."

"Marissa's doing her best to calm her down, but frankly I'm starting to get a little concerned too." Daisy answered, pursing her lips. "Just thinking of my best friend having to live at a height of three inches forever is such an unfair thought! I think you wouldn't want it to happen to you..." she leaned into Marcel's face. "Because thinking of you being small enough to gulp down is helping me picture a predator's mindset well. Really, really well." she continued, slowly, playfully, and threateningly.

Marcel's expression turned to fake boredom, concealing extreme rage and annoyance, as he turned his head to face her.

"People already want to eat me without knowing me, pillows! If it's because of something I did, that's an upgrade as far as I'm concerned!" he snarled.

Daisy licked her lips, and opened her mouth in a sneer, pretending to yawn, so as to let him see as deep as possible. Marcel couldn't take it anymore.

He started laughing.

"You're one of a kind, aren't you!?" he chuckled, angrily. "Knowing you, your friend, your sister, and your other friend would've gotten eaten by a giant caterpillar, or a flock of medusas if it weren't for us, you want to sue me because I'm the one who decided you had to live first, question second!? I don't have time for this bullshit. You want to scare someone, go scare your little friend. As far as I'm concerned if this is the way you're gonna be, you can kiss my ass."

Daisy tilted her head.

"Oh, I think I will... I'll kiss your ass, and everything else too." she said, raising her eyebrow menacingly.

"Anytime you want! I'm right here!"

"Anytime I want..." Daisy repeated. Then she turned around and left.

"I hope Petra gets better!" Marcel added at the end. Then he waited until she was out of earshot to grimace horribly, let out a snarl of annoyance, and stand up, walking towards Giselle, who was on the other side of the room.

"You've got the poison well-hidden, don't you."

"Oh, Daisy asked me to borrow it." Giselle replied, merrily. "She's such a nice young woman, I wonder what she plans to do with it?"

Marcel leaned away, his blood freezing in his arteries. Some people adapted slower. Some adapted faster. And some, of course, made you wonder if they had ever needed any adaptation at all. He wondered if she just meant to scare him... or if maybe she meant to eat him... nah, she probably just wanted some alone time in the jar with her "best friend". There was no reason why this should revolve around him. That girl had the face of an angel, she wore pale violet pajamas for christ's sake, it didn't look like she'd ever hurt a fly anyway.

Wait, that reminded him of someone. Someone who said he better learn to love snakes, because that way he'd die happily. And then sent him to Felarya.

How fast could someone turn into such an... inhuman aberration, like the one who threw him off the world? How fast could people give in to vengeance? How far could a woman go, if she felt scorned? Was scorn just telling off a lover, or could any dismissed feeling be scorn? Maybe that was why he felt such a visceral reaction every time he heard a predator call him food, that feeling that he would kill that one and their families, he felt scorned in his humanity, maybe he had just scorned that lesbian... How virtuous was Daisy, really? Could he count on her not to do anything insane?

Maybe Giselle was kidding.

"Why did you give her the poison?" Marcel asked.

"For two reasons..." Giselle answered. "She said Ted wanted to check it, but also because I know it'll keep you awake."

"Giselle, that's dangerous stuff to give to a civilian... just because you want to make me mad!"

"Can I help it if I like seeing you wet your pants?" Giselle smiled, innocently.

"I wish you liked something else!" he snarled. "This is going into your file!"

"Yeah, guess what's going into yours." Giselle grinned. "You had me poison them."

"You agreed with me!"

"No, I just obeyed so you wouldn't become yet another squeaky wheel."

"Were this Norway, I could have you shot for that!" Marcel snarled.

"Really?"

Marcel's brow twitched.

He decided she probably didn't have the guts to go with it, anyway. She might've liked the idea, but she was all barks and no bites. That broad wasn't worth all this pain, there was nothing she'd do with it. She wasn't a killer.

Then he sighed, realizing he had just made a mistake.

She was just scared, trying to blame this on someone. If all he could think about was saving his own skin from her recently enabled fetish, he was making a huge mistake. She wasn't a predator, she was a human, from a human-run world, she was probably reasonable, intelligent, maybe just a bit overly passionate. But it was for a good reason. He had made a mistake in having the poison used on them, the least he could do now was, ironically enough, try to be the bigger man about it. And do the right thing, rather than the safe thing. Because if she was getting strange ideas, it was better to remind her what human used to mean, immediately.

-Now TALK to HER, you idiot!- he thought to himself. -If you still are anything else than a little pansy with a big gun, stop wetting your pants for a second and go TALK to HER!

This newcomer had really scared him. Great. Now THAT would make a hell of an icebreaker.

"I'll talk to her."

======


Marcel took a deep breath, and sighed it out. Then he knocked on the wooden door four times, and stood back, realizing he was maybe a little too close. He gulped, shaking in his shoes for a little. He had never put much hope in talking, or else he wouldn't have become FOOD. And now here he was, at the doorstep of what could become a conflux of several possible futures. Either she'd stay an innocent (well, relatively innocent) and beautiful flower, or that beautiful flower would get the Felaryan flavor right there in front of him. And it had been just a spur of the moment! Marcel grimaced to himself, wondering if predators ever had to cope with the fact that a spur of the moment got out of control... even without eating anyone, even considering them people, even trying to save their lives, he harvested the same thing that he would have if he were eighty feet tall and had a tail: hate!

He shook his head quickly, dispelling the stupid thoughts. She wouldn't become a predator just from having access to poison and knowing what it was, she wouldn't, that was impossible. He'd just have to twist her arm, tie her to a chair, and search her room, it was that easy... no, that wasn't a solution. He had to stop cramming it down people's throats. That kind of solution had gotten him into this situation, and if he did that out of fear, here, in Ted's inn... amongst the few safe spots of the Fairy Kingdom... he didn't want to be that person. He would talk to her, because it was the right thing to do.

The door still didn't open. He started feeling worried.

-Maybe she accidentally poisoned herself? No, stop thinking that, Marcel...- he rubbed his temples- she's not using the stuff and nothing voraphile is going to happen today... it's been, what, twenty seconds, maybe?

"Is anyone in there?" he said, low. Nothing happened. Then he heard some steps, and someone approached the door. As it opened, he saw Daisy's face.

"Sorry I... oh, it's you." she begun quite sweetly, but then turned to an expression he just didn't want. "What do you want?"

Marcel took another deep breath. What now?

"I wanted... to apologize, Daisy." he began, his throat starting to dry. He gulped one last time, before her indifferent eyes.

"I didn't mean to go off on you that way. I made a mistake, and you have every right to be mad at me." Marcel added, with a sad smile. "I know I can't please everyone, but that doesn't mean everything I do is perfect either. You just... scared me."

She licked her lips.

"I scared you."

"Like that, yes..." he grimaced. "I... do you know how I wound up here myself?" Marcel asked.

"How would I know that?"

"Would you like to know?"

Daisy looked him up and down.

"Tell me."

Marcel breathed out through his nose.

"I used to be from Oslo. It's the capital of Norway." he added, tilting his head. "And... I was from a poorly zoned neighborhood. When they built my... the house I rented, the engineer must've been on strike, or something, but the thing is that it was lower than the rest of the city..."

"Get to the point."

"The sewer used to flood the front of my home in rainy days. And one of my neighbors complained." Marcel said. "It wasn't my house, I was renting, I called city hall, and everything, but the thing is, that neighbor... she was a woman, not old, not young, she had like a dozen boas in her house..." he let out a chuckle. "She invited me over this time, to talk, but we weren't talking. She was talking AT me, not to me... and she kept dropping hints she wanted to eat me. At the time I thought she was a nutcase, up to the point when she told me I'd learn to respect her needs and those of her snakes. Maybe if I came to love them, I'd die happy. I told her to get to the point, but the next thing I know, I was telling that to a fern." Marcel shrugged.

"So?"

"What I mean is that you really scared me, and I got really angry. But... that doesn't justify me calling you pillows, and I shouldn't have yelled at you. Yes, there's things that want to eat me, and it's not funny, but you... you are just mad at me, and I should be treating you like a person, a person who deserves an apology, and an explanation, that I should be the best I can be for, not just a hungry thing that I have learned the hard way never to bother listening to, that I should tell to fuck off or die."

"Who says I don't want to eat you? Why are you assuming I wouldn't?" she asked, tilting her head.

Marcel's mouth twitched for a moment, a furious frown born in his forehead. He repressed it.

-No, I have to have hope... I have to keep thinking this, I have to keep thinking this... I didn't come here to get mad at her again, she's human, just like me, and she wouldn't... she's not a predator, she's never eaten anyone before, she won't start with me, because she knows better than to... oh, who am I fooling. Even now, I think she'll eat me.

Marcel looked away.

"That's what I think, at least... I can't know what's inside your mind, all I'm sure of is that I'm sorry I had you poisoned, and I'm sorry things went that way for Petra. If there's anything I can do to help, anything at all, you just have to tell me."

"I don't know what you can do to help."

Marcel pursed his lips.

"Sorry." he finished.

"You're still just scared of me." Daisy frowned. "It's not me you should be apologizing to, it's Petra."

-Holy shit, she's right- he thought.- Why am I apologizing to her?

"I was on my way there." Marcel lied. "See you, then."

"See you." Daisy replied.

Marcel blinked, but when he was about to leave, Daisy suddenly blurted, looking for the right words.

"D... don't you want to come in for a while, first?" Daisy asked, her face relaxing. She looked down. "I... could use someone to talk to."

-YAHOO!- Marcel thought to himself, smiling. -No, wait. Don't. We're here to do the right thing.

"Maybe later, first things first."

"I won't wait all night."

Marcel smiled brighter.

"I'll have to take my chances."

"You're not still scared, are you?"

"I kept telling myself I apologized to you because it was the right thing to do." Marcel replied. "I hope I'll be back soon enough not to miss anything."

Daisy smiled.

"I hope that too. See you." she said, walking back into her room.

======

Marcel left for the shed near the back of the inn. He walked quickly in the nighttime air, spurred on by the cool nightly breeze.

Inside, he closed the door quickly, turning towards the innumerable shelves on one side, loaded with alchemical equipment. Lots of glass flasks and devices lined the shelves, while two long stone tables on the far side served any temporary needs. Over by another corner, away from all the delicate equipment, there was a large table with a small jar in it. Sitting in front of the table was that ginger chick with the indomitable temper. She quickly turned to him.

"What do you want?" she asked, just like the other one.

Marcel pulled over a wooden chair right next to her, looking at the woman sitting and moping silently in a jar. He took a deep breath.

"I'm here to take responsibility for my actions. I was the one who gave the order to poison you."

"Ah, you're Marcel." Marissa said.

He nodded. She said nothing.

After a moment, he sucked in air. He needed to break the ice.

"Daisy's... told me about... your problem." he said, looking at Petra. "I'm... sorry it turned out this way."

Petra didn't answer.

"I made a mistake. I was afraid..." he began. "I thought you wouldn't listen, seldom does anyone listen..." he told Marissa. "I just wanted to save your lives."

She looked back at him, with an indifferent expression.

"Okay, we're alive. What now?"

"Marissa."

"Now..." Marcel sighed. "Well, you're safe now. It's only a matter of time for us to reverse that."

"What happens if the antidote fails always?" Petra asked, looking up. "What happens to the people who never get the antidote?"

Marcel took a deep breath.

"I guess if they don't find a safe place, they get eaten sooner or later."

"I guess I'll never have to worry about that last part." Petra grimaced.

"I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through. But be sure that, at least here, you'll be safe. It's only a matter of time now."

"What if it isn't? What if I stay like this forever?"

"I think I already told you."

Another pause.

"Are there many people who end up like this?"

"Actually I'd say you are the first to end up that way, but there's plenty who are born like that."

"Oh. That's... a relief..." she said. But in her face, he only saw pain.

"You'll just have to live amongst thumb-sized freaks, then." Marissa spat. "There you go, a happy fairytale ending. Thanks a lot, Marcel..."

"Be quiet." Petra interrupted.

Marcel pursed his lips. He couldn't drop it. Not like this. He had to say something. Anything. She probably felt that way... he never wanted anyone to feel that way, not when it could be avoided... that feeling that there was no god, that feeling the world was a huge, uncaring place, and you never had any business in it... that you just want all this mess to end... no, he couldn't drop it there.

"Rarely..." he begun. "Very rarely, someone who arrives to Felarya is transformed into a giant."

Petra looked up at him.

"And the ones we know... are eating people right now." Marcel shrugged. "I guess at least you didn't become like that caterpillar... trust me, it would've been even more horrible."

"At least I'd be able to move furniture on my own!" Petra complained.

"There would be no furniture to move, however. Or new clothes, ever again." Marcel tried. "I think. You'd have had to go around, eating people. Like me. And I'd have to kill you."

"Can you kill me now?"

"Don't say that. Please, don't say that. It's not so much bad, as unknown... at your size, you'll never have to hurt anyone. You'll never have to be in my shoes, or in the shoes of the people I fight. You'll never have to do what I did."

"If it helped me, I'd shrink everyone in this inn. And then I'd eat them."

"And I'd help you." Marissa cut in.

"Shut up."

Strangely enough, Marissa went quiet. Marcel looked away.

"So Ted's told you about fairies?"

"Yes." Petra answered. "Is there nothing they can do?"

"They can, but they won't. They usually make up their minds before talking to you, if they talk." Marcel said.

"Are there no good ones?"

"We don't deal with them." Marcel replied. "FOOD believes the natural order is not to be disobeyed. Predators shouldn't help us..." he said, not sounding really convinced.

"Fuck your natural order! I just want my size back!"

He gulped.

"Too bad. Predators don't have a choice. If they had it, and they're still eating us... we'd be morally forced to hunt them down one by one. And kill them. If they have a choice, if it's not just in their nature to eat us, they're murderers. And I, personally, won't suffer a murderer to live." he spat, between his teeth. "I'll die if that's what it takes to kill them."

Petra's eyes widened. He had to take a deep breath.

"Couldn't you make an exception?"

"And ask a murderer to help you? I'd sooner leave you like this without doing anything else."

"What!? Wouldn't you do ANYTHING to set this right?" Petra spat, standing up within her jar. Marcel was a bit taken aback. "It's MY life, you idiot! And it's all YOUR fault! I didn't do anything wrong, it was all you, Mr. trigger happy!"

Marcel looked away for a moment.

"WHAT DO YOU SAY!?" Petra exclaimed. "ARE YOU GOING TO LEAVE ME LIKE THIS? You just did the right thing, whatever happens to me is my own problem?"

"It's not like that..." Marcel grimaced.

"You're going to leave, aren't you? Last time you saw me I was alive?"

"Look..."

"It was MY LIFE! You had no right to do ANYTHING to me! ANYTHING at all!" Petra cried. "YOU'RE A CALLOUS, SELFISH..."

"Enough!" Marcel shouted. "We'll try everything else first. If once we've tried everything else you still want to try fairies, I swear, on my life, I'll help you. But for now, there's nothing we can do. Nothing." Marcel finished. "Got it?"

Petra nodded.

Marcel stood up.

"Have you had supper already?" he asked, turning around.

"I'm not hungry." Petra answered.

"This won't go away anytime soon, Petra. If it stops you from eating, you'll die."

"I'm not hungry right now!"

"Thirsty?"

"Why don't you just leave!?" she asked, sitting down on the glass.

"Because it's not a good idea to leave you all alone with your frustration..."

"I'll stay here." Marissa said. "You can go."

"You can go too! If you weren't such an idiot, we wouldn't be in this mess right now!"

"Look, I wasn't an idiot! How was I going to trust them? They knocked me out!"

"Because you were an idiot! Because you kept asking stupid questions and refused to walk! If it weren't for you, right now I'd be..." Petra was breathing heavily. "It should've been you."

"What?"

"It should be you here in this jar. Not me." Petra finished. "That's what."

Marissa looked at Petra. Then she took a deep breath.

"Fair enough." she added, walking away. She left the lab, leaving Marcel and Petra alone.

"You should go too." Petra said. "It should be you in this jar, too. You, and your goon who shot me."

"Maybe. Did Ted tell you about nekos too?"

"What about nekos?"

"If any of the catgirls in my platoon found out you were out here all alone, that you're not going to grow back anytime soon, and that you're freaking out, scared and confused, flailing at whoever you get, you'd mysteriously vanish overnight, and they'd wake up giggling. We can't do without them, and they know it, but they can do without you. Specially Mad, we're not paying her enough to supress her predatorial instincts." Marcel added. "I won't touch you, that's what the jar is for, but you will have to sleep where someone keeps an eye on you."

"You're going to watch me sleep?" Petra asked.

"I'd rather it were Marissa or Daisy, I don't trust myself that much either. Their tendencies are contagious."

"W... wait a moment, what do you mean that their tendencies are contagious?" Petra asked, alarmed.

"That, like them... I've got things to do tomorrow, I can't stay up all night." Marcel corrected himself.

"It was nighttime at home when we came here. We're tired too."

"Jetlag's a bitch. But you don't have work tomorrow." Marcel said, picking up the jar.

======

"What's that?" Daisy asked, looking at Marcel's hands.

"That's Petra, can I come in?"

Daisy pulled the door back in. Marcel went in, looking at the inside of the room. It was pretty well-furnished, two wooden bunk beds on the left wall, a night stand by each, a desk on the right wall, closest, a rug on the ground, windows looking out into the fading sunset on the far wall, and a few lamps throughout. They were fluorescent lamps, thankfully; he couldn't stand oil lamps.

On the far bottom bed, Marissa had already pulled up her covers, and was reading a book.

"Where's Wendy?" Marcel asked.

"She's playing something with Ted." Daisy smiled.

"That Ted." Marcel placed the jar on Marissa's night stand. "Watch her well."

Daisy looked at Petra's form inside the jar. She looked so... cute... Marcel noticed something red in her fingers, and his fingers traced it to a small plate on her night stand. Where she had some pitless cherries soaking in liquor.

"Want any?" Daisy asked, picking it up, and showing it to him.

Marcel rolled his eyes.

"I already had supper early, I'll pass." he said, then he noticed Petra was looking at them with interest.

"Can I... have some?" she asked, her eyes so wide. "I simply love cherries in liquor..."

"Be very careful. If you soaked yourself in cherry juice under this roof, it'd be suicide." Marcel pointed. "And very amusing." he joked.

Petra glared at him.

"Well, if I have to eat something, like you said... why not cherries? Are the cherries going to eat me too?"

"Not that I know of. But somehow, if you spice yourself up, nekos notice. They have an eye for detail, they're always commenting on each other's hair."

"Sounds very sweet." Daisy smiled. "What about you?"

"Personally I find these girls way too spicy... But that's just me."

"You find them spicy?" Marissa grinned.

"I... yeah, I do!" Marcel chuckled. "And you, what do you think, Petra?" he asked, sitting down on the desk's chair.

"No puns. Eating." she said, biting off large pieces of a cherry.

"Ah, so you're not so bitter anymore!" Daisy grinned, popping in a couple cherries.

"I gotta say you're still as hot as ever." Marissa added.

A short pause, in which Daisy popped in three more cherries. Petra was chewing, looking so damn bitter. Maybe they had gotten a bit overboard?

Then she raised her eyes, mumbled something.

"Watch that mill of yours, Daisy, you're already a bit chunky."

Marcel took a deep breath, and sighed, happily. Those moments made life worth living. Food puns somehow wormed their way into everything he did, but it was okay. To those girls, this whole eating deal was still funny. Even if the world wasn't perfect, if they still had things to work out, even though crisis would always come, they could laugh. This... was the true treasure of Felarya.

The reason why he stayed.

THIS is what I was trying to do. And that evolved into a trilogy on me. Argh. Why does that keep happening?

Part 3: The Very Hungry Caterpillar


[Credits to Karbo for the citroise, which is like a huge purple plump peach]
[Credits to Silent_Eric for the Dripping Tree, which produces slime and nuts]
[Credits to Silent_Eric for the Stam root, with purple leaves and thick roots]
[Credits to AisuKaiko for Saslenoths]
[Credits to Sean Okotami for the Sogram Tastimus, which you can use to flavor AisuKaiko's fauna]
[Credits to Karbo for tonorions, which it looks like no one wants to eat]
[Credits to Karbo for glouteaux.]
[Credits to whoever is left for the things I missed on crediting]

"NONO DONT GO!" the caterpillar said, quickly grabbing the illusion's leg and clinging to it, instead dropping on Locust and grabbing him. She quickly got back up, and opened her mouth, smiling happily at Flo's parting gift. She quickly plopped him into her mouth, savouring him for a minute, and then gulped down.

But she was still hungry.

======

Locust gasped, adrenaline having flooded his every corner. That had been a hell of a close call, the caterpillar had almost eaten him. He was kind of proud of that one spell, the ability to control an opponent's senses was quite versatile. For example, making them believe they had already eaten him, thus dropping him, so that he could hide behind a tree while she savoured and gulped the false one. He wondered for a moment how much of it was his power, and how much of it was the fact he was literally taking a candy from a baby.

She looked around, her antennae wriggling as she tracked him by predator sense. Locust grimaced, and quickly cast Flo out again, making her peek from behind the tree, and look down at the caterpillar, again at maximum size.

"Pwease help hun-gwy? Like humans much? Big faiwy pwease make hun-gwy go away?"

Locust gulped, something sinking like a stone going right through his throat and into his gut. It had felt really satisfactory to heal her, but if he didn't help her with this one too, he'd probably never hear the end of it. Combatting hunger in children had been one of the priorities he'd have exacted from the government back home. This one being able to end her hunger by eating him made it different, but it did not feel that way. Abandoning a child was abandoning a child. And it hurt like a shotgun in the crotch.

"Doesn't it worry you in the least that she can manipulate you so easily?" he muttered to himself. "It's like watching a car accident." Then the fairy sat in front of the caterpillar, and sighed, hugging her.

"That's okay, I'll be around, but if you promise not to eat my friend, he'll make the hungry go away. Do we have a deal? Promise?" the fairy asked, beaming.

"No! Stay!" the caterpillar cried, clinging to the fairy's leg. Locust grimaced, trying to maintain the illusion that the caterpillar was clinging on to something, despite she actually wasn't... and it was difficult, she was clinging on very strong... her senses couldn't be deceived for much longer... not much longer... he wasn't Mad, he couldn't make his illusions THAT good.

It was time to dodge the issue.

Changing the illusion, he made the fairy disappear for a moment and then reappear close to him, only small this time. Then he showed himself, walking out from behind a tree.

"Little girl, this is my friend, Locust. You can say hi to each other now."

"Hello! I'm Locust." Locust said, thinking beneath the surface that he felt really stupid at the moment.

"Hello..." the caterpillar mouthed, a little drool starting to escape her mouth.

"This is my friend Locust, he's going to find you something to eat. Now I have to go, okay?" the fairy grinned. "So, please, don't eat him! He'll get you all sorts of tasty things to eat instead! Promise!"

"Pwomise!"

"Good, now I'm leaving. Don't eat him!"

"Don't eat him!" the caterpillar repeated, exactly the same way the fairy had said it.

"Don't... eat him!"

"Don't eat him!" the caterpillar repeated, blankly. Locust could tell she didn't know what those words meant, and was probably going to eat him anyway. "Don't eat him! Don't eat him!" the caterpillar repeated, lunging with one of her bandaged hands towards him, opening her mouth in anticipation.

Locust ran off at heinous speed, staying off the caterpillar's reach.

"Don't eat him! Don't eat him!" she repeated, almost chanting, as she advanced trying to eat him.

"It's always good to start young." Locust growled to himself. Then he raised his shield.

"HEY! I have nasty spikes!" Locust shouted. "Spikes hurt. Do you want your hands to hurt again?"

"Umm... don't eat him!" the caterpillar repeated, swinging her hand at him again.

That was the last straw.

Locust pointed the spiked shield at the incoming hand, and allowed her to injure her fingers the way she seemed to be asking for. He had to drop the shield, of course, otherwise he'd have been sent tumbling over with an object full of spikes (which would've become then a double-edged sword).

"That is important." Locust answered. "Don't eat spikes!"

And by that time, the caterpillar was crying again.

"Oh for Oth's sake..."

======

After bandaging the caterpillar's hands a second time, and explaining with patience and illusory accompanying pictures that he wasn't good eating, Locust had to understand the girl's position here. Her stomach had interrupted him so many times, he almost put it in detention. And being a little girl, that meant she needed lots of food pronto.

"Well, let's get to work. First rule?"

"Don't eat him!" the caterpillar cheered. "Hun-gwy!"

"Good. Second, I'm not feeding you humans, nekos, elves, or anything that talks... NOR am I letting you eat any of those with me around." Locust added. "That said, everything else is game. Are we clear?"

"Yes! Don't eat him!" she repeated. From what he got out of hearing her, she still was fuzzy on the details.

"Then it's feeding time." Locust said, thinking to himself it probably wouldn't get better than that. Besides, she was slow and stupid. He could thwart her if anything happened.

"Yay!" the caterpillar cried, happily. "Feeding time!"

And so, Locust raised his hands. Then he turned, slowly.

"I'm no hunter, dammit..." he mumbled. "She doesn't eat leaves. No, that'd have been too easy... Come with me."

"Food?"

"Yes, food."

"Much food?"

"Yes, much food."

"Much humans?"

"Much food. Shut the fuck up and follow me."

Locust moved forward in silence for a while, looking around, honestly hoping that he wouldn't meet any fairies.

"Alright, look, you're slow, so maybe you haven't eaten everything in this place... we're going to go around again, slowly, and look for anything you might've missed, and I'm going to be bait- there's certainly a lot of stuff here that doesn't want to meet you."

"Much food?"

"Yes, much food. But we talk- no food. Be quiet!"

"Quiet!"

"Good girl. Keep up that attitude, it's exactly..."

"Quiet!" she repeated. "We talk- no food!"

Locust sighed, and then kept moving, making sure he was far ahead enough for any of the locals to think that they could eat him and be on their merry way before the caterpillar got halfway to them.

He was interrupted by a scent. He recognized that scent, and it was edible. Not tasty, matter of fact it smelled like... oh, simply put, it didn't smell, its scent couldn't be put simply. But it smelled like a sea lion who'd been dead on the back alley of a Jewish restaurant for some time. In its defense, it survived by simply stinking up its personal space and doing nothing wrong to anyone else.

Turning to the source of the smell, Locust walked up to a tree, and looked up. Right there, a huge six-legged sloth hung defiantly like a smelly ninja. Locust pointed at it, but then realized the caterpillar wasn't approaching.

"Food." he spat.

"Not tasty."

"Then you're not hungry enough. It's food."

"Not food! It sicks me!"

Locust rolled his eyes.

"Because of the smell?"

"It sicks!"

Locust grumbled for a moment.

"Alright, let's find you something else."

But before leaving definitely, Locust pointed at the tree the saslenoth was at, making a huge red flag pop at its base with his magic. It was illusion, but it worked just the same.

This principle served him fine.

======

A short search later uncovered something: a large boar. The caterpillar was still behind him, a safe distance away, so Locust could make sure the boar didn't escape. He prepared a little snare.

Walking towards the boar and letting it make the first move, turn towards him and open its mouth, showing its tusks menacingly, Locust threw the snare at it as it charged.

"Blindness." he said. Immediately, the illusion of a blindfold appeared around the boar's eyes. The boar started trampling away in all directions, grunting like it was completely amok. Of course, it stepped inside the snare, which was then promptly pulled, hard. As it snagged on the boar, Locust ran behind a tree, and tied the other end to it.

"Yours." he told the caterpillar.

The caterpillar quickly advanced on its dozens of thick legs towards the thrashing boar, caught it in a bandaged hand, and quickly stuffed it in. Then she gulped.

Locust watched a bulge move down her throat uninterested. Then he smiled.

"Okay?"

"Hun-gwy."

"What, you're still hungry?"

"Yes, hun-gwy."

"Oh." Locust sighed. Come to think of it, he should've expected it. Little kids need lots of food. Well, anyway, predators had relatively little appetites... it would be just a dozen or so boar-sized animals until she fell asleep.


So he kept going on for a while.


The next thing of interest he found in this caterpillar's territory was a group of several cyclopean mushrooms by the shade of a small cliff. He wondered if those were edible; looking at them, he realized they were purple and around twenty feet tall. That wasn't a dangerous size for a dryad, but for a mushroom, it probably meant he had to be careful.

"Stay here." he instructed the caterpillar. Then he threw a large hook over a tree, and climbed on the rope attached to the hook. From there, he pulled out a small crossbow, and pointed at one mushroom. Then he fired a bolt.

There was no reaction from the toadstool upon having its hat pierced by a sheaf arrow. Locust looked carefully at them, they were purple and white, with several red spots. One of those seemed to read "eat me" in perfect manuscript.

His mouth twitched. He remembered that book. And that one mushroom wouldn't solve anything.


He kept looking.


The next thing of interest he found was a small cave by the cliffside, nearly a block away from the mushrooms. Something in there smelled oddly familiar... smelly, hairy, and probably quite big. Being only human, he couldn't put his finger in what that smell was. But it was probably edible. To the caterpillar, at least. Also, if it could keep that hole, it'd probably be able to fill her up pretty nicely...

Unfortunately, unable as he was to tell anything within the cave, he wasn't sure what illusion would best lure it out.


He STILL kept looking, hearing a low grumbling noise as the caterpillar's stomach got to work. He'd better hurry up, or else she'd have started digesting for nothing.


What caught his interest next was hearing the caterpillar's breathing hasten in barely contained excitement. He realized there was something close by that she really liked. And he was about to ask, but in his open mouth he caught a whiff of a sweet-smelling substance close by. Distracted as he was, he didn't realize what he had step in until he did, and pulling his leg forward, he let out a short curse.

"DARN!" he grunted, realizing he had just stepped in a slime trail. Which smelled kinda like cotton candy for some reason.

"What the hell, a slug girl? I thought this was your territory?" he squawked, turning around and seeing her hand come down on him.

"Candy!" she chirped, grabbing him. The contact felt like electricity... but rather than a pleasant electrizing spark like some predators had found a way to make it, this one was like having a goddamn taser jammed in his spine.

Illusion time again.

The adrenaline surging through his veins, he quickly added the illusion she hadn't really grabbed him yet. So she opened her hand, he fell away from the slime, and she reached down. Quickly ending the illusion, she let out a gasp of disappointment and pouted visibly, running her finger around the slime and putting it back in her mouth, with some dirt stuck on it as well.

"Did you try to eat me?"

"No. Don't eat him." she said, with her finger in her mouth.

"Then?"

"Candy! Whew did candy go?"

"What the hell?" Locust grunted, picking up a stick and smacking the ground like a blind man to test for slime. He finally found where the slime started; a quick look around revealed it ended around a gnarled, relatively small tree. But after another glance, he found something truly odd.

"Mother of..." he grimaced, seeing the biggest pair of nuts he'd ever seen. Each of those nuts had to be over ten feet wide, counting shell. There were several smaller nuts around it, but none compared to these nuts, they were so big they made the branches they were hanging from sag under their weight.

Locust quickly wondered if they were edible. Because if they were, he'd just have to crack those nuts and he'd be set, she'd be full with just that: each was bigger than her head.

But that meant crossing through the slime to get to the nuts. And... that meant becoming candy. He could make her harmless, but she'd still pull him out, and make him go back to square one, and that was in a best case scenario.

Thinking outside the box, he turned to the caterpillar.

"Can you bring me that, please?"

"Yes!" she chirped, much to his surprise. She walked over the slime, not deep enough or sticky enough to trap her, and grabbed one of the nuts. Then she pulled it down, leaving it on the ground. Afterwards she pulled down the other nut, and left it in the ground too. What happened next made him want to commit suicide.

She tried to pull out one of the nuts from the ground, but to the chagrin of both of them, it had gotten stuck on the slime.

"GWOOOH!" Locust let out, banging his head against a nearby tree.

"Sowy." the caterpillar said, not really sure of what was his problem.

Locust's brow twitched slightly. First the saslenoth, then the shrooms, then the cave thing, and now those giant nuts. Why did it ALL have to get so difficult?


He moved on.


The next thing he found was... oh, god. He found a small, beautiful clearing, bathed by the same blue light in the environment, with a small fireplace and two red tents. He quickly ran up to the tent, and looked inside, letting out a sigh of resignation. He had gotten there too late for the campers. And for all he knew, the thing behind him was what ate them. He went around, looking for something useful or edible.

He found a small basket, a hand axe, an oil lamp and a box of matches. Inside the basket there were some old sandwiches, probably two or three days old, judging from the ants and the smell. He grimaced, picking the basket up delicately and hanging it from his backpack. The less he touched that thing, the better. But upon grabbing the axe, he hummed to himself and looked at the caterpillar. She looked back at him, blankly.

Using the axe, he cut off the tent stands and tent poles, then tore the red cloth to strips. This'd be a piece of cake now.


Going back to the slimy tree...


Rolling the red cloth as if it were a carpet over the slime, he made a path for himself leading to the nuts. Then he poured the oil lamp's contents around the nuts, and set it on fire with a match. The slime prevented the fire from spreading... or lasting too long. But for what he knew, he had what he needed.

"Can you pick up those nuts?"

"Yes!"

The caterpillar took the nuts, and carried them away from the slime. Once there, he looked for the separation between the two halves of the shell, and raising his axe, he chopped away at it.

It didn't work. After a few blows, he realized that the edge had gotten all dull. That was one tough nut to crack!


Sighing, he returned to the smelly cave.


"Hide and wait." he told the caterpillar.

"Okay." the caterpillar answered, hiding behind a tree.

Placing the basket on the entrance, he threw the axe inside the cave and hid behind a tree. Something came out quickly enough, and ripped the basket open, greedily gulping down its contents.

Looking carefully from behind a tree, Locust saw a gigantic grizzly bear. This thing must've weighed a ton or so. Now it was time to keep it from escaping.

First he made a snare, and then, pulling out his crossbow, Locust reeled the string back, placed a sheaf bolt, and peeking from behind a tree, he fired at the grizzly. As expected, all he accomplished was making it angry. The bear ran and caught up to him quickly; pulling on the snare, it tightened around its leg. Afterwards it was only a matter of moving out of the rope's range and then blinding the animal.

"Food!" he called out. The caterpillar popped in, and beaming, brought the thrashing bear, now blind as well, to its mouth, gulping it down before it did much damage.

"Yummy!" she beamed, again. Locust sighed.

"Okay?"

"Hun-gwy."

His jaw dropped.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me, you just ate a bear, and a boar not half an hour ago!"

"Hun-gwy."

"No you're not!"

"Not lying! Hun-gwy!"

"Eexcuse me for a moment." Locust smiled, walking up to the cliffside. It was the closest thing to a wall he had at the moment.

A moment later, he had a few bumps on his forehead, but looked a lot mellower.

"Man I needed that..." he giggled. "So let's find you something else to eat!"




Walking in another direction, Locust found himself another horrible surprise. Realizing the caterpillar was once more too happy for anything good to be about to happen, he grimaced and stopped before something made him register as candy again.

Looking around, he quickly found the cause of her joy. A large, round, orange... thing. With a small hole on top. He recognized this plant...

"Candy!" she beamed.

"Grrr..."

Then he suddenly rubbed his chin. This could be used to his advantage.

"Candy, right." he grumbled, putting the lamp upside down on top of the hole and kicking the thing. Then he pulled the lamp out, now full of... stuff that made things register as candy. He grimaced, realizing it'd have been best to wear discardable gloves while handling this stuff. If he turned it around, some of that could get in his hand. And that was best avoided... at all costs.

Pulling out some of the red cloth from the tent, he grabbed the lamp with his other hand and turned it around quickly. Then he walked back to the flag where he had marked the saslenoth.




Once there, he slung another rope over a high branch, tied one end to the base of the lamp, climbed the tree (with some difficulty), pulled the lamp full of nectar up, and coated the saslenoth in the Sogram Tastimus, using a hanky made from the waterproofed red tent so as to get none of that shit in his hands. Because that'd have been one amusing way to die.

The saslenoth barely defended itself, probably not understanding that its main defense mechanism had just been nullified. Then Locust went up to the base of the branch, and with the axe, he did what he could against the structural integrity of the branch. A chainsaw would've been better, but he had to make do.

Needless to say, he didn't get very far. The axe was dull, and he had very little to support himself with. So he decided instead to get creative.

Taking the rope and tying it to a place farther away from the base of the branch, he motioned at the caterpillar below.

"Pull!"

The caterpillar pulled. Nothing happened; the branch was still too strong. So he rubbed his chin again, and untied the rope.

Which he then tied to the middle of the sloth's body.

"Pull!"

Once more, nothing happened. Locust sighed in annoyance, and raised his axe.

"Pull!"

She pulled. Locust hacked away at the animal's legs. It dodged and punched him in the face. Both fell... though Locust took to it better, because he was smaller.

"That's food. Now THIS should fill you up." he grimaced.

She quickly gobbled up the sloth, which had fainted in the fall and was bleeding from one leg anyway. It was quite bizarre to see her savor the animal, once untouchable as a stinky ninja, like it were the tastiest thing in the world.

"Hun-gwy?"

"Yes, hun-gwy."

"Shoulda guessed..." he sighed. Then he got down from the tree.



Then he went looking for something else.



"I deplete the ecosystem, for fun and proooofiiiit... That's 'cause I got suckered, by a broad diiiipshiiit..." he sang. "She doesn't understand, that's not why I liss'niiiing... but I guess I'm just nice, to all thing tiii-ttiiies..." he finished. "I hate improvisation."

By this point, you could probably tell his mood without help. Who the hell sings out in the open, in Felarya?

Next thing he found that seemed edible and capable of solving any problems was... a fruit tree on season. There were several fruits in it.

"Food?" he sighed.

She went up to the fruit tree, and quickly devoured every fruit in it.

"Let me guess. Hun-gwy."

"Yes." she answered. Well, at least she didn't look as desperate as in the beginning.

Locust grit his teeth, and abandoned the zone.



He was in luck, because he found another boar. Blinding it quickly, he left it to her. She was still hungry.



Looking around, he wondered what else could he feed the monster. Normal caterpillars just ate leaves, but this one... if this one could just eat leaves, it'd probably be already doing so.

It wasn't long until he stumbled into an odd-looking tree. He made sure he didn't get too close: it was between 30 and 200 feet tall. The caterpillar stopped behind him.

"You making an awfully good job blending in, dumbass." he grumbled.

"You know what I am?" the tree asked, nervously.

"Yes, and I'm not getting anywhere close to you." he spat.

"Wait, no, don't! Come closer, I'm not in the mood to eat anyone right now." the tree blurted. "Seriously, I need some help, really, come on..."

"No."

"You're helping that fairy. Come on, help a sis in need, will ya?"

"Meh, I'm sure you'll pull through." Locust sighed. "You're a big girl. Wait a minute, did you say fairy?" he blurted at the end.

"Yeah, fairy. She's still too little, though."

Locust raised his eyebrows.

"Right."

"Usually, fairies lay their eggs while small so as to feed them easily, but you know, it's statistically possible that eventually a moron makes it through the generation... you humans do that all the time, after all."

"Grr..."

"Not that I have a problem with it, you don't need to be a genius to taste good! But hey, come on, help me out, will you?"

"After all that tirade? You have the gall to ask me for help after calling me food?"

"It's written on your shirt..." the dryad said, turning to face him.

"It's an acronym. For FUCK OFF OR DIE."

"Well, look, I'm not... really interested in arguing about life's worth. We can talk all day about the sanctity of human life... how about we talk about the sanctity of MY life?"

"You'll have to wait for someone else. Like the people on those red tents nearby."

"Yeah, they were good. If I knew I would've needed them later, who knows?"

"You didn't, so I guess it's your problem from here on."

"Come on, I'm sure we can reach an agreement..." the dryad insisted.

"Ah, should've said that earlier." Locust grumbled. "Would you say you're strong?"

"Compared to you?"

"I found some nuts close by, I want to feed them to her... could you crack them?"

"I think I could, but first you'd have to do something for me..."

"Make it quick."

The dryad stood up, keeping her hands behind her body, and eyeing nervously the caterpillar.

"Uhm, can you... please leave? I want to show him something..."

"Hun-gwy!" the caterpillar repeated. "Food?"

The dryad shivered.

Locust shrugged.

"If you could give me a little food for her up front, that'd mean the world to me."

"Ah, I can do that... there were some humans brought in by a..."

"Not food." Locust spat.

"Hey, I thought you were trying to feed her!"

"I am, but I'm feeding her only because a human -and oh surprise, one that's not even her friend! Guess it was a good person!- asked."

"And what does that have to do with anything? Are you trying to feed her or not?"

"I'm not trying to feed her humans, same way you're not trying to feed her troughberry-infested dryads. So let's look out for each other's interests, shall we? You don't feed her humans and I won't feed her dryads?"

The dryad grimaced.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because dryads don't get hemorrhoids. So I'm guessing it's troughberries on your ass."

"Berry? Food?"

"Uhm, no!" the dryad replied, smiling nervously.

"We've got some nuts to crack. You crack the nuts for her to eat, I'll do what I can about your berries." Locust nodded. "Deal?"

"Deal." the dryad answered. "I swear."

"And I don't believe you." Locust replied, blankly. "Not that it'll stop me, of course... not the dumbest thing I'm doing today..." he turned to the caterpillar. "Remember the nuts? Where the candy is?"

"Nuts? Bring?"

"Yes. Can you bring me the nuts?" Locust asked. "Please? She'll make them candy."

"Candy!" she chirped, going away on her own. Locust watched her leave slowly.

"You sure she'll be fine?"

"She was fine before I got here, she'll probably do fine after I leave." Locust answered. "It's not like she needed me or anything." he walked round the dryad, staying out of reach. "Show me where the problem is. And then bend over, keep your hands away from me."

Once he was behind the dryad, he took a look. The dryad seemed to have a lower back problem, where some green, thin thing had spread around a relatively small area. She'd scratched it off, of course, but there were little saplings all over her bark, it'd probably grow back again. Seeing she had her hands away from him, he walked up to the middle of her lower back.

"I'm going to need a little fire here... think you can manage?" he asked.

"Fire? What for?" she asked, shivering.

"Scratching sure didn't work, I'm going to try to wither it. I'll make sure you don't burn, if that's what you're concerned about."

"Ah, okay. Thanks... I'm Poppy."

"Locust."

Poppy lowered her hands and let out a sigh.

"Ah, so you're that hypocrite... good to finally know it myself."

Locust grumbled.

"It's too spread..."

"What?"

"We will have to amputate."

"Eh?"

He took the axe.

======

Poppy rubbed her lower back, where Locust had first amputated and then cauterized.

"Can I have a lollipop?" she sobbed, her mouth stiff, her hands trembling slightly.

The caterpillar returned, carrying two nuts, each almost the size of her head.

"Make candy!" she demanded.

"For our part of the deal..." Locust shrugged, pointing at the nuts. "Crack 'em."

"Can I have one? Please? I didn't eat you... any dryad would eat you..." Poppy sniffed. "I've been a brave girl... I had the troughberries... I got better..." she sniffed. "Please?"

Locust shook his head.

"Be content you still live." he shrugged. Then he motioned at the caterpillar. "Give 'em here."

"I want one! You have two..."

"I'm trying to feed this thing, and you've got no idea how difficult it is to fill her." Locust grumbled. "You have no idea how much easier it would have been to let the troughberry fully infest you and then feed you to it."

"Like I'd have let you!" she grumbled. "I want one of those nuts too!"

"You aren't getting any!"

Then they stopped. The caterpillar baby was crying.

"Don't fight!" it cried between sobs.

Locust sighed. The dryad saw her opportunity; she took the caterpillar in her arms, and rocked it slightly.

"It's okay, it's okay, little girl..." she smiled. "Don't be scared, okay? Can I have one? Please?"

"Awfully low blow." Locust grumbled.

"Yes... don't fight..." the caterpillar sobbed.

"That was false and manipulative!" Locust cried.

"Shush, you're making the baby fairy cry." the dryad said. "No, baby don't cry..."

-And THAT is why I hate 'em dryads.- Locust thought to himself. "Now crack these."

The dryad bent down, put the baby fairy down, and took one nut in her hands. Her veins pulsing, teeth grit, muscles bulging and body shaking in effort, she managed to coax a crack from the nut, and sighed in relief, gasping a little.

"There, how's that!?" she grinned. "I deserve an applause!"

The baby fairy applauded. Poppy bent down, and offered her the cracked soulnut's core, which she crushed a little between her hands.

"What are you doing?"

"You don't want her to break her teeth, do you." Poppy smiled. Then she turned her attention to the other soulnut, and put it in the back of her mouth, between her larger teeth. Taking a deep breath, she put both her hands under her chin, and with a loud crunch, the soulnut's shell was shattered. She smiled, spitting out the shell and chewing the core merrily.

"See? That's what we have teeth for." she smiled, savoring the soulnut. "Human, you can't even begin to imagine what you're missing on here! It's de-li-cious!"

"More than humans?" Locust asked sarcastically.

"Hmmm, yeah, it's made it worth it not to eat you. I've gotta share this one with all my friends..." she said, letting out a long breath. "See you around." she smiled, relaxing and raising her arms.

"Before you do, a question..." Locust asked, quickly.

"Make it quick." the dryad replied, almost too sleepy.

"Are the purple giant mushrooms edible? Are they poisonous to baby fairies?"

"Mmm..." the dryad hummed. "Edible... why not..."

An illusion sheathed her, so well that Locust would have now swore the dryad had just changed places with a real tree.


Locust turned back to the baby fairy.

"Hungry?"

"Hun-gwy."

"Fuck me." he sighed. "The bastard's still hungry."


He turned back to the place with the mushrooms.


The next thing of interest he found was a small place with rather sparse trees and lots of pink-leaved plants. He let out a low chuckle, feeling almost depleted. He'd been using too much magic, and too much strength that day. It was pretty lucky that he found those plants.

Digging up one plant's roots, he took a bite of a raw Stam root. Then he remembered they were edible, and handed the rest of the root to the baby fairy.

"Food."

The fairy gulped down the root on the spot. Locust dug up another one, and another one, and another one...

...by the time he was done digging up roots, the effect of the first root had been spent. He was as tired as he had been at the beginning.

"Hungry now?" he grinned.

"Still hun-gwy."

Locust nodded in resignation.

So he got back to the mushrooms. Still using the axe, which now needed some real sharpening, he cut those gigantic mushrooms into bite-sized pieces. And then pointed the fairy to them.

"Food."

The fairy gulped down six 20 foot mushrooms chopped into little pieces. Locust had ommited the one reading "Eat me", just in case it did the same thing that the one in the book.

"Hungry?"

"Hun-gwy."

Locust roared in frustration.

"She ate six giant mushrooms." Locust groaned. "Six, motherfucker. But her bottomless chasm of an invertebrate stomach still demands more food." he groaned. "Holy shitballs, she's an unstoppable machine..."

Starting to veer towards a mood in which he'd give up, Locust groaned and shook slightly.

"This isn't working..." he moaned. "This isn't working... why isn't she full!? What else is there for her to eat!?"

There was still the mushroom that read "eat me". That one was just a voraphile, actually...



He left for another direction.



And there, staggering in anger and frustration, Locust found something that would've come as a sweet release. He smiled, seeing the black, armored monster, slithering on dozens of tiny legs, its large mouth with many rows of long teeth, its large, snapping, clawed pincers, its dozens of eyes, running towards him... it had to be around fifteen feet long... he remembered they were antimagical, so there was nothing to do about it, not in this state...

Wait a moment, pincered? Most tonorions didn't have pincers, they had scythes. This one had to be a strange subspecies, what was it doing in the Fairy Kingdom? Had it been brought in by a dimensional disturbance too?

Not that it mattered. Fifteen feet of armored insect out for his blood had come. There was nothing that could be done about... just fifteen?

Locust pointed at it.

"Food." he said.

The pincered lesser tonorion stopped for a moment, thinking for an instant it might've just made a big booboo.

Locust giggled as he saw the long bulge moving down the fairy's throat. One day, she'd be unable to remember this day and fear tonorions.

"Hungry?" he asked.

"Hun-gwy."

"Indeed." he grimaced.

I might have to call it a day soon, he thought. If it gets too late...



But of course, as luck would have it, Locust found something else that made for good eating. Seven lettuces. Seven wild gigantic lettuces.

"Hey, look..." he grinned. "Food..."

The caterpillar turned her attention to the lettuces, uprooted them in an instant, and gobbled them up quickly.

"So?"

"Hun-"

"It was a rhetorical question."



Almost over the edge, but commited to see this to its end, Locust shrugged and kept moving, finding the final challenge not far from where he was. There, sitting in a nest dug at ground level, was the 14th dumbest creature in the multiverse, caring for a clutch of its eggs and looking around blankly.

Locust grinned, and placed an illusion of a man far from his position, but in line of sight for the glouteaux. Then he motioned at the caterpillar.

"Get those eggs, I'll turn them into food." he grinned. While the glouteaux kept trying to eat something that didn't exist, Locust changed the illusion to that of a brick wall between it and its eggs.

The fairy managed to take one egg, of course: more eggs would require more hands. Now there was the matter of how to eat it. That was one huge egg, around the size of the nut. The process could include rinse and repeat for each of those five eggs... that wouldn't be the end of it, but it would get somewhere... how much more food could she need?

So now, with an egg in hand, Locust wondered what to do to that egg. Then he decided to avoid extra work, and taking the axe, made a leak on the shell. Then he pointed at the stuff leaking out of it.

"Food." he just sighed.

The fairy raised the egg to her mouth and started drinking it raw, like a bodybuilder on a protein diet. It needed some more hacking to let her get to the yolk.


A large bird flew overhead. A crossbow bolt went into it.

They met a boar sometime later. It got ensnared.

There was a snake, but it had just eaten.

Also they found an elephant. Locust wasn't in the mood to argue whether it was intelligent or not.

There was also a tree full of ripe, gigantic purple peaches that got cleared.


And she was still hungry.


Locust, now with bags under his eyes, let out a yawn, looking behind him. He smiled.

She'd gotten fuller, though she still was hungry. Her caterpillar body was slightly bloated, and he could perceive a small hint of roundness in her belly. He was making progress, but she was still hungry.


Fatigued and saturated, he barely perceived the small fairy behind him. He yawned, and raised his palms.

"Fuck off or die..." he groaned, preparing an illusion.

The fairy kept her distance; he was surprised. Then she looked at the caterpillar, and opened her mouth in surprise.

"Don't tell me you were feeding her."

"Huhnz? What'z it to you?" he asked, repressing a yawn.

She shook her head.

"You really shouldn't have." she sighed. "I've been trying to get her to eat her leaves like a good girl, but she's spoiled rotten thanks to all the nice people who want to feed her. You really went overboard, though, I've never seen her THIS full..." she rolled her eyes. "Oh, well, what's done is done."

Locust suddenly sprang into fully awake once more.

"Wait a moment, are you telling me she could've been eating leaves all along!?" he grunted. "Did she have me find her EVERYTHING that there was to eat just for... just for..."

The fairy gave him a sympathetic smile.

"I don't really know what to tell you. Delilah! What have you been doing?"

"Food." she said, blankly. "Hun-gwy. Don't eat him." she pointed at him.

Locust shook his head, and buried his face in his hands.

"For all that is..." he grimaced. Then he took a deep breath, and turned to the baby fairy. "Is... what she's saying... true? Can you eat leaves?"

"Yes." she answered, blankly.

The fairy sighed.

"Okay, Delilah, you should thank this nice man for all the food... and now, start with the leaves."

"Don't wanna!"

Locust lowered his face, and then raised it again, meeting Delilah's gaze.

"Delilah." he growled.

The baby looked at him. And then she gasped.



She'd seen him angry in a variety of ways. But this one... was funny.



She started laughing.

"Oh, please, you know you can't scare a fairy with a scary face." the fairy smiled. "Hey, at least you tried. That's gotta be good enough."

Locust nodded. Then he nodded again, and then he kept nodding.

"Good enough." he said, turning around and leaving. "Now I'll leave..." he turned to the fairy "...unless you wish otherwise."

The fairy shrugged.

"Nah, be my guest, leave." she chuckled. "See you."

============

22 years later, in an office in Negav...

============

"That's what I did that day, Daisy." Locust finished, sitting behind his desk.

Daisy smiled, taken a bit aback, sitting in front of the desk.

"I can't believe it. You went that far for me?"

"I'd say... yes." Locust said, drily.

"Why?"

"Because there was still hope for you to lead a happy life." Locust nodded. "You didn't have to go through what I did, you caught on quick to what Felarya was, and never had to suffer any of it. And deep down I resented you, but I was really happy for you and your friends... I wanted to make sure that your good will didn't go to waste... I needed your good will not to go to waste, to remind me that there IS something worth fighting for." he tilted his head.

She blushed.

"I'm not that great..."

"I know what you think, and don't bother. What's done is done... and yes, you were. Just like all people who still could find happiness in this world, everyone who still could give it a chance and not fret too much about it." he sighed. "So now that we meet again, Daisy, I've been meaning to ask... how... how are you doing?" he tilted his head. "Do you regret coming to Felarya?"

"No, never." she smiled. "If that's what you're worried about, it's okay! How could I be anything but happy? I could've been eaten, but instead I'll forever be young, and healthy, and very vigorous. Petra and I are really happy together, Marcel sure gave us one hell of a scare, but it wasn't the end of the world after all. She quickly found a job, she teaches maths, I've been keeping the house... the fresh start was a nice detail, too, that way we don't really have to worry about anyone we knew!" she winked. "It was tough leaving everything we knew behind, losing all rights and all obligations... but we adapted. And it's been worth it. Every second of it has been worth it, Flo." Daisy said, leaning forward. "Don't worry about that."

Locust smiled briefly.

"And Marissa?"

"She's been doing fine." Daisy nodded. "Still has problems finding the right person, and sometimes she's got problems with money... she stays at our house often. But it's okay, though you wouldn't believe it. She complains all the time about everything, but deep down, she's thankful. Believe me. Weren't it because of all the scares your team gave us, she'd have probably taken up fairy hunting when she saw the chance... and Wendy, she's doing great too. She was really excited about magic at first, you wouldn't believe the things we've seen her do. Made Petra a bit uneasy at first, but she was so excited, we couldn't but let her keep it up. She's about to apply for entrance to the Isolon Fist."

Locust's mouth twitched. Daisy chuckled.

"I've got a very brave little sister, I know." she said. "She knows the risks, but she's always wanted to be like you, ever since we met. Well... like Flo, actually, because when she saw you were a fat short guy, she was kinda turned off."

"Yeah, I'm a bad example." Locust grinned.

"Yes you are." Daisy said, smiling. "But I don't regret it. You saved our lives! Mad taught her a little at first, too, and so did Ted."

"Mad..." Locust sighed. "I'll always miss her. Her illusions were far beyond what I'll ever be able to do."

"Seriously?" Daisy smiled. "Well, you're alive..."

"I make do." he said. "I'm glad to know you're doing well, Daisy." he smiled. "I'm serious, this... means the world to me. I live for moments like this."

"Glad to hear that too." Daisy answered. "Say, I'm making paella. Would you like to join us for dinner?"

"I can't."

"Always working, aren't you?"

"It saves lives."

"Well, I'll leave you to keep working. See you." Daisy smiled, standing up.

"See you." Locust said, smiling to himself. Then he pondered the same question he had been asking himself ever since that day, once she left...

"How has that fairy been doing?" he wondered.

======

Meanwhile, in the Fairy Kingdom...

Delilah twiddled a little with her blonde pigtails, nervously. Her partner looked at her.

"Not that I'm criticizing you or anything..." Etria said, rolling her crimson eyes. "But, I'm serious, what the hell?"

Delilah sighed.

"I don't know where it's from, my mother says it's from my childhood... I can't help it, okay? I don't think it's such a big deal anyway!"

Etria looked into Delilah's green eyes.

"Okay, okay... it's just... well, you know. Nobody else I know screams "Hun-gwy!" while climaxing...!"

Delilah looked around nervously.

"Does it bother you?"

Etria approached closer to Delilah, quickly putting her arms around her.

"Of course not, I think it's kind of cute..." she grinned. "I think I'm going to call you Hungwy from here on."

Delilah struggled, trying to break the embrace.

"Hey, don't tease me like that!"

Etria just hugged her tighter.

"Come on, Hungwy... you know only I can give you what you want..." she said, biting her ear. Delilah gasped in delight. "What's your name?"

"I'm... Delilah... AH!" she gasped, while Etria nibbled on her ear.

"What's your name?"

"Hun-gwy..." Delilah gasped.

"And what does Hungwy want?"

"... Food..." Delilah chirped.

"Hungwy is such a good girl..." Etria grinned. "What kind of food does hungwy want?"

hahaha
this was really a great story ^_^
I really enjoyed that so unusual situation and the third chapter was just comedy gold !
Speak about comic of repetion ! I founf myself giggling during most of my reading at that poor Locust desesperatly trying to feed that bottomless stomach

"It was a rethorical question"
hahaha XD

Well, I was confused at first, but... Damn, that was well worth reading!