My Long Lost Mate

"GAAAHH!!" I breathed hard, trying to grasp for more fresh air as I was pulled away from the foul smell that was suffocating me. The bright sun immediately blinded my eyes for a moment, leaving the darkness that I had mistaken for death just a while ago.

When my eyes started to adapt to the sudden brightness, I found myself still in the same garden, having only been pulled out of the fairy's hair. I gagged.

The voice that was calling for me was far from an angel's, as it turned out to be Maggie, who was annoyed that I was taking my sweet time under the fairy's hair. Little did she know that I was struggling to survive their deadly attack.

"Hurry before they get up!" Maggie said as she pulled me to my feet, urging me to run towards both Andrew and Jack—while she ran for her Coco—freeing them from the fairies' trap. According to Maggie, these fairies would be very—

"WHO DARED TO STOP ME?!" The twin brother growled, trying to move his twin sister, who fell on top of him, away. "WHO DARED TO PLAY TRICKS ON ME?!" 

—furious. 

"HURRY!" Maggie urged, dragging me along with her as she ran. She then took two bottles from her bag and handed one to me, immediately pouring out the potion inside into the flower where Jack and Coco were stuck on. The flower immediately wilts upon contact, quickly turning brown and releasing Jack from its hold. 

Seeing the work of the potion, I ran towards where Andrew was with my thumping heart, scared that the fairies would soon catch up to me. Should I get caught while trying to free their prey, would I turn to their food again? 

Not wanting to experience the disastrous situation, I quickly threw the potion on Andrew's flower, making it wilt within a second of contact. The slightest movement made the terrified Andrew even more terrified, and I could hear him muttering his final words.

"Dear Moon Goddess, I swear I've been a good man. I've never wronged any man—only the squirrels—and I've always done what I was told to do—only rebelling a few times. I always ate my vegetables and—AAAHH!!" He stopped confessing his inner feelings to the Moon Goddess when he felt the flower wilting, freeing him from its sticky powder as he fell to the ground.

After a brief moment of helplessness, Andrew could finally feel the sensation of stepping on the ground again, which then made him begin to appreciate the land he was stepping on more. He said that he would now recite his gratitude on every first step he took each day.

"I… I can move again!" He rejoiced, smiling as if it was the happiest day of his life. He hugged himself out of thankfulness, but I cut his excitement short when I pulled him by his arm, pointing at the fuming fairies behind us. "Thank—" 

"ANDREW! RUN!"

He turned his head and looked behind, and his eyes immediately grew two times larger when he saw the purple-skinned fairies turning yellow out of anger. When they saw the two of their prey escaping, their horns grew bigger and fumes came out of their noses.

"Brother! They're running away!" Yelled the sister, her voice still as hoarse as the first time I heard her.

To be honest, if it weren't for their voices, I wouldn't even be able to tell them apart. And to be even more honest, I still don't believe that the one with the hoarse voice was the sister and the one with the very high-pitched voice was the brother. It didn't sit right with me, but I suppose everyone is unique in their own way.

"WHAT THE HELL IS—" Andrew screamed, shouting and pointing at the fairies, but didn't even have the time to be surprised.

"HURRY!!"

I dragged Andrew away from where he was standing, running to keep up with Maggie and Jack, who had already gone on their way upfront. Now that all of our personnel were freed, including Coco and the frog, all we had to do was run from the enraged fairies behind us. Though we didn't know where we were heading to, we had no other choice but to run as far away as possible from the purple-skinned giant.

Finally grasping the urgency of the situation, Andrew started to run ahead of me with his supernatural speed. Naturally, with him holding my hand, I got dragged into his speed and stumbled a couple of times before falling to the ground. Then the ground shook. 

"Ah, shit! I'm sorry!" Panicking, he lifted me off the ground and carried me without a second of thought, placing me on his shoulder as if I were a sack of rice. "Why is the ground—AHH!!" I guess he saw the fairies moving behind us.

Another earthquake occurred, but it didn't stop us from running, nor did the fairies. They were more than enraged, as not only did we trip them, we also freed the prey that was supposed to be their food. They were both angry and hungry, running with such determination to catch their prey, which amounted to four now.

With the amount of sticky flowers around, it was hard for us to not bump into them while we were on the run. We had to break through their sticky powder and sneezed a bunch of times, using extra strength to avoid being trapped in their stickiness yet again. But the hassle that came from the newly-grown flowers didn't stop only there. 

They were red, bright red, and they were everywhere. It was starting to get painful for our eyes to look into such bright scenery for a long time, and not to mention the addition of the bright sticky powder roaming in the air. 

"Why is this garden so uselessly big?!" Andrew shouted as he ran, panting and grunting. He swatted the few flowers that were on his way, getting his hand stuck on the flowers from time to time. 

Though the color of the flowers was the most problematic, their height and quantity were also an issue. They were so tall and densely packed that it was hard for us to see what was ahead of us, so all we had to do was pray to our lucky stars that whatever was ahead wasn't worse than what was behind us. 

"Maggie, don't you have more potions?" I shouted, hoping that Maggie could hear me despite the fact that I was shouting to Andrew's butt. 

"What, do you think I'm a potion factory?!"

Perhaps out of personal grudge, Andrew made a suggestion that made Maggie's blood boil even more. "Then Coco can grow bigger and fight those—" 

"Why are you asking my precious Coco to fight those giants?! Why don't you wolves go fight those—" 

"But I'm also precious!!" Andrew retorted, not happy with her suggestion. "Jack! You go and fight them!" What is he implying?

Though Jack didn't say anything during our run, it seemed that he still listened to the conversation, which was proved when he showed his discontentment by looking back at Andrew, shooting him a dirty look. I could even see the disappointment on Coco's face through the gap between Andrew's legs. Andrew couldn't care less. 

Unfortunately for us—and fortunately for the fairies—that short moment where Jack looked behind earned him a stumble, causing him to trip on a branch on the ground and fall head first. 

"You little—" Maggie, who was behind him, had no time to stop to avoid him and fell on top of Jack. 

And then, like three peas in a pod, we followed after one another, resulting in another collision between both Maggie and Jack with our last runner, Andrew, who was carrying me on his shoulder. 

"AAHH!!" Both my and Andrew's screams mixed together, creating a harmony that we never wished to happen. "Move, you—" too late.

With us running at full speed, the force from the collision made the four of us tumble forward, leaving our bodies and gravity to run in our place without our consent and willingness. 

Much to our surprise and delight, we tumbled and reached the end of the garden, which we realized by the sight of the wooden fence ahead of us. It was delightful news that we found while rolling on the ground, yet the delightful news didn't last long when we tumbled past the wooden fence, going out of the fairies' territory, which turned out to be on top of a cliff. 

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" 

And here, another unwanted harmony was created, coming from all the people and creatures that were present in this place. It was a harmony filled with regrets, fears, disappointment, and misery.

Funny how we screamed the same word at the same time, all without the intention of doing so. How exciting. 

At this rate, perhaps we would be friends with the birds and learn how to fly from them by the time we returned to the manor.

A first for everything, they said.