A Pixie... no that's not right. Remembering what Tulip told me about her race females were called Pixie and males were called Fairy.

A Fairy fluttered in the air in front of me. He was dressed in a kind of tunic, covered by chest armor made of wood. His wings were different from Tulips, they were like that of a moth rather than a dragonfly.

And what did he just say? Did I just hear this guy right? Tulip was under arrest? "Ok, what has she done?"

The moth man rolled his eyes at me, "She created you." His voice was surprisingly deep for someone so small.

I wasn't going anywhere in just my underwear. "Um right, just let me get dressed..." 

"NO! You will step into this circle now!" I winced and looked over at Liz. Since starting this little conversation I had been keeping my voice low, his little outburst had me worry Liz would wake up. "The child will not wake till morning, I made sure of it." He said the 'child' in the same tone one would use on a cockroach after finding out your house was infested. "There must not be any delays." He gestured toward to circle. 

Looking back at Liz again I was concerned about how she would react if her newly minted friend just up and vanished. "How long is this going to take?" I had to be back by morning at least. 

"As long as it needs to."  I was getting sick of this guy fast. The thing that made me dislike him most, was his eyes. Those were not the eyes of someone just doing his job. Those were the eyes of someone who thought they were better than you. Not too dissimilar to how Liz's grandmother looked at me when I arrived at this sleepover. 

I grabbed my bag, my clothes were inside so I could just put something on later. "Right. So why the circle? I can just warp there on my own." When did that circle even get there? Was a better question. 

"Any more delays and force will become required." He then said with a growl.

Did he just threaten me? If it wasn't for the fact that I was currently imagining Tulip in a kind of hostage situation right now, I would have flicked this bug into next week. "Fine." I finally said with more than a little venom dripping in my tone.

I stepped into the circle and was have a few Hero Ritual flashbacks. Mostly from its appearance, just like the Hero Ritual circle, this circle made me think of  Satan Worship. You know with all it adorable little pentagrams, from my count there were five of them. The only thing it was missing was a goat skull. 

Before I was warped back to the Dixon House, I gave one final glance at Liz silently apologizing for bailing on her. This was the last thing I wanted, and I was hoping I could be back before sunrise. As I looked on everything went black. which was odd because, when warping there wasn't any fancy transition between point A to point B. I was like a cut in a movie one moment you're looking at things from one angle then next moment another angle. No black or White, no flashing lights or sparkles didn't happen. 

Then why was everything black?... Still black. Did something go wrong? Was I in Limbo? 

Then a familiar voice spoke up. "Got you too?" Looking down and behind me, I saw Tulip sitting on the floor. The black floor. Come to think of it, black walls, black ceiling. What? Did Pinkzilla evolve into Blackzilla? No upon further inspection the room was way too small to be the Pink Room, looking up the ceiling was just inches from my face, reaching out I could touch the four walls with both hands by just standing in the center of the room. And worse there didn't appear to be an exit.

"Uh, what's going on?" I asked Tulip who had her knees pulled to her chest, head down with her arms wrapped around to hide her face

"This is the...the...um." One of her arms raised gesturing me to wait a moment. "It's um... a thing." 

"A thing?"

"You know... um, its went the sun is high, is called... noon, and that's how you..."

"Tell time?"

"That's it!" She finally looked up at me. What I saw scared me. Disheveled hair aside, her face was all kinds of contradiction, Her brows were in furrowed as if she were angry, her eyes were streaming tears as if she were sad, and her mouth had a big smile that displayed not one but two emotions Joy and pain. "Time! this is a time-out box!"

"Time-out box?... No, forget that! what the hell happened to you?" I knelt down to her eyes level. 

She couldn't meet my eyes, "I um, am a mess, I feel like my insides are being torn apart."

"I can tell! Did they do this to you?"

"No, I did this."

"You are going to have to explain that." 

"I'll try, but my thoughts are kind of... Eggs, when you cook them, you, um..." She made a gesture like she was cooking eggs in a pan.

"Scrambled?" 

"Yes, words are hard right now."

"Ok don't say anything." I unzipped my bag and put on a black tee and shorts. I sat beside Tulip. Scooped her off the floor and placed her on my shoulder. "Just let me know when you get your thoughts together, ok."

"Ok, thank you." After a while, she went to sleep flat on her stomach. And although sitting up wasn't the most comfortable sleeping position it wasn't anything I haven't done before, and I soon fell asleep as well.

I wasn't certain about how long we were asleep, as it was hard to tell the time in this black box and my phone battery had died sometime while I slept. Tulip was looking better although not 100%. Now and again she would break out in laughter or break down in tears or fly into a rage. In her rage moments, I usually let her take it out on my palm, that her anger vented quickly and we could continue talking. 

What she had said earlier was accurate she did so that to herself. Ever since the incident that turned me into a 9 year old girl, Tulip has been so worried about screwing up again that whenever we were doing something hero related she would magically induce herself in calm. She even used it off and on during those 24 hours after the Hero Ritual. Using The Clam that often in one day is likely what kick started this.

Magic that has to do with the mind, is special from other forms of magic. For starters, the target can build a resistance to it over time should it be used over and over. Second, if used long term there can be side effects.

Side effects of The Calm include.

1. Outbursts of strong emotion when not in use. (This was on display during the rooftop interrogation, she had switched it off thinking that she no longer needed it.)
2. Headaches 
3. Drowsiness
4. And in rare cases death

And of course, there was what I saw last night. Withdraw. 

Yeah, turns out,  you can become addicted to The Calm. Honestly, I could see why complete clarity of thought without emotion to get in the way, but that comes at the price of putting a lot of strain on your brain. Hence the side effects. 

And during Withdraw, all your emotions come back to the surface at once. Lately, after patrols Tulip would retire to her birdhouse quietly and without much of a word. She was trying to stay composed during those moments. She had laughed after a man had committed suicide and that scared her more than anything. What was worse is she noticed that I noticed. So she decided to suffer alone.

"So that's it, the sad tale of the screwup Pixie." Tulip ended her explanation through tears. 

"I don't get it." I don't think she expected that reaction for me. 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T GET IT!" She flew right into another rage. I suspected she would have kept her composure better if it weren't for the withdraw.

"Look I'm not one for grudges, and you didn't just run off and avoid the problem you stuck around. So for me, it was water under the bridge a long time ago. So yeah, you hurting yourself to clean up your mess...I don't get it."

"I see." She was calmer now, but that happens now and again before one of her emotions decides to punish her again. Although these calm moments were coming more and more frequently.

"Look I respect you for trying to fix what you broke. The fact that you went this far makes me respect you more, so keep in mind you don't have to go through shit like this on your own. Ok?"

"Ok! Pfffff hahahahahahaha!" Oh, good Tulip the hyena was back. These moments were worse than rage. At least with the rage, she could talk to me while shouting. You couldn't get anything out of her when she was like this. Also, I had to be sure not to let her fall off my shoulder.

She started to calm back down. "They're more."

"More?" 

"Yeah, I don't have much longer to live." 

Ok, what? "We just had a heart to heart so don't screw with me."

"Trust me I wish I was." Tears started streaming down her face. "Remember? I told you that Mascots like me have the power to kill the Hero we serve should that person turn evil."

"Yeah, what..."

"QUIET!" Anger again. "I WILL KILL YOU! BY KILLING MYSELF GET IT!"

"No." If it weren't for the anger making her choose her word poorly this would go a lot smoother. 

"GAAA! YOU'RE SO STUPID!!" No your just not make sense. "I am so sorry, I didn't mean that!" Talk about hitting the brakes. 

"It's alright please try to continue." This is what our discussion has been like for the past, I don't know. Hour? I was getting used to it.

"Being able to kill the hero, is a safeguard for us, Fey. However, we lack the power to do this on our own, I mean a normal human might not be a problem, but a hero. More drastic measures are needed."

"Killing yourself?" I asked putting it together from what she said while in angry mode.

"Yes, my life has been since last week been linked to yours. If I die you die and vice versa. We, Fey, live for a thousand years. Now that my life is tied to yours, I only have maybe ninety or so left."

I looked at her in disbelief, "Why didn't you tell me?" 

"My plan, was to fix my mistake before they found out. Then just part ways."

"And I would never know the difference." 

"No, you would not." To think she had gone this far long before her abuse of The Calm.

"You would still be in trouble like you are now though. Right?"

"Yes, I would." A laughing fit tried to take her again. This time she fought it off with her hand clasped over her mouth, and a lot of very deep breaths. The fact that she fought it off at all was a good sign.

When she was done I asked. "What kind of life is that for you?"

She gave me a sad smile one that wasn't governed by her current state, then she answered my question with a story, "A Wish Giver, is a traditional job, the only reason it's around at all is a pure formality. The job used to go to a Fey who was much older and wiser, back in the day when the world was fighting off the Demon Hordes. When Hero's were needed." She took a deep breath. "They are not needed these days, but I still wanted to be one, in spite of it being a dying profession. I failed when I granted your wish. Being a Wish Giver was my dream since I was little and I failed my first one. As far as I was concerned my life ended then."

"I see." I didn't know what else to say. What magic words were there? Something did come to mind, but I didn't know if it would help. "So, now that I know, and if they let us go, maybe after I get that wish I'm after, you could just stick around. I wouldn't mind."

She lay back down on my shoulder. "Thanks, I'll consider it."

Some time passed and I finally got to ask a question that hung on my mind. "So what is this box?"

Tulip who hadn't had any emotional fits since our talk earlier sat up before answering. "It is a Time-out Box."

"Wait, you were serious about that name?"

"As much as I could have been at the time." I was pleased to hear a small amount of good humor in her voice. "It's a box that can halt the passage of time. They likely put us in here to wait for me to 'sober up' before the trial begins. Oh but don't worry even if weeks pass in here, it posable for only minutes to pass outside."

"I see, because I haven't been hungry, thirsty, or needed the restroom since." 

"Then the box is doing its job, not a single amount of time has passed on your body."

"Shouldn't that go for you too? Like shouldn't you still be a wreck?"

"No, because time magic has no effect on the soul which, yes it does dwell within the body, but it works directly with the mind."

"Ah, got it." Whatever that meant.

It was hard to tell how much time passed after that, but eventually, the Time-out Box disappeared like water vapor. 

I stood in a street in a town, located in some forest god knows where. Around me were buildings the size of dollhouses. Surrounded by the sound of buzzing wings. Then a voice from above.

"We will now begin the Judgement of Tulip, daughter of Thorn and Violet!" 

Looking up into the tree's I could see a bunch of older Fairies and Pixies. At least 40 of them. All seated in a semicircle of three rows, with one single seat on the bottom row standing out from the rest, that had to be where the head Judge sat. The bench they sat on was a single unit, that hung from tree branches, and hung at my eye level. There was another podium that faced the 40 Judges. Also at my eye level.

"If Lady Tulip would please take the stand." Someone said. A couple of guards fluttered near us. I assumed in case she refused. 

She did not. Tulip flew off my shoulder and took the stand.

Megel454

Well, the next one is going to take a while to wright. cuz I kinda what to get it right.