I could see that despite the red head’s smirk, her eyes were darting around them warily as several adventurers startled, pulling weapons out and preparing spells. Air rippled subtly around the fairies as the one who had spoken made a minute gesture with her hands.

“Stop!” Azalea commanded loudly with her hands up, glaring at each adventurer who was showing aggression. Her voice echoed and caused the air to shiver as she put power into it. 

The lower level adventurers who had pulled their weapons on the fairies froze, staring at Azalea in fear. The higher level ones flinched, remaining unfrozen, but stopped their preparations. 

Lowering her hands with a cold look, Azalea’s face only slightly warmed as she turned towards the other fairies. “Rose, what are you doing here?” She asked, looking at the red head. I couldn’t help but notice how much she resembled Azalea, and I assumed that they were related somehow, especially since she mentioned being family.

Before Rose could reply, another fairy with auburn coloured hair, who also looked related to Azalea flew forward right in front of Azalea and placed her hands on her hips. “We’re here to bring you back home before you get yourself hurt, silly girl!” A spike of anxiety and guilt raced through Azalea as she stared at the other fairy.

“Mother,” Azalea sighed. “I’m not coming… home yet. Maybe one day I will.” She glanced at me, her frosty expression warming into a smile that made my heart race, before she turned back to her mother. “If Kelcie wants to settle in Fairy, that is.”

My heart fluttered as I heard Azalea mumble something under her breath, I didn’t catch it all, but I heard, ‘Maybe virtual reality’, whatever that meant.

Willow was Azalea’s mother? She didn’t look any older than her! I shook my head slightly, fairies were strange. While Azalea bickered with her mother, I inspected them all. 

Guardian Rose (Rare)

Power Level: 3156

Class: Wind Cutter

Warning: Fairy

Guardian Holly (Rare)

Power Level: 2598

Class: Earth Mage

Warning: Fairy

Willow (Uncommon)

Power Level: 1320

Class: Air Mage

Warning: Fairy

Guardian Thornwood (Epic)

Power Level: ????

Class: ???

Warning: Fairy

A gasp escaped my lips as I inspected Thornwood, causing Rose to glance at me. Her eyes widened in shock as they roamed my body, seemingly taking something extra in. A happy smile graced her lips as she glanced between Azalea and myself, before she wriggled her eyebrows at me suggestively. 

Blushing furiously, I looked over at Azalea as she stopped arguing with her mother for a second, a blush creeping across her cheeks as she looked at me. 

“Well, well, well, little sister, so this is Kelcie? She’s cute! You’re being rude, not introducing your beloved to your family.”

I looked at Rose in surprise, before remembering I had the consort title. 

Rose smirked and shook her head. “I’d have known even before I inspected you. It’s in your light.” At my obviously confused expression, Rose elaborated. “Did Azalea not tell you? Fairies can read things about other fairies’ in their light. The biggest one is when fairies choose their mate.”

“But I’m not a fairy though? At least, not all of the time.”

Azalea’s sister shrugged her shoulders. “Even if you aren't, it's obvious. Besides, you glow like a fairy, I can tell by how similar your light is that you are mated.” The red headed fairy smirked again. “Just be careful not to get my sister pregnant just yet.”

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks as I blushed. “Pr-pregnant? How does that work though? I can’t get her pregnant, we are both g-girls.”

Rose looked at her with a confused expression. “Is that a thing with humans? That you need people of the opposite gender? Huh. So limiting.”

“What?! Why didn’t anyone tell me these things?” Azalea cried out angrily, ignoring her mother in favour of moving in front of her sister. 

I watched as Rose nervously licked her lips, glancing briefly between her sister and her mother, before her shoulders slumped. “Would you believe me if I said I had always planned to?”

Rose flinched as something intangible, cold and angry filled the air as Azalea glared at her. I shivered from the rage and frustration I felt in Azalea as much as from the cold. 

“Enough, Azalea! Don’t treat your sister like that!” Willow cried out, attempting to interject herself in between the two sisters.

Suddenly Thornwood was next to Willow, an aura of calm radiating out of him. I didn’t think it was a skill, just the fairy’s natural charisma. “Please, everyone calm down,” he implored as he looked at them all. “This is supposed to be a family reunion, let’s not fight.”

“Is everything alright out here?” Tyral asked, interrupting Azalea’s glaring match with her mother. Her and Prince Enoc had just come out from where they had been below deck. Looking around, I didn’t see where Ryel or Callie and Raya had gotten to just yet, while a bunch of the adventurers looked on curiously, some nervous, some excited.

“Azalea, please…” Rose pleaded quietly. 

Shame and guilt shot through Azalea, causing her to flinch and look ashamed of her outburst. The cold chill in the air vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, and backing away from her sister, Azalea sighed. “Sorry, Rose. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” She glanced over at Tyral and Enoc. “Sorry for worrying you. Everything is fine.”

Tyral smiled and nodded at Azalea, while Enoc bowed his head slightly. “Who are these people, Lord Azalea, friends of yours?”

Azalea’s reaction around having a prince offer her deference was amusing. She flinched, grimaced, looked like she was about to complain, yet a little thrill of excitement ran through her, but then held her tongue as she took a deep breath, steading herself. I could feel her emotions being pushed down as she attempted to assert calm over herself and take control of the situation.

“These are Fairies, from my home.” I could almost hear the ‘obviously’ that she would have added, but she wasn’t in the mood for it, her self control tenuous at best. She then went through, pointing to each in turn. “Willow, my mother dearest, Rose, my sister, Holly, her lover, and Thornwood.” Her eyes widened slightly as she took in both Willow and Thornwood, before she continued. “…Mother’s lover. All but Mother are protectors of Fairy, though Thornwood has kinda been around forever.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Prince Enoc stated as he bowed his head again. “It is unusual to see Fairies outside of their home, though,” he added. “Azalea was the first that I’ve seen, and she’s certainly had an impact.”

“You can certainly say that,” Willow declared with an annoyed glare at her daughter.

I knew the moment that the words came out of her mouth that it was too much, and it seemed that Willow did too.

“What the hell, mother!” Her words were cold, that aura seeping out again, flowing over the ship, the world around us suddenly a shade darker than it had been. Fear gripped at me, something stirring up within Azalea. “I am not some prize to be kept caged up, not some fragile trophy to be kept on a shelf. I do not need you insinuating the same things as Adam!”

“Azalea!” Willow snapped at her.

“And I do not need some NPC trying to tell me what to do!” Azalea all but screamed at the top of her lungs, everything going dark for a moment, the air rippled with power, raging all around us. I could feel Thornwoods aura trying to settle them all, but against what Azalea was projecting, it was futile.

Silence fell, light seeping back, regret slamming into Azalea in full force, my little fairy shivering as tears came to her eyes. She had a look of shame on her face as she looked at the shocked expressions on the other fairies faces, and the concern on mine.

“I…” Azalea shook her head, tears falling, before she turned around, morphed into her wisp form, and zoomed off.

I could feel it all, though. Her shame, and her anger. The deep fear that she was keeping bottled up inside. It was tearing her apart, and me as well as it pierced my heart.

“It is nice to meet you, Azalea’s mother, Rose,” I said, looking at each in turn. “But this is not the way to treat her.” My gaze went as cold as my lover’s, a part of her manifesting through me, and I couldn’t hold it back. “Something happened, and she’s more than tender. She needs love and tenderness, not judgement. Especially after what she’s managed to achieve.”

“I’m sorry.” Willow bowed her head, Thornwood placing an arm around her tenderly. So there was something between them? Just like Azalea said. Thornwood couldn’t be her father, surely? I was sure that Azalea had said that she didn’t know her father at all.

“You’ll have to tell her that yourself,” I replied, more harshly than I intended. “But when she’s not about to destroy everything around her.” What was that, anyway? It didn’t feel like my Azzie at all, and yet, at the same time, it also did. “Excuse me, we can catch up later.”

Turning, I moved away from the group. I didn’t know where she had gone, exactly, but with the bond between us, I could feel where she was. Although we were still in the party together, this close, we could find each other.

The magic wrapped around me as I shifted into my fairy form, the world becoming larger. It was strange, like this, but also comforting, and right now I needed that. We both did. It brought me closer to Azalea, and that meant so much to us both.

Azalea hadn’t gone far in the end. Just far enough away that she couldn’t hear the voices of her family, lost to the winds and the hum of the magic that kept the ship afloat. I flew over to a gap in the wall that was just large enough for a fairy or two to squeeze into, in which Azalea had holed herself. I could see her glow as I approached, pulsating erratically, bright at some moments, and that terrifying black at others, reflecting the turbulence within her. I flew in and settled down beside her, snuggling in close. I wrapped my arms around her, Azalea looking at me briefly with her soft eyes before returning the embrace, pulling me into her, holding me tightly and nuzzling her face into my shoulder.

"Azzie..." I wasn't sure what to say, but I could feel it strongly. The pain, hurt and confusion from seeing Sarah. It was still there, and it wasn't going away. It just seemed to be festering, eating away at her, and what had just occurred just emphasised how bad it was, and how helpless I felt about it all. How little I could help her, without knowing what was going on. Not that I was any better off. At moments I had felt like just breaking down and crying, as if the world had ended, and yet, I didn't know why. She’d be able to feel that too, and perhaps it was a vicious cycle that was reinforcing itself? We couldn’t let it go on like this.

I took a deep breath as Azalea lifted her head up, her eyes staring into mine. Her beautiful eyes were awash with sadness and pain. I had to do something, or it would destroy us both. I had let her be, but Azalea was not coping well with these types of emotions, and I wondered if she ever had been able to do so. Was her joyous and rash persona part of how she had coped with her reincarnation, and now, whatever she had seen when Sarah had turned up had managed to break her?

"We need to talk, Azzie. You need to tell me what's going on. It's hurting you like nothing else, I can feel it. But it is hurting me too. I care about you so much, love you so much, and it is breaking me seeing you like this, and being unable to do anything for you. How can I, if you won't tell me what's going on?"

I burst into tears, pulling Azalea closer into me, letting my emotions flow as the full extent of her emotions slammed into me. Azalea had been holding them at bay, I realised, pushing back at them, so that I wouldn’t feel their full extent. Even in her pain and turmoil, she had been trying her best for me, and that just made me love her even more. But Azalea couldn't, not any more, not with what she was feeling. And I didn't want her to, either. I wanted my lover to open up to me.

"Trust me, please, Azzie. We share our lives now, and so much more than that. You took me as your consort, and chosen. Please, let me in. Let me know what's going on. I know that I might not like what I hear, but I think that I need to hear it anyway." Even if it meant hearing that Azalea still had feelings for Sarah. That would hurt, but yet, I still had one thing that Sarah didn't – I had Azalea, and that fact shone warmly inside me. Yes, I had fears of my own, but they were inconsequential to the need to help my Azalea. To bring back her happy, bubbly, chaotic and rash self. The fairy that I had fallen in love with, and that had loved me in return.

"What..." Azalea paused, shifting around a little, her wings buzzing for a moment before they settled down, brushing gently past my hands. "What if this isn't real?"

"Us?" Pain stabbed at me, more tears threatening to well up.

"No, not us silly." For a brief moment, a flash of the old Azalea broke through, her amused giggled meaning so much to me. The pain subsided a little, but was far from gone. "Never us. You mean everything to me, Kelcie. More than you could ever know, and I don't want to lose you. Ever."

"Then what?" Now I was thoroughly confused.

"The world, reality, everything." Azalea sighed. "It has a system, after all. Just like all those games I played before I died. Exactly like the game I was going to play before I got sick.”

Confusion and hurt rocketed through Azalea as she began to speak, and I knew my worldview would never be the same again.