Prologue (Pt. 3)

--- Jon ---

“Alright, Pix, remember what we talked about?” He asked opening the backpack his friend was hiding in.

Pix gave him a series of chimes and an eyeroll for good measure.

“Look I know I keep repeating myself but… my ma, she’s not really a fan of magic.” He tried to explain. “If she finds out about you…” He shook his head. “I don’t know what she’d do.”

(And that’s to say nothing of if she finds out you’re playing with the same stuff.)

He closed his eyes before shaking his head as he pointedly ignored the remnants of what the Cheshire did to him.

(Steady breaths… one… two… three… four…)

He felt something on his face, and opened his eyes to find Pix with a hand to his cheek as she gave him a concerned look with her yellow on black eyes.

“I’m fine. Just…” He took another breath before sighing it out. “I’m fine.”

Pix gave him a look, one that said while she didn’t believe she understood he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Look, our bus got here a little early so my mom should still be down at the station right now.” He told her as he opened the pack wide enough for her to get out. “Meaning, you should have an hour or two to get adjusted to things before she gets here, and you have to get hiding.”

Pix nodded as she flew out of his backpack before stretching as she hovered in place with her wings.

Nodding back, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and used his house key to open the front door giving him access once more to his house. “And here we are, casa de Whitaker.”

As soon as the door finished opening, a loud bark cut through the air.

His hand shot to his knife as (the rabid beast leapt at him.)

Out of survival habit, Pix bolted for his backpack, leaving a faintly glowing trail through the air with how fast she was moving.

His eyes darted towards the (mad wolf, as black bile dripped from its wretched maw and it) stood there watching him calmly.

(Why isn’t it…) He blinked and the insanity infected beast faded from sight as an old German Shepherd with lightly greying hair replaced it.

He forced his hand from his knife, as he tried to control his breathing. “Hey there Brutus.” He greeted the one animal he knew would never hurt him.

The old MWD watched him with a concerned gaze, likely recognizing the way he’d just reacted from his own mother.

“Good to see you boy.” He said giving the old dog a smile as he began scratching it between its ears. “You been good for ma while I was gone?”

Brutus gave him a bark in the affirmative as he began to wag his tail.

At a faint chiming, he glanced over his shoulder to notice Pix peeking out of his pack at the general lack of violence.

“Hey boy, there’s someone I want to introduce you to.” He told shepherd in a soft voice as he began gesturing for the hiding fairy to come out of his pack.

Watching the dog hesitantly, -something he couldn’t blame her for given what he knew- Pix slowly floated out of his pack, being sure to keep him between her and the dog far larger than her.

“Brutus, this is Pix, she’s a very good friend of mine.” He explained as he took a step to the side for the dog and fairy to get a proper look at each other. “Pix, this is Brutus, he’s been a part of the family for years.”

Pix froze as Brutus drew closer, and he couldn’t miss the familiar glow her hands took on as the old dog drew near.

Brutus gave the little fairy a couple of sniffs, before licking her. Of course, given their size difference this covered nearly the entirety of Pix’s being.

The little fairy froze a mixed look of horror and disgust on her face as the old shepherd stared on in blissful ignorance as his tail wagged behind him.

Pix slowly turned towards him, her expression never changing as she slowly pointed at herself as a high pitch keening sound began to emit from the little fairy.

He gave her a snort of amusement. “Uh, why don’t I show you to the bathroom.”

Pix began to nod frantically as she flew into him and began pushing him to get moving.

“Alright, alright, I’m going.” He laughed, as he made his way to the bathroom where he pulled the sink stopper and set the faucet to start running warm water.

Seeing this and having absolutely no concept of shame, Pix threw off her clothes and dove into the water as she began to quickly scrub at her face.

Turning away from the fairy, he started digging through his backpack before pulling out a small set of modified doll clothing he’d managed to awkwardly get ahold of back when he’d first discovered the little nudist.

“Remember to put your clothes on when your done.” He reminded her, trusting the fairy to turn the water off when it got deep enough for her.

Pix waved at him in a ‘yeah-yeah, whatever you say’ sort of fashion as her insect wings began to flutter through the water causing it to spray all over the sink.

Shaking his head at the fairy’s actions he picked up her dirty clothes -something he definitely did not want to explain to his mother- before making his way towards his room, mildly comforted by the way Brutus was following him around everywhere he went.

As he stepped into his room he couldn’t help but take note of the general lack of decorations, aside from a number of little trinkets he’d picked up from his years at Camp Bet back before everything had gone sideways for him.

The only furniture he really had was his bed against a corner of the room, a desk against the other with an old laptop sitting on top of it, and a shelf covered in a bunch of old children’s books he’d never had the heart to actually throw out, even if he hadn’t read any of them in years.

“Home sweet home…”