Zarinabell Fic

Summary:

Zarina just returned from her adventure at sea with the pirates and is struggling to rejoin the fairies at pixie hollow. Shortly after she has settle in at her new apartment with her close friend Tinkerbell, a problem arises with the Pixie Dust Tree. The council decides that, in order to save Pixie Hollow from a massive Pixie dust shortage, Tink and Zarina must work together to find a way to save the tree. While the two fairies work hard through late nights, Zarina finds herself feeling things that she can't explain: like a sudden intense hatred for Terence, a dust fairy who is obviously in love with Tink.

Characters: Queen Clarion, Redleaf, Hyacinth, Tinkerbell, Terence, and Zarina. Original Character: Thistle

Chapter one

The morning sun had just barely began to show through the window of Zarina and Tink's new home together in the Home Tree, but Zarina was already up. She sat on the small wooden stool in the corner and pulled on her boots. She traded her pirate clothes for her old dust collector dress, but she couldn't get herself to give up her pirate boots for her old brown ones. Zarina pulled her hair up into a messy bun and straightened out her dress, nimble fingers fluttering over the rainbow fairy dust covered beige fabric.

Zarina jumped up and danced across the floor to Tink's bedroom door. Her heart leapt in her chest when her finger tips touched the door, as it always did when she was about to see Tink. The door creaked open and she saw Tink sprawled across the bed. Half of her body hung off the side and the sheets were tangled around her legs. Tink's mouth was open and her hair clung to her cheeks. A loud snore escaped her throat lazily, unaffected by the sunlight that flooded the room with an enchanting light. Zarina couldn't help but giggle to herself as the sight caused a smile to spread over her pale face. She floated from the door to Tink's side and lightly prodded the other fairies shoulder.

"Mmm," Tink grumbled, "five more minutes."

Zarina chuckled to herself again as she watched Tink pull her blanket over her face and moan.

"Come on Tink," she teased as she sat herself on the edge of Tink's bed, "It's morning. Don't you want to have tea before the day begins?"

Tink let out another groan and rolled over again stretching. She pulled herself up to get off the bed, but as she stood she found her legs tangled in the sheets. She let out a gasp of surprise and then stumbled over herself and crashed to the floor. Zarina laughed another soft chuckle as Tink sent her grumpy glares of annoyance.

"I'll let you get ready then," Zarina giggled as she left the room.

They shared a pot of freshly brewed tea and Zarina watched amused as Tink took groggy sips of tea and pulled her bread apart. Zarina liked the tired way she moved and how her fingers seemed to dance over everything that she touched. Zarina watched her every movement as if in a trance. Tink barely noticed the attention since her simple morning routine required all the focus she could conjure.

When Tink's cup had been drained of all of its tea, she took a big gulp to get all the remaining cream at the bottom. The action left a moustache of sugary foam on her upper lip that Tink didn't notice. Zarina smiled at the sight and leaned across the table to wipe it off with her thumb. Tink's eyes woke up a little at the gesture and looked up to stare at Zarina in surprise. Quickly, Zarina pulled away shyly and stood from her chair awkwardly.

"Well, I better be off," she mumbled, not quite sure what to say, "See you later, Tink."

She barely heard Tink yell back a tired goodbye as Zarina threw her bag across her shoulder and skipped out of the room.

She found her workspace cluttered from the experiments of last night. Her bag hit the chair with a loud thump when she threw it across the room. Notebooks and scrap paper calculations cluttered every surface and she rummaged through them until she found her project for the day. She had only been back in pixie hollow for a week or so and she already felt happier than she had been in years.

Her and Tink had worked together to make a machine for the pixie hollow tree. She had been worried about finding a use for her profession, but as soon as she found a way to add purple pixie dust to the weaker dust produced by blue dust to make it stronger, she knew that she had made a good choice coming back. She had presented her findings to Queen Clarion herself and she was so impressed that she ordered her find a way to use it immediately. Tink and she got right to work to make a fairy dust sorting machine that could find the weaker dust and apply the right amount of purple to it and mix it back in to the pile. It worked perfectly and everyone was delighted. They found that they needed nearly half as much fairy dust as before to do daily tasks because they had enhanced the weaker dust.

She smiled to herself as she mixed various dusts with each other and recording her results. Flower petal leaves and minerals shimmered on the shelves with every reacting poof. The time flew by and she had taken many new notes. Zarina checked the clock and found that she had skipped lunch all together and it was almost night fall. She decided to finish one last experiment before going home, but as she reached for the ingredients Zarina found that she must have run out of materials.

I could have sworn that I got everything I needed for today, she thought, I must have run over. I'll ask Tink to get me more Monday.

Happily, she bounced out her workshop. She let her wings drop from her back as she walked instead of flew; she still hadn't gotten used to being given dust to work with and not saving her own for her experiments. Her excitement radiated from her as she leaped across the tree to their home. Zarina didn't know where the enthusiasm came from, but she found herself eager to see Tink and tell her of all the things she discovered. Smiling, she paused before opening the small wooden door.

She took in the messy apartment. Tink had arrived before her, as usual, and had thrown all her things aside. Zarina wasn't exactly an organized person, but Tink was an absolute mess. Her shoes and hat sat cast aside to the wall and Tink's bag lay open on the counter with half its contents spilled out. Zarina straightened her things and shook her head to herself, not annoyed, but pleasantly amused.

She was about to knock on Tink's door to see if she was still awake when she heard a muffled snore come from the living room. Zarina turned to find Tink slumped over the side of the couch with her head resting on her palm. She was still in her green tinker work clothes and her hair was struggling to hang on the twisted bun. An amused giggle escaped from Zarina's lips again as she shook her head at her roommate.

Tink had waited for her.

Zarina drifted to her side and placed a hand on her friends shoulder and gently rocked her. Instead of waking, she readjusted into a curled up position and nestled her head against the arm of the couch. Zarina pulled the blanket draped on the couch and placed it over Tink. She smiled to herself and ran her hand gently over Tink's face, tucking a strand of lose hair behind her ear.

Chapter two

Zarina awoke to the distorted sound of voices in the kitchen. Her bones cracked as she stretched out her arms. She pulled her hair up swiftly with nimble fingers and changed into her casual day dress. She sauntered out of the room and felt uncharacteristically tired.

"Good morning, Tink," she yawned. Zarina opened her eyes and stopped when she saw that they weren't alone. Terence, a dust delivery fairy she used to work with, was standing in the kitchen talking to Tink. He held her bag of fairy dust for the day in his hand.

"Oh," Zarina stutter, "Hi Terence, um, good morning."

"Morning, Zarina," he said with a quick smile before looking back at Tink.

He smiled at the tinker and leaned forward to hand her the bag, but when Tink reached for it he pulled away and they laughed. Zarina felt a tug in her stomach as she watched them play around and laugh. She almost felt sick. Tink had gotten her bag and Terence was smiling a ridiculously large grin, watching her with his blue eyes. He leaned forward toward Tink and Zarina stood frozen. Tink looked back at Terence with a conflicted look. She seemed to be thinking really hard about something. Her nose pulled up and her face scrunched up into her thinking face.

"What?" Terence asked her as he leaned closer and put his hand over hers on the counter top. Something in Zarina's stomach dropped and she cleared her throat with a forceful irritation. Where did that come from? she thought to herself surprised.

Tink pulled away first looking shy and clumsily tripped over her own feet as she backed away. Terence looked over at Zarina with an annoyed glance but quickly returned to his shy self.

"Um," he started, "Well, I better be going. I've got to make my rounds." He tossed Zarina her bag of Fairy dust and started backing out of the room, "Sorry it's not as much as it usually is. The tree isn't making as much as it has been. See ya!"

"Wait, Terence," yelled Zarina.

He looked back, confused as to why Zarina was calling him back after her rude interruption.

"What's wrong with the tree?"

"Oh, didn't you know?" he asked, "It's been making dust really slow, and all the dust has been really weak today. Must be one of those days, you know? Well, see ya. I really got to be going now." And with that he ran out the door.

Tink glanced at Zarina with a look that held a million expression.

"I hope there isn't anything wrong with the tree," Zarina said as she ducked out of the uncomfortable stare.

"Yeah," Tink said, broken from her trance.

Zarina busied herself with making tea and baking the morning bread. Her mind raced as she mechanically moved through the motions of preparing breakfast. She had never felt like that toward anyone; she had always like Terence. Terence was a good, nice guy, but when he touched Tink she felt this rage. Tink was a friend, a good friend, who took her in when she needed somewhere to go, but she was nothing more than a roommate. But when Zarina saw Terence she felt this overwhelming need to push him away. Why would she even be jealous at all, it's not like Tink meant anything more to Zarina than a friend.

"Hey Tink, why don't you put something on the record player?"

"Sure."

Tink sauntered over to the record player and played a soft tune. It wasn't the kind of music that Tink usually liked to listen to. This song was calmer, but still had a swing to it like the slow song at a ball. Zarina found herself swaying around the Kitchen to the gentle beat. When she turned around to tell Tink the tea was ready, she found Tink standing feet from her with a mischievous look on her face.

"What?" Zarina asked, admittedly worried.

In response, Tink held out her hand with a guilty smile.

"Oh, no," Zarina said, "I can't-"

"Come on," Tink implored, swaying toward her playfully, "Please."

Zarina groaned in defeat as she plodded over to Tink. A triumphant smile spread across Tink's face as she grabbed Zarina's pale hand and pulled her in. Laughter filled the air as Zarina stumbled over her own feet while Tink pulled her around the room. They weaved their way gracefully through the furniture. Somewhere amidst the swirling and laughter, Tink got the fairy dust from the table and sprinkled it on the two of them so they fluttered around the room and laughed together.

When the evening came, and they were lounging on the couch listening to the slower songs, Zarina's head in Tink's lap, there came a knock at the door. Tinkerbell grumbled in annoyance, but Zarina danced over to the door with elevated spirits, high on the events of the day. She opened the door to find a young fairy wearing the clothes of a messenger.

"There is a meeting at the Havendish Square and all fairies' presence is requested," he said then excused himself to the next door.

Tink and Zarina made their way together to the Havendish Square. They found seats together on a higher row and waited for the rest of the fairies to arrive.

"Greetings, fairies of pixie hollow," announced Queen Clarion, "We have some unfortunate news."

Her statement was met with gasps of concern by the crowd.

"The Pixie Dust Tree has been having some problems today, but don't fret. The ministers and I will have a meeting tonight to discuss our options. Thank you for coming out; we just wanted you to hear the news from us and to be assured that we will do everything we can to fix this as soon as possible."

With that she excused all the fairies, and Tink and Zarina left silently together and headed back home.

Chapter three

Sunday morning came and Tink and Zarina were sitting at their table drinking their morning tea, when there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it," Zarina said before she got up from her seat.

Behind the door she found Redleaf, the minister of autumn.

"Hello, young Zarina, are you adjusting well back into Pixie Hollow?"

"Yes," she said, "it's nice being back home."

"Good," he said, "That's good. So, I was wondering if I could come in a second. I have something I'd like to ask you and Tinkerbell."

"Um, okay. Come in."

"The tree seems to be ill," said Redleaf.

"Oh no," exclaimed Tink.

"Yes, it's quite tragic and needs to be fixed urgently. The queen has appointed the two of you specifically to fix this together. We were wondering if the two of you could work together in miss Zarina's workshop and-"

"Yes!" said Zarina excited to be working with Tink, she then saw Tink's confused face and changed her composer, "I, uh, I mean, yes. It's only fitting; this seems to be our own mess."

"Right. I'll pick you up tomorrow to show you the tree. Good day," Redleaf said seriously, turned, and left.

When the door closed with a slam, Zarina looked over at Tink. She was looking at her confused. Her big blue eyes were examining her meticulously trying to figure her out.

They drank their tea in silence. They took turns examining each other while the other pretended not to notice.

After they had both finished, Tink offered to clean up. She took her cup and saucer to the kitchen and washed it out before returning for Zarina's dishes. Tink reached over Zarina as she grabbed her dishes from the table and Zarina froze as she was hit with her scent. She didn't dare to breathe in as Tink hovered over her.

As Tink backed up and pulled away she tripped a bump in the carpet and the tea that settled at the bottom of the glass flew onto Zarina's dress. Tink's eyes went wide and she jumped back anxiously.

"Oh my-" Tink said, "I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," Zarina giggled, dabbing her dress with a napkin, "Really."

"No, it's not. I can't believe I-" Tink began mumbling nervously to herself as she sat Zarina's dishes on the table. Tink grabbed another napkin off the table and got on her knees. She began dabbing it on Zarina's dress.

For one long moment their hands met and they each stopped moving. Neither one dared to pull away. Neither one moved at all.

Suddenly, Tink yanked her hand away and apologized one more time before taking the dishes to the kitchen

Chapter four

Zarina woke to a knock at the door. She quickly jumped up, grabbed her work dress, and threw it on. In a swift motion she opened her bedroom door while simultaneously pulling her hair up into a tight bun.

As Zarina walked to the front door, she noticed Tinkerbell emerge from her bedroom. Her eyes were barely open and her mouth formed a tall o as it dragged out a tired yawn.

The sparrow man on the other side said that Redleaf had other affairs that morning and he'd be taking them to the Pixie Dust Tree instead.

The three of them flew in the fresh light of early morning. Zarina couldn't help but watch as Tink flew groggily along. A smile crept on Zarina's face as she watched her dazed roommate struggle to stay awake and fly.

The dust fairies they passed when they approached the tree gave them bad looks. They each seemed annoyed with their presence, but no one said anything to them. Many of them whispered to each other and Zarina heard one of them say, "Yeah, that's them. I heard they were coming today to see the tree."

Once they got to the tree they saw that everything was definitely not fine. The branches dropped and hung with a gloomy droop. The dust that filled the pond was a white pale dust that didn't shine or glisten like the normal golden fairy dust. It felt weak and light when Zarina ran hr fingers through it.

They look at the machine and it seems to be working fine.

"Do you mind if we have a sample?" asked Zarina.

"Of course," said the dust fairy, "go ahead."

Zarina pulled a small bag out of her satchel and filled it with the pale dust.

"It's so weak," Tink said after she finished checking the machine and returned to Zarina.

"How was the machine?" Zarina asked as she tucked the bag back into her satchel.

"Normal," replied Tink.

They started to make their way to Zarina's workshop when a short female dust fairy intercepted their path.

"Thistle-" Zarina started.

"Hush, Zarina, I'm not talking to you. Tinkerbell! This is your fault. You're always making the problems around here. We all know that it's your stupid machine that's broken here. You're such a poor excuse of a Tinker! How could-"

Tinkerbell's face got bright red, but the longer she let Thistle speak the quicker her expression turned from hot-headed anger to wounded. Zarina couldn't stand the hurt in Tinkerbell's eyes so she cut Thistle off.

"I don't know who you think you are talking to Tinkerbell like that! Sure she's messed up, but, hey, I've done some pretty bad stuff too! Anyone has who has actually done something with their life, but you wouldn't know would you? You've never done anything with your life worth doing so you wouldn't understand that you have to fail before you succeed. So why don't you back off until you make yourself into a person worth listening to!"

Thistle took a step back. Clearly hurt but to prideful to let her face give her away. She turned her back to them with a flip of her hair and stormed off.

They watched her storm with an angry flutter of wings away and then Tink turned to Zarina and put a hand on her shoulder. Zarina got chills as she felt Tinkerbell's firm grip turn her around.

"Thanks Zarina," Tink said. Her eyes searched deep into her, but her face showed only gratitude.

"No problem."

Then they took their bag of pixie dust and left together to Zarina's workshop.

Chapter five

Once the door to Zarina's workshop swung open, she immediately regretted not coming Sunday night to tidy up. The tables were cluttered and there was no room for Tink anywhere. Every desk was covered with open books and crumpled pages.

Immediately, Zarina flew around the room trying to clean up all the mess. It was soon discovered that this was an impossible so she readjusted her focus to find a space for Tink. She found a desk that was mostly clear and began frantically pushing things around and throwing crumpled paper wads onto the floor.

"Sorry, I didn't think it was this much of a mess," Zarina stuttered as her hands practically hook with urgency.

"Zarina, it's okay you don't need to worry. Your workshop is perfect."

Her hands fluttered over the wooden surface, dusting the table with her fingertips.

"Yeah, but-" Zarina felt a warmth lean against her from behind. Tink's hand fell on top of hers and she froze. The touch was electric and Zarina never wanted to pull away. She took a deep breath and locked her jaw trying to push away the overwhelming sensation to melt into the touch and collapse into the warm body pressed against her.

She calmed down and turned around to see Tink staring intently back at her. Zarina adjusted her body to face Tink, but tried to avoid touching her, afraid of expressing anything that would give her away. Tink moved her hand to interlock their fingers and pressed herself closer to Zarina. She never dropped eye contact and watched as Zarina froze. She was petrified to move a muscle and break the illusion.

After a long silence filled with longing glances, Tink opens her mouth as if about to speak, but was interrupted with a knock at the door.

"Tink?" Terence's voice came muffled by the workshop door.

Zarina closed her eyes and tried to hold in her impatience while letting out an annoyed sigh. Tink pulled away and Zarina grieved at the loss of her warm body against hers. She tried to busy herself with the clutter in a lame attempt to avoid listening to their conversation. The distraction failed poorly.

Tink opened the door and Zarina definitely didn't glance up to see his huge dorky smile.

"Hey Tink!" he said, beaming. It made Zarina want to vomit in disgust.

"Hi Terence," said Tink, "Sorry, but we already got our dust for the day. We got it straight from the Pixie Dust Tree."

"Yeah, I know, I just-" he trailed off.

"What?" asked Tink.

"Oh, um, nothing, never mind, I-"

She crossed her arms and made her stubborn face. Zarina couldn't help smiling despite her utter hatred of the situation. Tink just looked so damn cute when she made that face.

"What?" she said, with an immovable tone of obstinacy that only Tink could pull off.

Terence leaned closer, attempting to be appealing, but in turn knocked over a jar of experimental purple pixie dust.

"Oh, uh, sorry," he stumbled over his words and sat the jar back on the table. Terence nervously ran a hand over the back of his neck. "I just didn't know, if you'd want to- Tink, would you want to go out to dinner with me?"

"Like a date?" Tink asked, completely taken aback.

"Yeah," replied Terence.

Tink looked conflicted and unsurely glanced back at Zarina who looked uncomfortably away and tried to hide the fact that she had been watching Tink's every move. She coughed to fill the silence as she struggled to cover her anger and jealousy.

"Okay, Terence," said Tink, "I'll, uh, I'll meet you after work, then. I guess."

"Okay!" Terence exclaimed, clearly ecstatic by his success, "I'll see you then!"

And with that he left the room, absolutely bouncing with pride and joy.

"I guess we should, uh, start trying to figure out what's wrong with the dust," said Tink after an endless moment of uncomfortable silence.

"Oh, yeah, of course," Zarina found herself saying the words, but wasn't really paying attention. She was trying to sort out all her feelings quietly and not attract attention to herself. The pit of disappointment in her stomach began to grow the more she thought about Tink going to dinner with Terence. Tink looking at Terence with those beautiful eyes. Tink laughing at Terence's jokes even though he's not that funny and, oh my God, what is she doing? She can't think like this in front of Tink he face must be turning a shade of bright pink.

Zarina knew her complexion must have given her away because she could feel Tink's stare on her as she worked her way around the workshop trying to avoid eye contact.

Chapter six

It had been weeks after that day that Tink and Zarina had said more than three words to each other that wasn't solely based on work. It started with Zarina ignoring her because she didn't want to talk about why she acted so weird about Tink and Terence, then Tink got mad because she wouldn't tell her why Zarina was ignoring her so Tink started ignoring her. Then everything just sort of fell into a constant uncomfortable angry silence.

In the workshop, one day, they had done most of the tests on their sample of dust: mixed it with typical herbs and other, stronger, dusts, when noon came around. The alarm on the clock in the corner went off and Zarina sighed and rolled her eyes. She tore of her gloves and threw them down angrily onto the counter. Lunch was when Terence came over to eat with Tink. Everyday. Zarina tried to stand it the first couple of days but then got to the point when she would excuse herself half way through, then she excused herself at the beginning to go eat alone upstairs, now she just left before he got there to avoid the situation all together.

Without a word, Zarina left the workshop and slammed the door behind her. She was nearly in tears by the time she reached home, but she kept herself together and focused on her rage rather than despair.

Zarina made sure to wait in the hall outside her workshop long enough to hear Terence leave before returning. As she entered Tink didn't spare her a glance or any other sort of acknowledgement. They worked in silence. Each doing their split share of tests and experiments. Zarina finished about an hour before Tink, but waited silently for her to finish instead of offering help. She tapped her pencil against the edge of the table until Tink finally slammed down her tray and looked at her.

"Well, I'm done," Tink said with an angry tone.

Zarina looked away and pretended not to hear the irritated inflection, "I guess we should tell the council there's nothing wrong with the dust or the tree?"

"Yeah," said Tink looking away with her arms crossed, "we need to look at the machine again, I guess."

Without a word of confirmation, Zarina packed up her bag and notebook and turned out the door. With a sigh of agitation, Tink followed.

They arrived at the Queens room, but she was out sorting some dispute in the lady bug painting department so one of her messengers fetched Hyacinth, the minister of spring to speak with them. They waited quietly until the messenger return with her.

"Hello girls, good news?"

"Not exactly," said Tink.

Not any at all, thought Zarina bitterly.

"How so?" asked Hyacinth.

"Well," started Tink, but Zarina interrupted.

"The dust isn't faulty. There's nothing wrong with the tree, and that's a good thing," said Zarina, "but the dust is weak. It's almost like only weak dust is being created."

"That's not good at all," said Hyacinth.

"That's wh-"

"That's why we wanted to see the machine again tomorrow," interrupted Zarina again, "If you don't mind."

Tink threw Zarina a furious look before looking back at Hyacinth for confirmation.

Hyacinth looked between the two of them suspiciously but didn't say anything.

"Of course," she said, "You can stop by tomorrow at ten and I'll have someone ready to escort you."

The walk back was silent, but the unspoken words of anger and agitation filled the air.

Whence they arrived back at the workshop, Zarina entered first and Tink followed, slamming the door behind her.

"Okay," Tink demanded, "What is your problem?"

"I don't know what you're-"

"Oh don't give me that shit. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Zarina crossed her arms and let out an annoyed huff of air.

"No, I'm not taking this silent treatment, or whatever. I'm done with that. You're going to talk to me."

No way am I telling you anything, thought Zarina, but she just turned her head away and pretended not to hear her again.

"Zarina," was all Tink said. She crossed her arms and, suddenly, that stubborn expression wasn't so cute to Zarina anymore when it was directed at her. Okay, it was still adorable, but that just made it a million times harder to ignore.

Moments passed and Tink could see Zarina start to crack under the pressure and she yelled, "Talk to me!"

"I don't like you with Terence, okay!" she yelled at back. She immediately regretted it as she watched Tink process the words with broken eyes.

After a few minutes of Tink collecting herself, words began to topple out of her mouth again.

"That," she said, "That is none of your business!"

"Excuse me? Since when are my opinions not my business?"

"Oh, you can have whatever opinions you want as long as you keep them to yourself!"

Zarina choked out a high pitched huff of bitter laughter, "Well, I'm sorry if I'm not the queen of keeping my emotions under control. Because you're so damn good at it after all."

"What did you say?" Tink asked, "I'm bad at keeping my emotions under control?"

Tink took a step forward toward Zarina with her rising voice.

"This coming from the girl who has ignored me for the past week and a half?"

Step.

"I don't need to take this, you know! Terence has always liked me and he isn't yours to feel angry over."

Zarina was confused for a minute until realization washed over her, "That's not why I'm upset, Tink," said Zarina.

Tink was puzzled but didn't back up or lose her rage, "Well then, what are you so upset about?"

"I already said it," exclaimed Zarina forcefully, "I don't like you with him."

Something clicked in Tink. A strange expression crossed her face. Realization? Satisfaction? Relief?

"Still!" Tink yelled back, with a different tone this time. Less angry, more betrayed. "You think," step, "that gives you an excuse," step, "to ignore me?" she asked less than a centimeter away from Zarina's face. He voice had fallen to a volume barely over a whisper.

They paused at their closeness, breathing in each other's scent lightly, as if every movement was a crime.

"I'm sorry," Zarina whispered, terrified of ruining the moment and loosing Tink's breath in her lungs.

"Shut up," Tink said before she pushed Zarina against the wall and closed the space between their mouths.

Shocked, Zarina Stood froze while Tink pushed into her, but when Tink didn't pull away she melted into the touch. Their lips and teeth crashed into each other awkwardly at first until it settled into a rhythm. Their bodies seemed to just relax into place together. They stood their together just kissing, but when Tink began to pull away Zarina panicked and threw her arms around Tink's neck and held onto her hair for life. She pulled Tink into her and worked their mouths together with such forcefulness that it surprised her.

As the kissed deepened, Zarina felt Tink's tongue drag over the tip of her bottom lip and she opened her mouth slightly to let her know it was okay. That was all the confirmation Tink needed to push her tongue into her mouth and taste every inch of her she could. Zarina put up no fight, rather let out a soft moan as she felt her body react before her mind could.

Suddenly, there was a creak of the workshop door.

"Tink?" Terence as innocently and then he angrily he yelled, "Tink!"

The pulled apart clumsily and Zarina looked away, eyes wide with terror but also complete satisfaction. Tink backed away mortified by the look of betrayal on Terences face. When Zarina saw this, her expression changed to worried. Terence had been a friend before this mess, and Tink looked helpless and distraught.

Terence's mouth was wide with disbelief and he turned to storm away, but failed and ended up tripping over himself to get away.

"Wait, Terence!" Tink yelled as she stumbled after him.

Chapter seven

Zarina let the fairy dust trickle between her fingers and flutter over the floor in a rainstorm of sparkles. She decided she wasn't going to wait for Tink hours ago because it seemed pretty obvious Tink wasn't coming home tonight, but she found sleep evaded her so stayed awake, waiting, on the couch regardless of if she'd meet Tink tonight or not.

Suddenly, there was the clinking sound of keys in the lock and the door flew open. Tink threw her bag aside and took her time removing the keys from the lock. She throw those aside as well and then weakly shut the door. She put her face into her palm for a long second, before sniffling and turning around.

Tink turned around to face coated with a thin veil of salt water. Her eyes were puffy and her nose red. She sniffled again and wiped her sleeve under her runny nose. Zarina stood immediately and in an instant was in front of her, pulling her away from the kitchen and into the living room. Without a word she wiped her thumb under her wet eyes and Tink looked up into her eyes with bloodshot eyes. The blue was striking against the pink contrast.

"Come here," Zarina said with wide arms.

Tink folded into her arms and held on like a child. The weakness was uncharacteristic and pitiful which made Zarina hold her that much tighter.

She held her there for an inmeasurable amount of time before her legs got tired and she dragged her down onto the couch, never breaking the embrace. Zarina held her against her chest and rubbed her thumb up and down in circles over the crevice of her elbow.

Tink held on tighter and rested her head on Zarina's shoulder. Zarina smiled at the contact, but hated Tink's soft sobs that played softly under her breath. She kissed the top of Tink's head and relaxed back into the comfort of their embrace.

Eventually feels Tink's choked breathing evened out into the soft rhythm of sleep.

Zarina let herself rest her head on Tink's soft sweaty blonde hair and close her eyes. She fell asleep to Tink's soft snores and sweet scent.

Chapter eight

Tink woke with her same grogginess, but this time Zarina watched as she jumped up with more of a shock when she realized who she was tangled up with on the couch. Zarina had awoken thirty minutes before but couldn't bring herself to move. Tink and she were sprawled out over the couch and legs intertwined to the point that stirring just a tiny bit could wake up Tink. Tink was startled and jumped up, brushing out the wrinkles in her dress. She excused herself to the bathroom and left Zarina to get up and fix her rat's nest of a hair do.

They worked their way through their morning routine, happier than they had been I weeks. They were still quiet for the most part because it was morning after all, but this was a comfortable welcoming kind of silence. They left together and walked to the workshop, something they hadn't done together before. They usually flew, but there was something calm about walking. Almost intimate.

They worked together through the day. The work went by faster this way, they did experiment after experiment together coming alive slowly breaking through the haze of morning. They found nothing really, but it wasn't as irksome as it had been.

Finally, when the clock showed a quarter until ten, they found something strange when they reacted it with yellow dust. Well, actually, nothing happened, and that was strange. Pixie dust is supposed to lose color when reacted with yellow dust, and it's supposed to start releasing a burning smell of fire, but when the reacted their daily dust with it nothing happened.

"Huh," Zarina said, "nothing's happening."

"It's not even changing color."

"It's as if the dust has already been in contact with yellow dust."

Realization struck them both and the looked at eachother.

"Where they have touched yellow dust before?" asked Tink.

"they wouldn't have," replied Zarina.

"And if they couldn't just find yellow dust, that means-"

"That someone must have mixed them,"

They had gotten really close and victorious smiles spread across both their faces. The mood drifted away into a serious tone of allure as Zarina's eyes moved from Tink's blue eye to her lips that hovered inches from her own.

Each in turn took a step forward and leaned in, but let lingered at a dangerously close distance.

Tink placed her hand on Zarina's shoulder and pushed her benignly away, her fingers hesitated on the skin of Zarina's neck above the collar of her dust covered dress.

"I'm sorry, Zarina," Tink mumbled as she backed away shaking her head, "I can't, you know I can't, Terence-"

"Tink, I-"

"No, it's time we head to the Pixie Dust tree anyway and look at the machine."

Chapter nine

The trip was a silent one. They had sprinkled some fairy dust over their wings from the workshop before leaving so they could fly there. They kept a safe distance from each other the whole trip, making sure not to accidentally bump one another or get to close.

They arrived to find Terence waiting for them at the entrance of the tree. He didn't walk them through the tree, though. Once he saw them he leapt into the air and headed to the place where the dust flowed from the tree. He didn't even check to see if they were following. When he was in sight, Tink spead forward toward him, leaving Zarina to casually trail behind them, pretending not to watch.

Tink fluttered around him as she begged him to listen and implored for his attention. He ignored her, awkwardly trying to keep his composure. He wasn't one for holding grudges, but it was obvious how hard he was trying to keep a grip on this one.

Finally, when they were almost to their destination, Terence stopped and turned to her. He dropped and landed on a small ledge of the tree and waited for her to do the same. She did and Zarina fell on a neighboring ledge, not wanting to join them but also not wanting to leave them alone.

Zarina watched as their argument developed. Tink began weak and pleading, but her hot-headedness began to show as Terence failed to relent. She grew angry and her face turned a striking shade of red and her nose scrunched up as if she was about to explode. Other fairies began to hover and watch as the fight grew louder and louder. Zarina hated the smile that grew on her lips as she watched Tink's expression turn childish in its fury. She was so cute when she was angry.

Tink advanced on Terence and she yelled something at him that Zarina couldn't make out. Terence backed up offended, but his body language still showed anger. Even through the heat of the argument, Zarina wouldn't imagine in a thousand year what happened next.

In a flash, Terences hand swung back and smacked into the side of Tink's face and she fell to the to her knees. The sound of the slap echoed through the air accompanied by gasps of horror by the bystanders. Zarina flew to Tink's side in an instant and pulled her into her arms. She cradled Tink into her lap and rocked her back and forth. In her horror, Zarina looked up to glare at Terence who she found who looking equally mortified by himself.

Terence leapt up into the air nervously and shaking before he flew away.

"Tink, are you okay," Zarina asked Tink as she cradled her body in her lap.

There was no response from Tink but a broken whimper.

A nurse fairy came soon and took Tink from Zarina's comforting embrace.

Chapter ten

Zarina didn't know where else to go to wait for Tink, so she went ahead to the pixie dust pond in the tree. She sat on the edge of the glittering pond of gold and waited, making ripples in the dust with her delicate finger.

It didn't take long for Tink to find her. Zarina hadn't heard her come, so she was startled by the hand on her shoulder that broke her from her trance. Tink smiled, but Zarina's heart broke at the site of the bruise on Tink's cheek bone. She searched for a hatred for Terence for doing this to her, but she could only imagine his horrified expression and decided that blame was good for absolutely nothing.

Tink and Zarina checked the blue dust first. They didn't know exactly what to expect, specs of yellow dust or something of the sort, but they discovered nothing. The vail of blue dust was perfectly fine.

They shared a nervous glance as they were confronted with what they both feared. The machine they had made together must be what was broken and causing the problem. Together, they reluctantly opened the machine. Once they did, they learned that it was obviously the answer. The filter inside the tank was broken, or replaced with a different one with a different purpose. The machine took the weaker dust and added yellow dust to it instead of purple and spit that back into the pond, while the strong dust went down a drain into a tube that lead somewhere they did not know.

They looked at each other.

"What should we do?" asked Zarina.

"Well, we need to go find where that tube leads!" exclaimed Tink with dismay.

"But," started Zarina, "shouldn't we tell the ministers or the queen first."

"I don't know if we have time for that. This seems urgent.

Zarina thought about it for a minute and decided to go with Tink. And off they went to follow the tube into the unknown.

They found their way to the bottom of the tree and search for an opening. A small crack in the roots of the tree was hidden behind blades of tall grass but shown with the glow of fire. They took a deep breath together. Tink held her hand out to Zarina, she took it, and they flew together into the tunnel.

The wooden walls of the tunnel glowed eerily with the orange flicker of the lanterns. The flames threw shadows upon the floor with every jump of the wind.

Suddenly, all the lanterns blew out and Zarina couldn't see a thing. The darkness surrounded her and Tink's hand was ripped from hers.

The tunnel echoed with the sound of a struggle and then a Tinkerbell let out a frustrated shriek and the hall went silent.

When the lights came back on, the world was quiet and Tink was gone.

Chapter eleven

"Tink!" Zarina yelled, her lungs getting dry and soar.

Her wings twittered anxiously behind her as she zoomed forward deeper into the dark tunnel. She had flown down the tunnel as fast as she could, beating her wings soar in her back. The dar wooden hall wound down deeper and deeper and seemed to have no end. There were no turns just the dry never ending hall.

After she flown for what felt like hours, her wings began to tire and sshe could feel the fairy dust power draining from them. She was a fast flying fairy and she didn't have the stamina of one either. Zarina pounded her wings but with every flap she fell down another inch to the ground. Soon, the dust wore off and she collapsed onto the dirt. She panted, exhausted, and her body began to shake. Her eyes were squeezed closed, she felt defeated, but when she looked up she found that up the tunnel there seemed to be a light, like an opening.

She pulled her tired body off the ground and sprinted toward the light. Stumbling, she crashed into the opening. She looked around and saw a large wooden container and tables full of colored fairy dust and other powdered ingredients. She turned and saw Tink in a big wooden cage. She ran to her and pulled at the bars.

"Tink," she exclaimed, frightened.

"Zarina," she said, "Turn around."

She did as she was told and found Thistle, the dust fairy from the tree staring back at her. By her side were two large sparrow men, each with backpacks and what looked like swords. Force of habbit, Zarina's hand flew to her bag and grabbed the hilt of her sword. She had kept it in her bag for sentimental reasons to remember her days at sea, never dreaming she would need it again in Pixie Hollow. Turned her back on Tink and drew her sword from her bag, holding it in front of her, defensively guarding herself and Tink.

"Don't be stupid, Zarina," said Thistle with a wave of her hand, "We don't want to hurt you."

Zarina raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"But we will if you don't let us go. We've wanted to leave Pixie Hollow for years, but we could never develop a plan to steal enough Pixie dust to live on our own. That is, until you two made your brilliant machine."

Zarina locked her jaw as Thistle's insincere compliment left her lips.

"We were ready to leave anyway and it would have been a clean break, if you two didn't show up. Now, I'm afraid we're at an impass. We are going to take Tink with us. You, my dear, have two options after that. You could either promise not to tell the queen who we are and what we've done and just pretend like you fixed the machine and everything goes back to normal and I swear we wont do a thing to Tink, or, if you follow us after we leave then the first thing we'll do is rip the poor girl's wings off. Your choice."

Zarina turned to see Tink, a tear lingered in her eye, waiting for her to blink and fall down her cheek.

"Or I don't let you take her or the fairy dust," Zarina challenged sword in hand.

"Fine," said Thistle, "If you want to do it that way, then I guess you'll have to fight for it."

Zarina took a step forward, clutching the hilt of her sword in both hands. She turned back to Tink seeking confirmation. Tink nodded.

Zarina turned back to Thistle and the two sparrow men with a look of determination on her face. She ran forward and the two men jumped up into the air and flew out of the way, but Zarina wasn't aiming for them. She ran to the table with the purple dust and sprinkle some on her wings. The dust tinted her wings a light purple color and they came alive. Zarina leaped into the air and shot straight toward the sparrow men faster than she had since she was on the pirate ship.

The Sparrow men weren't bad swordsman, but Zarina spent a year on a pirate ship and knew her swordplay like the back of her hand. It didn't take long for Zarina to defeat them both. They fell unconscious from the air with knots on the back of their heads. Satisfied, Zarina turned around with a smirk on her face to find Thistle struggling with the lock on Tink's cage. Her instincts took over and Zarina ambushed Thistle, tore her from the door, and threw her into the container of Pixie Dust. She fell limply unconscious to the ground. The wooden vessel crashed down on the dirt floor and its contents spilled out into an enchanting river of golden dust.

A sparkle of metal glistened on the dirt and Zarina saw the key to Tink's cage that had flown from her hand. Zarina grabbed the key and rushed to unlock the cage door. Tink watched as Zarina struggle, placing her hand over her's through the bars. With a click, the lock unlatched and Zarina swung the door open.

In an instant, Tink's arms were rapped around Zarina's neck, carefully avoiding her delicate wings. Zarina stumbled back from the force but then happily rapped her arms around Tink's lower back under the tips of Tink's wings. They held onto each other for a brief eternity. Zarina nestled her face into Tink's neck and breathed in her scent. She kissed the nape of her neck and smiled to herself. Almost loosing someone makes you really realize how much they mean to you. Tink meant a hell of a lot to Zarina.

Once they finally pulled away, they stared at each other and Zarina admired the shimmer of Tink's blue eyes.

Chapter twelve

The two sped back through the tunnel with their urgent news ready to tell Queen Clarion. The lanterns flew by in flashes of flames. They broke out of the tunnel into the light of late afternoon. Once the Queen's room was close in view, the two fairies landed on their feet and walked up the pathway of the tree. They took a deep breath and looked at each other before Zarina knocked on the queen's door.

It swung open and revealed the tall queen in her long white dress.

"Hello girls," she said, "What seems to be the problem?"

Together they explained everything from the machine to Thistle and their fight. Somewhere in the middle of the story, Queen Clarion took them each by the shoulder and began walking them to the Pixie Dust tree. The queen asked few questions but when they got to the tree, she asked them to lead her and a few other fairies to the tunnel where Thistle and the sparrow men were. Tink lead the way and Zarina followed close behind, letting Tink drag her lightly by the hand.

They found the opening with ease and the three criminals were still unconscious. Tink and Zarina offered to stay and help the other fairies clean up, but the queen refused. She told them to return to their machine and fix it then head home to rest. They accepted the request gratefully.

In a blur, the girls flew back to their broken machine.

"I'm actually glad this happened," said Zarina.

"Why?" Tink asked with curiosity and hint of horror.

"I don't know," said Zarina, "It feels like something that needed to happen. It brought us closer and we got to fix something we didn't know was broken."

Tink smiled at Zarina and stared at her with adoring eyes then turned back and fixed their broken machine.

Once Tink changed the filter of the machine, the dust began to pour out gold and strong. The tree began to come alive. The green returned to its leaves and the branches straightened up. The crowd of onlookers gasped with joy and clapped in congratulations. Tink took Zarina's hand in celebration and looked into her eyes with happy success.

The night grew dark and the two walked home together hand in hand in the moon light. They talked little, but the stroll was filled with unspoken words. Zarina rested her head on Tink's shoulder as they saunter up the twist and turns of the Pixie Hollow Tree.

After they reached home and they stood in silence in their kitchen, Zarina took a step toward her bedroom door.

"Goodnight Tink."

Instead of responding, Tink pushed Zarina into the wall and she pressed mouth into her's. Zarina melted into the kiss and they stayed pressed together against the wall until they found their rhythm. A moan escaped her lips and they pulled away to take a breath and breathe in each other's smell.

"I love you," Tink said.

"I love you too," whispered Zarina back.

The End