Pony: Here be the chapter nine!

Disclaimer Dude: Pony doesn’t own Neopets.

The Tale of a Lupe and a Faerie

Chapter Nine: Little Heroes

The early released children came racing down the dirt path a few hours after their classes had begun. There was a long line of hungry Neopians waiting in front of the Soup Kitchen. They bustled in through the doorway pass the front of the line, surprised to find no sign of the Soup Faerie or the red lupe. They were even more shocked to find the cauldron missing from its usual place. The little shoyru was the first to find the note resting on the wooden floor amongst the scattered flowers. He picked it up and summoned for his friends who had gone to search the cottage.

“What is it, Flamo?” Daisy queried, voicing her curiosity that matched the rest of the youngsters.

“It’s a note,” he replied, frowning as he concentrated on the cursive writing. “I… can’t read it.”

“Wemme see it!” Minga snatched the note from the shoyru’s hands, her eyes looking over the unrecognizable print. None of the children had learned how to read cursive at their young age.

“Let’s ask someone to read it,” Zeek suggested.

“But Mum says to never talk to strangers,” said Daisy.

“We can tawk tew a poweece officewr!” Minga declared with resolve.

“Okay, let’s go find one.” Zeek dashed out of the kitchen, his three friends tailing behind.

***

The knot had completely fallen away, and the Soup Faerie did her best to silently unwind the rope, wiggling free. She met Blaze’s eyes and smirked before making a break for the door. The only way out was pass the Darigans. She ran straight into the draik, pushing him over in her charge toward the door, hoping he wouldn’t be able to get up in time to stop her.

The draik scrambled to his feet, flapping his wings and speeding after her through the air, his sharp talons ready to slice open flesh. Blaze had too darted after, figuring that the draik would get up and pursue her. He pumped his legs as fast as they would go, intending on stopping the draik before he got to her.

Her heart leapt into her throat as she heard the beat of the draik’s leathery wings picking it off the floor. She too was flying because it was faster, skimming low to the ground, but her wings had been crumpled by her position in the chair, not to mention the pins and needles inhibiting her now that her blood flow wasn’t restricted. But then she heard the thud of paws on the floor, and knew Blaze was interceding. She streaked to the door and out.

Torch followed the Soup Faerie outside, closing in on her fast. Just as he was about to make his attack, Blaze had closed his jaws on his tail, stopping him in midair and dropping to the ground like a fly. The red lupe yanked on his tail, and whirled around in a semicircle before letting go, hurling back through the doorway. He turned to the faerie who had dropped to her feet. “I’ll be back with the cauldron after taking care of those two, Soupy. I promise.” Blaze gave her a quick nuzzle and darted back into the old building.

The faerie suppressed a shriek as she felt the fetid breath of the draik envelope her foot. She put on a burst of speed, knowing it wouldn’t be enough, when she heard Torch scream in pain. She whirled to watch Blaze throw the reptilian Neopian back through the door, hearing him land with a series of thuds. Dropping back to the ground, she reached out to Blaze, intending to collapse on him, but he moved away too quickly. She clutched her hands, nearly protesting. But the cauldron was important. Far more important than she was.

Blaze dashed through the doorway, then tripped on the draik’s tail. The red lupe skidded across the dusty floor and slowed to a stop a good distance away from the entrance. Both Darigan neopets were located on each side of the double doorway, with the eyrie holding a thick plank of wood in his paw. They both grinned smugly at him.

“We had a backup plan in case this didn’t work,” said Nightwing. “While you and Torch were outside, I activated the bomb I installed in the building.”

Blaze’s eyes widened in panic, rising to his feet and sprinting toward the entrance in a pathetic attempt to escape when his foes were already at the doorway. The duo closed the double doors behind them and the plank was slipped through the door handles, trapping the lupe inside.

“Ya have less than thirty seconds before kaboom!” Torch shouted, making sure his voice was loud enough to pierce through the heavy doors.

The faerie standing outside knew something was wrong when the two Darigan pets came out, looking smug. When they set a bar across the door, it only confirmed her suspicions. Terror clutched her heart. Why were they trapping Blaze inside? Her breathing quickened. If she rushed to pull the bar out, they would only stop her. But she had to try. She flew up, more than pissed off at the pair of them, and pushed them out of the way to let Blaze out.

The Darigan neopets growled, each grabbing her by an arm, and they towed her along toward a distance where they wouldn’t be harmed by the imminent explosion. As they were about to throw the faerie to the ground, a little green kacheek appeared from around the corner of another building, panting from running. “Miss… Soup… Faerie…!”

The pair grinned sadistically as the child boldly confronted them. “Hey, look! If it isn’t the brat who’s house we burnt down. Have a seat and enjoy the show cause in less than twenty seconds, your big red friend will be blown up into a million pieces,” Nightwing sneered.

***

Blaze was panicking, his eyes scanning the interior of the building for anything that could aid his escape, until his gaze fell upon the soup cauldron. Maybe with the combination of his strength and the weight of the cauldron, he could break the doors open. He would give it a shot, but he didn’t have much time left, and he ran toward it.

***

“No! You’re lying!” Zeek shouted, tears welling up at the corners of his eyes. He ran up to Nightwing, letting out a furious grunt as he gave his shin a hard kick.

The Soup Faerie made several more attempts to get loose and run back, but time was ticking away and she knew she couldn’t make it. Finally, the pronouncement sank in. “Oh, God.” The faerie listened in to the malicious pets and went limp from horror, feeling her knees go out from under her. The two kept a hold on her arms, suspicious of her, but she simply stared at the door of the building, equal parts of her numb with shock and hoping against hope that he would come out the door any second and defy death.

Letting go of the faerie’s arm, the eyrie groaned in pain, then glared daggers at the little kacheek, who scampered away as he snapped his sharp beak at him and proceeded to pursue the child. Zeek ran to the Soup Faerie, hoping that she would protect him from the advancing Darigan.

She seemed to be stuck, waiting for the explosion. It seemed her soul depended on it. But then little Zeek scurried around behind her, afraid, and she glanced down at him. She didn’t comprehend at first, but then she looked up at the eyrie. Her frozen heart started beating again, thawed by the thick rage welling up in her. She pulled Zeek to her with one hand, pressing his face to her chest to keep him from seeing and twisted so she was kneeling, braced. Nightwing had released her to go after the little kacheek, but Torch still had her. Fingers curling, a deep purple - more blue and grey than her normal periwinkle - emanating from her skin. With a sudden wrench, she yanked her arm out of the draik’s grasp and lifted her free hand, dangerous magic swelling and breaking out into a lash that slammed into the eyrie. Without a pause, she swung around to blast the draik as well.

There was a bright flash inside the abandoned building that could be seen from the windows semi seconds before a loud boom thundered through the air as the structure started to crumble. Dust flew up in thick clouds at the base from the masses of collapsing concrete.

The aura of enraged purple power coating vanished from the Soup Faerie’s skin when she heard the explosion. All color drained from her face, and she swayed. Zeek peeked from behind her arm, then squirmed to get free. She didn’t try to stop him. She slowly turned to look at the building, and gut-wrenching terror gripped her. She raced toward the collapsed building, adrenaline flowing through her. Zeek tried to follow, but she turned and said sternly, “No, stay there.” He stopped obediently, but probably wouldn’t stay put for long. The Soup Faerie flew up to the mess, looking for… she didn’t know what. Any kind of sign that Blaze was alive.

There was nothing. The lighter debris was still settling to the ground, and patches of rubble was on fire from the explosion. She looked around frantically, wondering if he found another door, hole, something he could have gotten out through. She didn’t see anything. A sob welled up and stuck in her throat, choking her, and her eyes blurred with tears. “Blaze!” she screamed, hurting her throat. “Oh, God--’ “BLAZE!”

“Thewre they awre!” Minga’s voice pierced through the air.

The Darigan pets turned to the direction of where the high-pitched voice came from, and there, were the remaining children along with a squadron of police chias. They froze, swallowing hard in unison.

“Cuff ‘em, boys,” said Flamo. The policemen charged at the thugs, tackling them to the ground and piling on them like football players.

The children toddled over to Zeek, engaging in brief conversation before going up to the Soup Faerie with worry engraved in their little faces.

“Miss Soup Faerie, where’s Blaze?” asked Daisy with a slight whimper.

The faerie was shaking worse than the night before, and she had her arms wrapped around herself. She shook her head. She wasn’t crying. Sobbing was not crying. “I don’t know, babies,” she said. She couldn’t say that he was dead. Not to the children, and most certainly not to herself. Taking in a hard breath, she turned and enveloped the whole group of children in a hug. This time it was definitely for her rather than them.

The children hugged her back, sensing that something dreadful had happened. Zeek already knew, but after losing his owner, he just couldn’t bring himself to believe that Blaze was gone too. The green kacheek turned his head back to the collapsed building, suddenly spotting something coming out of the clearing dust. “What’s that?”

The kids glanced curiously into the direction Zeek was pointing. Something dark and rounded was rolling out of the veil of dust. It was the soup cauldron! It rolled and rolled until it came to a stop, and it fell over on its top. Then it was being lifted from the inside. The faces of the little ones lit up once they witnessed the familiar red lupe slink out from under the pot, sidestepping slightly from continuously rolling around inside of it.

Wallowing in her misery, not even trying to fight it down anymore now that everything was over, the Soup Faerie was oblivious to the cauldron. She barely comprehended the children’s shifted attention, though she did look up when they all turned, tugging to escape her hold. Her vision was completely clear - the bone-deep shock of loss was still too much for tears - but she didn’t see what was right in front of her for several minutes. By that time, the red lupe had completely emerged from the astonishingly intact soup cauldron. The realization came upon her far too slowly. At first she didn’t believe it… and then she was up on her feet, if a little shaky, and picking her way slowly over the debris. Then she picked up speed, finally flapping her filmy wings and sped down to the giant cauldron and, without pausing, plummeted straight into Blaze, wrapping her entire body around him in a hug.

“Woah!” Blaze laughed blissfully, thoroughly relieved that she hadn’t been torn apart by the Darigan neopets. He responded quickly, wrapping one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders, holding her tight. His heart throbbed for her. He didn’t bother saying anything, and he cherished the tender reuniting with her.

Finally, tears trickled down her cheeks, running into his thick fur. They were tears of relief, but she still tried to quell them, with little success. She buried her face in his chest and held on. “You’re never allowed to get blown up again,” she stated with complete seriousness.

“Okay, I won’t.” Blaze nuzzled the top of her head and applied a couple of kisses onto it before lowering his head to do the same to her cheek.

“Good,” she said, trying to sound fierce, but the effect was ruined when she sniffled. He was laying soft kisses against her hair and cheek, and for once she didn’t find it strange. Even when the little kids dragged over the policemen to show that Blaze had been found, she didn’t give up her position, plastered against him. “Never,” she reiterated. “In fact, I’m chaining you in place when we get back.” She sat up suddenly and kissed him. Full on the mouth. It was a strange sensation to say the least. The police officers had been had been talking to the children, but both stopped and stared at them when the faerie laid one on her lupe companion. She ignored them.

Blaze’s heart thundered fiercely, and his head spun, making him even more dizzy than he was after tumbling continuously in the large pot. His ears dropped fully, flopping to the sides of his head. The pleasantly fiery sensation that surged through his entire body was at an all time high. He eagerly kissed her back, stroking the back of her head.

Admittedly, the Soup Faerie had little experience with romantic kissing. None, in the point of fact. Still, she had never quite imagined fur being involved. Or long canine teeth. A lupe’s face wasn’t really made for kissing, after all. His paw came to pass over her thick hair and she pressed into him, giving up all inhibitions she had been hanging onto on account of his species. She had discovered only minutes earlier that a piece of her soul belonged to him.

Blaze held her close to him with one arm. He continued the kiss, and soon it began to deepen. The world around them melted away until it was just the two of them. His other paw, the one that had been stroking her hair, moved to her cheek, cupping it and brushing it with his thumb.

Kissing Blaze was drugging, and when he framed her face with one paw, her heart swelled. She returned the motion, lifting a hand to run through the downy fur of his cheek. But then a tiny voice from a few feet away said, “Eww, what are they doing?”

Blaze’s ears perked, his eyes snapped open, and the kiss broke. His face was hot and he could still feel the tingling sweetness of the kiss lingering on his lips. He looked down at the child who had spoken up.

Head still reeling, the Soup Faerie hid her face in the crook of Blaze’s neck for a moment, and then looked back up. “It’s something you won’t appreciate until years from now.” She pushed herself off of Blaze, feeling cold all of a sudden, and stood up. She offered a hand to the lupe with a soft smile.

He nodded in agreement, and beamed when the Soup Faerie offered her hand. He gladly accepted, taking her delicate hand with his large paw and pulling himself up onto his hind feet.

A policeman approached them, brushing off from his mind what he had just saw the faerie and the lupe doing. “You should thank these children. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have gotten here when we did.”

“Oh, yeah?” Blaze smiled down at the four little ones, then back at the faerie. “Looks like we got ourselves some little heroes, don’t we?”

The faerie lifted a hand to cover a disbelieving smile. The police hadn’t really done anything to help, but the little tykes deserved to feel like they were heroes. “It does. Good job, kids. It was very smart of you to get the police when you knew something was wrong.”

The kids all nodded emphatically, beaming. After a moment’s hesitation, Daisy blurted, “We should have ice cream. Heroes always eat ice cream after doing a good job.”

“They sure do,” Blaze grinned, still quite impressed with the children. He turned his head to the Soup Faerie. “What do you say we get these little heroes some ice cream?”

The children’s eyes glittered excitedly at the thought of being rewarded with a delicious frozen treat, and awaited for the Soup Faerie’s answer. The faerie wavered a moment. She really should be getting the soup cauldron back and feeding all of the pets that depended on her for food. She couldn’t remember the last time she had closed up shop for so long. But then she threw her inhibitions to the winds and smiled. “Ice cream it is.” There was always the Giant Omelette if pets were desperate. She wasn’t so important that Neopia would stop turning if she took a few hours off.

“Yaaay!” All four little ones cheered in unison, jumping up and down in a display of joy and anticipation for ice cream.

-

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