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He opened his eyes.
A blanket of a white, feathery gown he wore pooled around him. When he raised his head, he was instantly met with hundreds of eyes watching him that belonged to people who were cooing greetings at him. He didn’t know what was going on, where he was, or even who he was.
Suddenly, the cooing voices diverted away from him to exclaim that the Queen had arrived. A flash of bright light from behind him made him turn his head. It was a tall, floating woman who wore a golden sparkling dress, the wings protruding from her back matching it in appearance.
The Queen welcomed him to a place called Pixie Hollow with a smile on her face. She grabbed his hand to pull him up off the ground, gently running her hands over the wings he hadn’t even realised he had and making them just as blinding as hers, but only for a brief moment. She helped him get his feet off the ground, so that he was floating alongside her, rising higher and higher until he was able to let go of her hand and fly on his own for a short amount of time.
When his bare feet landed on the ground again, the Queen explained that he was to find out what his talent was. With a simple wave of her hand, brown mushrooms popped out of the ground from seemingly nowhere and surrounded him in a circle. To his surprise, the other fairies flew towards him, each of them placing something onto a mushroom until they were all occupied by things ranging from a water bubble to a small tornado that only spun in place.
He walked over to each mushroom. First was the one with the water bubble, with the fairies in blue clothing smiling as they watched him. However when he reached out to touch it, the mushroom instantly shrunk down as the light on it dimmed, the water fairies’ expressions changing from excitement to disappointment. He went to the one beside it where a beautiful flower bloomed, only for the same thing to happen. He repeated it with the next few mushrooms, but all of them were the exact same– proving fruitless.
When he reached another mushroom, another sudden bright light shined from behind him, accompanied by shocked gasps of the other fairies. When he turned his head, a hammer glowed and rose higher, slowly making its way toward him by itself. He reached out his hand to grasp it, and once he did it shone so brightly he had to shut his eyes.
It finally went limp in his hands as the glow faded. He reopened his eyes and stared at the hammer, a rock connected to a stick using some sort of vine.
The Queen chuckled, floating to be behind him and placing her dainty hands on his shoulders. If she weren’t levitating, he would likely be taller than her.
She took a deep breath, letting her voice resound to every other fairy that was present there.
“Please welcome our newest tinker fairy, Jayce Talis!”
Jayce was made to work not even the day after his arrival into Pixie Hollow.
He was shown to the house they had prepared for him in case the new arrival was a tinker fairy. And was only given a moment of respite to familiarise himself with his new home and get changed out of the feathery gown that he was told was actually made from a dandelion. The clothes they had given to him were made from green leaves and didn’t even fit, making him waste some of his alone time to mend them to his size and to look reasonably fashionable. Once he was sure he looked good, he stepped out of his new house, greeted by the workshop situated on the ground full of tinker fairies working away.
He followed the orders given to him by the fairy in charge, using long strands of grass to weave baskets to store the things needed for the season change from winter to spring in the Mainland. He does this without question until he is told to work on pots and kettles using acorns. They do not provide him with the acorns in question, making him have to go all the way to the very back of the entire workshop where all of the materials were gathered to collect some.
Jayce walked past all of the other fairies working on their respective tasks as the sun began to set, briefly admiring their diligence as he passed by them. He wove through the maze of houses that were on the ground– compared to his that was set on top of a log, revealing the hidden large mess of unused materials. Immediately, he couldn’t spot the acorns he needed, forcing him to go deeper into the disarray. He eventually spotted them at the very back, stacked tall and proudly beside another fairy house that stuck out like a sore thumb in the clutter of things waiting to be used.
Jayce couldn’t help but to stare at the house for a moment out of confusion. He could tell that someone was in there by the light reflected in the front windows, so why did they live all the way back there hidden away from the rest of the workshop? He was tempted to knock on the door and ask, but he only sighed and shook his head before grabbing some of the acorns he needed. After all, he still had a job to do.
Though the obscured house refused to leave his mind, even after he left and began to work on the pots and kettles, causing way too many close calls between his hammer and his hand in his distraction. It still wouldn’t leave him alone when he retired to his bed for the night, making him stay up later than he wanted to as he stared intently at the roof on his back, wringing his fingers as his thoughts raced through his head.
That was not how he wanted his first night to go.
The house still wouldn’t leave Jayce’s mind. Though as days passed, the thought of it became less pressing in his mind as he adjusted to his life of being a tinker fairy smoothly.
But after a week, he was already tired of it.
His days consisted of weaving grass to make baskets and then sticking wheels on them over and over again, before switching to making those pots and kettles with acorns as the sun set and finally going back home when it got dark. Occasionally, he would be tasked to deliver a basket to the Minister of Spring and all of the fairies who would’ve needed it with the company of another tinker fairy or two and a mouse that helped them transport the basket. Those days were refreshing, but to him, they didn’t feel worth it.
Jayce slumped forward on his stool, resting his head on the worktable and knocking an untouched acorn onto the ground. He sighed loudly, making the fairy sitting to his left turn his head.
“Are you all right?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at Jayce’s pathetic form.
Jayce turned his head to look at him, sighing again. “Do you ever get sick of doing this all day?”
He looked bewildered, as if Jayce had suddenly grown another head right in front of him. “No? Why would I?”
Jayce looked back at him, equally confused at his reaction. “...Because it’s boring? I want to do something more than just make baskets and appliances all day.”
A loud laugh came from Jayce’s right, and he turned to look at her with the same confusion written all over his face.
“He sounds like Viktor,” she said, snickering to herself as the other fairy gasped offendedly at her comment. “Don’t compare Jayce to him!”
Jayce sat up, looking back and forth between the two of them as they playfully argued about someone named Viktor. He hadn’t met anyone named Viktor yet, but from the sound of it, he seemed to be notorious for something that didn’t seem to be good.
“Sorry, who’s Viktor?” Jayce asked, causing both of the fairies to stop fighting and look directly at him. They were both taken aback by his question, almost as if Jayce had asked them something way more worse than just inquiring about another person.
“He’s…an incomplete fairy,” the more boisterous fairy responded, now sounding strangely hesitant to answer him.
“An incomplete fairy?”
“Yeah.” the other fairy cut Jayce off before he could ask further. “Doesn’t he live with the storage?”
It suddenly clicked in Jayce’s mind. The house hidden away from the rest of the workshop belonged to another fairy named Viktor. And for whatever reason, people were hesitant to even bring him up because he was an ‘incomplete fairy’, whatever that was. And the fairy in question, was similar to Jayce in the sense of desiring to do and be something more than just a mundane tinker.
The realisation made Jayce’s heart pound in his chest, the bickering of the two fairies beside him fading into a distant hum as he retreated more into his whirling thoughts. His thoughts about the house, what Viktor could be like, if he was willing to help Jayce in finding some meaning in his work. And he almost got away with those thoughts, almost.
A distant voice yelled from above them, telling them to get back to work and that the kettles weren’t going to make themselves. The other two fairies quietened as they returned to their jobs, and Jayce couldn’t have been happier.
The next day, when all of the other tinker fairies had retreated into their houses for the night, Jayce was escaping from his.
He slowly opened and closed the door behind him, making sure to make as little noise as possible as he flew the short trip to the storage area. Once again, he wove through the mess of large stacks of materials until he saw the familiar exterior of the mysterious house and the tall mountain of acorns beside it.
Jayce’s heart pounded as he approached the door. The same light could be seen from the inside, meaning that Viktor was likely still awake. Jayce stood in front of the door, raising his hand to knock, but hesitating before his knuckles could make contact with the wood. A sudden wave of nerves washed over him as he stood there like a fool, contemplating whether or not he should be there at all. The distaste in the other fairies’ voices whenever they spoke of Viktor replayed in his mind, adding to his evergrowing anxiety.
Nonetheless, he took a deep breath before rapping his knuckles against the door. But Jayce quickly regretted it when he heard a thud from inside, followed by a string of frustrated curses by presumably Viktor himself. He stood there with wide eyes, listening to the footsteps and the clank of something else unknown to him grow louder as they came closer to the door.
The door cracked open, enough to see the man on the other side. His amber eyes that had deep eyebags sunken underneath them stared at Jayce frustratedly. Jayce took note of his appearance; his messy brown hair that was pinned back by a pair of goggles, the mole sitting above his lip and another one near his eye, and the clothing he wore that was similar to his. Jayce didn’t realise he was staring until the other man’s face scrunched up, presumably out of annoyance.
“Uh, are you Viktor?” Jayce asked awkwardly, mentally kicking himself for it. But the other fairy’s hard expression softened a little, and was replaced with a hint of confusion.
“I am,” Viktor answered, the confusion remaining on his face.
“Great!” Jayce breathed a sigh of relief, a smile forming on his face. “I heard that you do a different kind of work?”
“What about it?”
“I was wondering if I could maybe assist you with it? The others brought you up when I mentioned being sick of wanting to work with baskets and kettles for the rest of my life,” Jayce chuckled.
Viktor’s face immediately fell at Jayce’s response, looking unimpressed as if Jayce had said something dumb. Viktor only sighed in response before trying to slam his door shut. Jayce’s heart lurched and without thinking he shoved his foot between the door and the frame, crying out in pain when the door harshly collided with the side of his foot.
Viktor threw the door back open, disbelief all over his face. It almost seemed like he thought that Jayce was an idiot.
“Are you out of your mind!?” he exclaimed, staring at Jayce as he leaned over to hold onto his sore foot.
“I-I’m serious!” Jayce stammered, looking up to meet Viktor’s gaze. “I want to know more about your work!”
Viktor remained quiet, contemplating his words, before turning around to grab a medkit from his disorganised room. Him walking away was what made Jayce realise that the clunking from before was some sort of modified stick Viktor used to help him walk.
It also made Jayce realise that Viktor did not have any wings.
He must’ve been gaping at him, causing Viktor to lightly scoff before gesturing with his head to a table that was overrun with what Jayce assumed were Viktor’s personal projects.
Jayce hobbled over to the extra stool, watching as Viktor closed the door behind him and handed the medkit over to Jayce, sitting in the other stool.
“Check on your foot.” was all he said before putting his goggles back on and resuming with whatever it was that he was working on. But Jayce couldn’t tear his eyes away from it, the mild throbbing in his foot becoming distant as questions surfaced into Jayce’s forever busy mind.
“What are you working on?” Jayce asked. He hadn’t seen anything like it before, a long contraption that on one end had straps similar to a bag, and the other a claw similar to that of a hawk.
“Something to help me with grabbing things.” Viktor answered, his gaze being locked on to his work. Jayce only hummed in response, figuring that it made sense since Viktor didn’t have any wings.
“Does it extend to grab things from high up?” for whatever reason, that made Viktor momentarily halt and purse his lips, as if he were surprised that Jayce would inquire any further about it.
“It does, since I have my…limitations.” Viktor hesitated before saying that, huffing before returning to tinkering.
“Is that because you’re an incomplete fairy? What is an incomplete fairy anyway?”
Viktor quietened, taking a small breath before his explanation. “It means that I wasn’t born from a full laugh, only a giggle.”
Jayce’s eyes widened, but he wasn’t freaked out in the slightest. “So… is that why you don’t have wings?”
“Are you going to check your foot or what?” Viktor suddenly snapped, making Jayce jump and avert his gaze in embarrassment. Perhaps he had gotten a little too carried away with his questions.
Jayce finally pulled his shoe off, examining the damage on his foot. He couldn’t see anything apart from a slight discolouration on the side, which would likely become a bruise the next morning. He didn’t need the medkit, but he still took out the silk gauze and wrapped it around his foot so he wouldn’t waste the opportunity he had; sitting right beside the man he desperately wanted to get to know better.
It was Viktor’s voice that made Jayce look up again. “It is why I don’t have wings,” he answered, still sounding hesitant to say anything more. But he also looked guilty as he observed Jayce, as if maybe he felt bad for snapping at him a few minutes prior.
Jayce began to put two and two together– the other fairies didn’t like Viktor simply because he didn’t have wings like the rest of them. They looked past the fact that he clearly had a genius mind that didn’t fit with the standards, and grouped that in to make it seem like he was someone who shouldn’t be approached by anyone ever.
Jayce didn’t say anything more, sucking in a breath through his teeth before finishing with the gauze around his foot. He stood up with the medkit in hand, putting it back to where he had seen Viktor grab it, so he wouldn’t have to do it himself.
He walked over to Viktor, standing behind him as he continued working away, without even glancing at Jayce.
“Thanks for everything,” Jayce said, Viktor grunting in response. But before Jayce could defeatedly walk out the door, his eyes skimmed over what was in Viktor’s hands and the miscellaneous materials sitting all over the table, making a connection that he thought Viktor may have missed.
“Shouldn’t you use a spring there?” Jayce asked, pointing to a specific part on the long neck of the contraption. Viktor jumped, pushing his goggles up on his forehead and meeting Jayce’s gaze with his widened eyes. Jayce misinterpreted Viktor’s shocked expression with him being upset, suddenly feeling awkward. “Sorry, I’ll go now…”
Jayce walked straight to the door, wishing that he had just stayed curious about the house hidden behind the materials and the mysterious incomplete fairy the other tinker fairies didn’t like to talk about. But Viktor calling out to him made Jayce stop dead in his tracks.
“Come back tomorrow night!” Viktor’s voice sounded urgent. When Jayce turned back to look at him, he had noticed that Viktor had already used the spring in the spot he had pointed to, and judging by Viktor’s surprised (but impressed) expression, it seemed like it was successful.
The regret that Jayce had felt quickly vanished completely. He smiled widely, nodding his head with newfound enthusiasm and bidding Viktor a happier goodnight, exiting his house.
The excitement warmed his whole body as he retreated back to his house, getting into bed and once again staring up at the ceiling with hundreds of thoughts keeping him awake.
He was going to have another sleepless night.
Jayce began to meet with Viktor more frequently after that night, offering his assistance and company to the introverted man. Eventually, Viktor proposed the idea of Jayce becoming his work partner, to which he agreed to instantly.
With his new partnership with Viktor, Jayce started to show up to work less and less, but nobody seemed to bother seeking him out. That or they knew that he was with Viktor and wanted to stay as far away as possible.
Together, they worked on things that could never compare to Jayce’s old work, and he was much happier being with Viktor.
Slowly but surely, Viktor seemed to open up more as well.
“How much further is it?” Jayce questioned, his hand coming up to shield his eyes from the piercing sun as he walked next to Viktor. Jayce found himself walking more compared to flying when it came to being with Viktor, keeping at his slower pace.
“Not much,” Viktor responded. That morning, he had told Jayce that they were going somewhere, and remained secretive whenever Jayce asked him anything about it. Even when Viktor had shoved two crates full of cut-up, weird purple plants into his hands, he still kept tight-lipped and refused to mention anything about it.
Viktor suddenly halted, turning and facing a long patch of grass where a section of it looked slightly split. He used his free arm to push it to the side as he started walking through it, with Jayce following closely behind. Eventually they made it out of the grass, standing in a small patch of land that was mostly taken up by a large tree.
“Rio!” Viktor yelled as he tapped his cane on the ground a couple of times. He stared at the large hole in the middle of the tree, waiting patiently before calling out again.
Suddenly, a pink lizard crawled out of the cavity, quickly running down the trunk and towards Viktor. Jayce stared in wonder– he didn’t know much about lizards, since he wasn’t an animal fairy, but he was pretty sure that they weren’t pink, until Rio had proved him wrong.
A smile made its way onto Viktor’s face as Rio approached him. He extended his free hand and brushed it over Rio’s scaly skin, and the lizard seemed to bask in his affection.
“Empty the crates so she can eat.” Viktor looked back at Jayce and instructed him. Jayce took note of how much happier Viktor seemed to be in Rio’s presence, with his face having lightened up and his voice seemingly becoming higher.
Jayce did as he said, dumping the contents of both crates out onto the ground. Rio noticed and immediately began eating, finishing in only a few seconds.
“I wish I could give her more than this,” Viktor said pensively, looking at her with a sad expression on her face. His words gave Jayce an idea.
“Why don’t we just use one of the baskets to put them in? We can have one of the mice come with us,” Jayce suggested hopefully. But Viktor only laughed at him.
“She would eat the mouse,” Viktor jested, a small smile appearing on his face, but fading as soon as it had appeared. “Also, I’m not allowed to do that.”
Jayce looked at him, confused. “Why not?”
Viktor sighed, averting his gaze away from Jayce and putting it back onto Rio. “If I tried, the other fairies would certainly freak out, no?”
Jayce realised that it wasn’t that Viktor wasn’t allowed to do that, it was that he didn’t want to deal with the other tinker fairies. Their distaste for him must’ve been worse than Jayce had assumed.
“I’ll just do it then,” Jayce suggested again, but Viktor shut him down.
“No. I don’t want you to get involved like that.” Viktor held up his hand, as if trying to halt Jayce from doing anything.
It hurt Jayce’s heart to see him so upset over things out of their control, knowing that he couldn’t do anything to rid the other fairies of their bad impressions of Viktor. He went quiet, and so did Jayce, only Rio’s happy chirping filling the silence between them.
Amidst their silence, Viktor’s eyes returned to Jayce and he spoke. “Would you like to go for a ride?”
Jayce’s eyes widened. “A ride? On her? Are you sure this is safe?”
“Of course not,” Viktor quipped seriously, before hopping up onto Rio’s back and shoving his cane under his leg with perfect practise. He stared at Jayce while he stood there, waiting for an answer.
Jayce took a shaky breath before following Viktor’s lead, pulling himself up onto Rio’s back clumsily and holding onto her to not lose his balance. When he looked up, Viktor was watching him with a smile on his face, looking as if he were trying not to laugh at his inexperience. Jayce huffed before straightening his posture, but he wasn’t confident in his ability to stay calm.
“Are you ready?” Viktor asked, and Jayce nodded.
However, Jayce quickly regretted ever agreeing to the idea in the first place. Rio had instantly sprung to life when Viktor urged her to move, and she moved way too fast for Jayce’s comfort, making him loudly yelp and fold his body forward, hugging onto Rio’s back for life. Faintly, he could hear Viktor laughing over the sound of wind rushing into his ears, though he wasn’t sure if it was aimed at his pathetic display or if he was just having fun.
Jayce squeezed his eyes shut, his heart pounding quickly and painfully in his chest from how afraid he was. But despite his fear, he was worried about accidentally grabbing onto Rio too roughly and hurting her. So he willed himself to sit up, forcing his gaze to stay ahead and focus on Viktor. He slowly and cautiously shuffled up her back, closing the distance between him and Viktor’s slouched body.
Jayce’s arms wrapped themselves tightly around Viktor’s waist, shoving his face into his bony shoulder to avoid looking anywhere as they moved. He felt the way Viktor’s body had tensed up once he touched him, and he almost regretted doing that until to his surprise, his body practically melted into Jayce’s hold. If his heart weren’t already pounding, it definitely would’ve caused his heartbeat to race.
Eventually, Rio came to a stop before he could even process it. Viktor nudged Jayce’s head with his shoulder, trying to get him to look up.
“You can raise your head now,” Viktor urged. Jayce did as he was told, lifting his head from Viktor’s shoulder and blinking repeatedly to re-adjust to the light of day. He looked around, taking in the lovely meadow from the hill they had stopped on, enamored with the sight.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Viktor asked, angling his head to the side to give Jayce some space.
“It is.” Jayce almost sounded breathless. He hadn’t appreciated much of the sights Pixie Hollow had to offer since the day that he arrived, becoming too absorbed in work right from the beginning.
They both went quiet, admiring the meadow together. Until Viktor broke the silence.
“Jayce?” Viktor’s voice was quietened as he spoke, and his gaze soft as he looked at Jayce. “Thank you, for everything.”
They hadn’t even known each other for that long, only a couple of weeks of working together had passed before that moment. But Jayce’s heart, which had steadied, started to beat faster in his chest as he looked into Viktor’s amber eyes, processing the words he had just spoken.
Their close proximity was almost suffocating, with Jayce’s arms still wrapped securely around Viktor’s body, and their faces so close it could’ve sent Jayce into a frenzy. But he stayed calm, smiling back at Viktor so softly that his lips almost wobbled. “Anytime.”
They stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity, and a subconscious part of Jayce wanted to lean in closer. But Viktor tore his gaze away from Jayce, returning it to the meadow for only a moment with a sense of regret as he watched Viktor’s expression harden, as if his protective walls had returned.
“Are you ready to head back?” Viktor asked, his voice slightly wavering. Jayce groaned, shoving his face back into his shoulder, making Viktor laugh.
At least he was smiling again.
Jayce and Viktor soon began planning their next experiment.
Jayce had the idea to create new and better tools for the other tinker fairies to use. And while Viktor seemed hesitant at first towards it, he eventually agreed.
They drafted the tools – with Jayce mainly focused on designing a new type of hammer. But they quickly ran into a roadblock where one of the materials Viktor wanted to use wasn’t easily accessible.
“Jayce,” Viktor said, focused on the drafts of the tools spread out over his table. “We have a minor problem.”
Jayce looked up from the pile of materials they had already gathered with a concerned look on his face, staring at Viktor’s hunched over form. “What is it?”
“We need to go to the Winter Woods to get this.” Viktor pointed to an item on the materials list as Jayce approached from behind.
“I thought you said you had some leftover?”
“I miscalculated.” Viktor pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly frustrated with himself.
Jayce reassuringly placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Hey, it’s no big deal. We’ll just go to the Winter Woods and grab some.”
Viktor sighed. “It’s just a hassle to go there.”
“I think it’ll be fun. I haven’t been there yet.” Jayce had only briefly flown over the Winter Woods when the other tinker fairies were showing him around Pixie Hollow, so a part of him was excited to experience something new– especially with his favourite person.
Viktor hummed in response, resting his head on his palm. “Alright, we’ll go tomorrow with Rio then.”
Jayce smiled, patting Viktor’s shoulder before returning to sorting the materials with excitement flaring through his body.
If only he could remember why the tinker fairies hadn’t taken him inside of the Winter Woods that day like they had done with the rest of the seasonal areas.
The next day rolled around, and Jayce was prepared thoroughly to go into the Winter Woods with Viktor.
When he had gotten home that night, he made two sets of winter clothes for him and Viktor, with Viktor’s being a size smaller than his, and Jayce’s wings protruding from two small holes cut out at the back.
Together, they went to the tree that Rio lived in and strapped her up with a mini basket for the things they were going to collect. Viktor had only designed it with enough room for one person to ride on her back, so Jayce had to fly next to them as they travelled.
They followed the path leading to the Winter Woods, eventually being met with the forest covered in a blanket of white and the log that served as a bridge over the river to cross between autumn and winter.
The second that they crossed over into winter, the air turned colder than Jayce had expected, and it made him shiver through the layers of clothing he wore.
“It shouldn’t be too far,” Viktor shouted. From above, Jayce couldn’t see his face, but the way he led Rio through the snow to get to their destination radiated with confidence in his own abilities, and Jayce admired that.
Eventually they reached the spot they needed to be to gather the materials. Viktor attempted to get off of Rio to grab what they needed, but Jayce stopped him before his feet could even touch the ground, insisting that it’d be easier for him to do it because he could just fly back and forth to the basket. And Viktor seemed to like that idea, since he didn’t put up a fight about it.
Viktor sat back, watching as Jayce carried what they needed one by one and placed it into the basket. They talked playfully to each other, with Jayce complaining about the cold and Viktor cheering him on – but only for a moment before they both laughed at how insincere he sounded.
After what had felt like forever, Jayce had finally grabbed enough of what they needed, making them ready to head back.
Jayce followed Viktor and Rio from above as they made their way home. However, it soon became clear that Viktor had gotten lost when trying to follow the same trail back. They were stranded in the middle of the Winter Woods, and for some reason, Jayce was becoming increasingly colder by the minute.
“Jayce, can you fly up and try to spot any greenery?” Viktor asked, his tone bordering on pleading. Jayce nodded, immediately compiling and flying up.
But as he rose, he began to struggle against the cold, his body shaking and faltering as he flew forwards to try to combat it. Viktor seemed to sense that something was wrong, so he called out to him.
“Wait– Jayce.”
Though Jayce was too stubborn to give up. He wanted to get Viktor out of there as soon as possible so he wouldn’t become as cold as him.
“Jayce!”
Viktor called out to him again, but in Jayce’s ears it sounded faded.
He finally could see above the bare trees, spotting the faint red and green leaves of autumn. He felt hopeful, opening his mouth to yell to Viktor about his discovery.
But something snapped in him. He had become too cold, and his wings seemed to give out on him as he suddenly lost all feeling within them. Before he knew it, he was falling.
In the blink of an eye, Jayce had gone from being high up to crying out in pain from roughly hitting the ground, the snow somewhat breaking his fall. But his respite didn’t last long, with the muffled sound of something cracking coming from beneath him, and although his mind urged him to move, he couldn’t. And once again, he was plummeting further.
Through the blood rushing to his ears and the sound of the wind, Jayce could faintly make out Viktor’s distressed voice–
“JAYCE!”
Jayce opened his eyes.
A harsh light was on his face, making him wince and squeeze his heavy eyes shut. To the side, he heard a gasp before the light moved off of him. A hand was placed on his shoulder, before a voice urged him to open his eyes again as they lightly squeezed his shoulder. He did as they asked, and his bleary gaze was met with the concerned expression of a fairy he had never seen before.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, her tone a tad bit sympathetic as her lips changed to smile at him.
“Where—” Jayce coughed roughly when he tried to speak, his throat painfully dry as if he hadn’t drank even a drop of water in weeks. But Jayce, ever so persistent, kept talking; “Where’s Viktor…?”
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t know who that is,” she replied with that same sympathetic tone, handing him a pouch of water. Jayce took it and drank all of its contents in one breath, heaving when he pulled it from his dry lips.
“What happened?” Jayce asked, his voice clearer.
“You went to the Winter Woods, even though warm fairies aren’t allowed to go there,” she explained. Jayce realised quickly that it sounded familiar, and finally recalled that that was the very thing he had forgotten about, and the very thing he had pushed into the depths of his mind all because he wanted to experience going there with Viktor for the first time.
Viktor…
“I-I need to go—” Jayce shuffled out of the bed he was laying on. But the second he put weight into his foot to stand up, a sharp burst of pain shot up through his leg– making him cry out and sit back down. The other fairy rushed to his side, placing her hands on his shoulders to keep him seated; as if he was going to get up after experiencing that.
“You can’t go anywhere right now!” She exclaimed, her face scrunched up with worry.
“...What happened to me?” Jayce asked, his voice wavering with desperation as he stared up at the fairy. “Who are you? Where am I? Where’s Viktor? Is he okay?”
“Calm down.” Her hands reassuringly squeezed his shoulders again, trying to ground him. “I am a healing talent fairy, and you are currently at one of our workshops. About two and a half weeks ago, you went into the Winter Woods and your wings froze, making you fall and break one of your legs.”
Her explanation made Jayce whip his head back to look at his wings. To his absolute horror, a large chunk of the top of his left wing was cleanly broken off, with a faint blue stained on the rest of his wings.
“I am so sorry Mr. Talis…” The healing talent fairy sighed deeply, at least sounding genuine. “You won’t ever be able to fly again.”
That stumped Jayce into complete silence. He turned his head back, but his wide-eyed gaze stuck to the floor.
He didn’t know what to think.
“If it helps, I am sure that this Viktor you speak of is okay.”
Jayce’s gaze shot up to look at her, and she continued; “The scouts didn’t bring anyone else besides you with them. So I’m sure he’s alright.”
She walked away, drawing her attention to something else. But she still continued to reassure Jayce. “The other tinker fairies are also in the midst of making you a brace so you can walk around. It should roughly take another couple of days until they’re finished, so for now, you’ll have to stay here.”
Jayce couldn’t wait to get out of there. To finally see Viktor again.
Almost four weeks had passed since the day of his injury when Jayce was finally released from the healing talent fairy’s workshop, now equipped with his new brace tightly fitted around his broken leg. The ‘few days’ he was told to wait for it had turned into a week, and when it did arrive, the healing talent fairy kept him there for another couple of days to assist him in walking with it and to monitor his overall condition.
He hadn’t heard of a single thing about Viktor during his entire stay.
The fairy that took care of him was his only company during that hellish half a week he was bedridden for the majority of. She didn’t know who Viktor was, so he stopped asking her after about two days of insistent pleading. But Viktor hadn’t come to visit him at all during his stay, nor had he sent anything either, and the reassurance from the healing talent fairy he clung so closely too started to feel like a fallacy as the time slowly passed by.
He returned to the tinker fairy workshop, and he instantly felt out of place.
The other tinker fairies all looked at him with pity in their eyes, even within their voices when they tried to talk to him. But only one thing; one person was in the forefront of his mind– Viktor.
Another tinker fairy approached him, likely about to give his best wishes to Jayce, but he didn’t care.
“Where’s Viktor?” Jayce insistently cut him off, unintentionally staring daggers into the poor fairy’s entire being and making the poor thing nervous.
“The… incomplete fairy?”
“Viktor.”
“I-I don’t know, I swear!” He held his hands up as if he were surrendering. “I haven’t seen him since the day you got injured!”
“He was here?” Jayce asked, as if it weren’t already obvious given Viktor’s talent.
“H-He was… but I don’t think so anymore…”
Jayce wanted to know more about what that even meant. But a desperate part of him forced him to pry his gaze off of the meek fairy and walk as fast as he could over to Viktor’s hidden house, praying that he was in there, tinkering away at their latest experiment with that focused look that always made Jayce’s heartbeat quicken for reasons he thought were unknown to him. But being bedridden for nearly two weeks makes one think a lot, and each day Jayce was becoming more sure of something that he used to force himself to overlook; his true feelings for Viktor.
Walking to Viktor’s house was painful for Jayce despite none of his limbs throbbing. It was the all consuming anxiety that Jayce felt, about the distant feeling that crept up on him that tried to tell him that Viktor was not gonna be there, things were different now. But Jayce practically bulldozed through the familiar messy stacks of the unused materials, and threw the door open to Viktor’s home.
Only to be met with nothing. No Viktor, and none of his and their projects either. His house now looked the same way Jayce’s had when he first arrived, clean but empty and as if no one had ever once lived inside it. Jayce stood in the doorway, horror seeping into his bones as the realisation settled in.
Viktor was gone.
He stumbled backwards until his back collided with a large stack of twigs, knocking down the stack and creating a commotion that made the other tinker fairies stop what they were doing and look. But Jayce didn’t care, even as his shoulders smacked against other stacks because of his carelessness, they weren’t even a thing in his overwhelmed mind.
Jayce noticed all of the eyes on him, and without thinking he dragged himself over to the closest group of fairies near him and pleaded.
“What happened to Viktor?!” Jayce’s voice shook, quickly reaching his breaking point. He just wanted to know what happened to his partner, and nobody seemed to want to utter it out.
The fairies exchanged nervous glances to each other, each of them unsure on if they should answer him.
“Please! Tell me!” Jayce begged, and one of them finally caved.
“I’m pretty sure he was fired…”
“Yeah,” another fairy chimed in, “he was fired after the Queen and the Ministers found out that he took you into the Winter Woods and almost got you killed.”
“So where is he then!?”
Nobody answered him. That time, they truly didn’t know and weren’t just holding back out of their distaste for Viktor.
Jayce’s stomach churned. The possibility of Viktor being completely missingmade him want to throw up.
So with a pounding head and a distant ringing in his ears, he did.
Jayce is not made to work once he returns to his daily life. And he quickly comes to realise how tortuous it is, being stuck in his house all day without any company or anything to do. It made him think more about Viktor, about how he would’ve gone through the same thing at some point.
It made guilt seep into Jayce’s chest. Viktor must be so empty now that he was terminated from his only purpose in life–the reason why he was a fairy, albeit an incomplete one.
No one comes to visit Jayce. He assumed it’s because they’re worried he’s going to freak out on them about Viktor’s whereabouts again, and he does feel bad overtime for how he reacted.
A week passed, and Jayce was once again at his breaking point. The solitude was eating away at him for days and days, festering back into desperation for the one person he could see eye-to-eye with.
A distant thought crossed over Jayce’s mind as he laid in bed one night. If Viktor had left completely, then how was Rio coping? They had such a strong bond, surely Rio was also depressed over his sudden prolonged absence.
He sat up in bed, the moonlight filtering through his window and creating minimal light in his home. On a whim, he decided to go and visit Rio and keep her company for the night. It wasn’t like he could sleep easily in his own bed anymore, so he figured why not.
He fixed up his brace before he left his house, walking in the dark over to the path him and Viktor always took to get to her. If Jayce knew where to find those odd purple plants she liked so much, he would’ve brought some for her, but Viktor had kept that another tight-lipped secret no matter how many times Jayce pleaded with him out of curiosity.
The walk to Rio’s tree was perhaps the most at peace Jayce had felt since the day he woke up from his injuries. The cool, fresh breeze that hit his face made him feel like he could finally breathe again, with his mind at a still for the first time in ages.
He reached the familiar split in the long grass and used his arms to push it to the side to make room for himself as he walked through it, coming face to face with the large tree that Rio called her home. He looked up at the hole in the middle of the tree before realising that there was no way he could get up there without flying or climbing– neither of which he could do at that moment, even with his leg being in the later stages of healing. Jayce stood there like a fool, contemplating on what to do to get up.
He thought back to the first day he saw Rio, how Viktor yelled for her and tapped his cane on the ground to grab her attention and it had worked. Jayce decided to try it, although he wasn’t sure if she’d listen since he wasn’t Viktor and he didn’t have a cane.
“Uh… Rio!” Jayce yelled, his hands cupped around his mouth. He continued to stare up at the tree, waiting.
Nothing.
So he tried yelling for her again, louder than before. But this time, her pink head popped out from the darkness of her home, and Jayce felt his heart soar with excitement.
She slowly climbed down the tree, approaching Jayce tentatively. But the second she got closer to him she realised who he was and warmed up to him. Jayce reached out his hand and ran his fingers over her scaly skin, finding comfort in the familiarity that he had so desperately yearned for.
He walked over to her side, gently holding her before pulling himself up unto her back without any hiccups. Jayce sat there for a moment, trying to figure out how to direct her to go back into the tree– Viktor had made it look so easy to do so in the past, especially without a leash.
But it was like she knew what he wanted, because she walked over to the tree and began climbing it despite Jayce not giving her any instructions. He clung onto her pink body for life as she rose higher, holding his breath and praying that he wouldn’t fall and completely ruin his healing progress.
He managed to not slip, and they both made it inside of the tree safely. Jayce lightly tapped her back with his hand before sliding off, wincing as a small but sharp stab of pain shot through his broken leg when he landed on it, but recovering quickly. He sighed deeply, eyes darting around the hollow inside of the tree.
There wasn’t much inside, as expected since she was just a reptile. However there were a lot of uneaten plants and half-consumed insects littering the ground which Jayce immediately took note of as weird, perhaps she was depressed about Viktor leaving and was struggling to eat?
When he walked around her body, he froze, his body immediately going cold and his eyes widening. Behind her lay Viktor, who was staring up at Jayce with a tired but equally shocked expression on his pale face.
“Viktor…?” Jayce’s voice shook, unsteady just like the rest of him. Viktor didn’t answer, but Jayce knew for sure that it wasn’t some sort of hallucination derived from his sleep deprivation.
Without thinking, Jayce ran over to Viktor and fell onto his knees to embrace him, ignoring the way his leg protested with a throbbing ache. He held Viktor tightly to his chest, burying his face into his bony shoulder–which seemed to be more pronounced, as if he had lost quite a bit of weight.
“You’re here…” Jayce laughed, as he couldn’t help but to let his tears overflow. Out of all places he could’ve ran to, this should’ve been the first one on Jayce’s mind when looking for him.
“Jayce?” Viktor asked, in disbelief. Jayce pulled back and cupped his cheeks, smiling through the tears and nodding his head.
“Y-You shouldn’t– You shouldn’t be near me,” Viktor said, but as if it pained him to do so.
Jayce’s face fell. “Why not?”
“Because! I hurt you!” Viktor exclaimed, his lips trembling. “I’m the reason you broke your wing and your leg!”
Jayce moved his hands down to Viktor’s shoulders, squeezing them to try and ground Viktor, who was growing more and more emotional the more he spoke.
“No, you’re not,” Jayce said, his voice breathy. “You couldn’t have known my wing was going to freeze, it’s not your fault.”
Even though Viktor clearly didn’t believe him, Jayce truly believed that it wasn’t his fault. How was an outcasted man without wings supposed to know that they were going to freeze and break after enough exposure to the cold like that?
“B-But…” Viktor stammered, desperately trying to blink back his own tears but to no avail. “I’ve ruined your life. Your wings…”
“Viktor, I don’t give a shit about what the other fairies think of me anymore!” Jayce exclaimed, his warm hands coming back to cup Viktor’s damp face. “Their opinions of me have been worsening the day I started prioritising you over being a tinker like them. And I wouldn’t change it for a damn thing.”
Viktor went quiet, the sound of his ragged breaths drowning out the other nightly sounds from the outside. Jayce wiped his tears with his thumbs, his touch soft despite his roughened fingertips.
Suddenly, Viktor pulled Jayce in closer and knocked their foreheads together. Jayce winced at the impact and tried to pull away, but Viktor’s firm and desperate grip on his hair kept him there.
“I-I was so worried…” Viktor stammered, his voice light and about to give out. “I really am sorry–”
“Stop apologising.” Jayce interrupted and laughed breathily, surprising Viktor. “Do you even know how worried I was about you? The others must’ve thought a head injury was missed by the healing talent fairy.”
That made Viktor smile. And god, how Jayce missed it so badly.
Getting ahead of himself, Jayce hastily leaned in closer to Viktor and collided his lips with his without proper consideration, stifling the surprised gasp he let out. The dry, peeled skin of Viktor’s lips felt like it could cut through Jayce’s, but he couldn’t have cared less. Midway through the kiss, Jayce opened his eyes and was met with Viktor’s blown-out widened amber eyes that practically stared into Jayce’s soul. His expression made him feel guilty for being so forward, so Jayce urgently pulled back, panting heavily as he studied Viktor’s face for any distasteful looks coming towards him.
But there was none. Viktor sat there catching his breath with his eyes still as wide as saucers, his thin fingers ghosting over his lips for only a moment.
Viktor’s gaze flickered to meet Jayce’s, and Jayce couldn’t help but to let the guilt consume him so quickly.
“I am so sorry,” Jayce said, his voice almost a whisper. “I should’ve asked you first since you might not–”
Viktor’s nimble hands grabbed the collar of Jayce’s shirt and pulled him in closer, interrupting him to slam his own lips against Jayce’s before he could say any more. Jayce was shocked, but he quickly melted into the kiss as if it were natural for him.
They kissed until their lungs burned in desperation for air, but neither of them could barely stay apart from the other–oxygen becoming nothing but a mild nuisance in the back of their minds. Jayce was aching for Viktor’s attention, akin to a puppy seeking affection. Perhaps a little too much as he pressed himself closer to Viktor’s body, caging the man in between his body and the sapwood of the tree.
Viktor’s hands let go of Jayce’s collar and moved up to his cheeks, forcefully pushing Jayce away from his face. Jayce stared at Viktor as he heaved, laughing between breaths.
“Calm down,” Viktor laughed, his hands still fixed to Jayce’s face. “You’re too eager. Rio is still here, you know.”
Jayce’s face flushed with embarrassment, pressing his face into Viktor’s shoulder and making the other laugh more. Jayce couldn’t help it. He had been separated from Viktor for so long, it felt as if he would die if he wasn’t touching him. But thankfully, Viktor didn’t seem to mind all that much.
After a beat of silence, Jayce spoke up with a gruff voice. “Don’t ever do that again. Never leave me alone like that again. Promise me, please .”
Jayce’s arms tightly wrapped themselves around Viktor’s body, holding him as if he were to let go Viktor would disappear into thin air.
“...I promise,” Viktor replied, his voice low with a sense of guilt behind it.
Jayce felt the tension leave his body at Viktor’s answer. He didn’t have to worry anymore, because now he had everything he’s ever wanted– Viktor, safe and in his arms.
“I love you,” Jayce whispered, so quietly that the sounds of the night could’ve drowned it out. But Viktor heard, of course he would.
“I love you too, Jayce.”
Ever since that day, Jayce had completely discarded being a proper tinker fairy. After all, now that he had the recently fired Viktor, he wasn’t going to let him go so easily after all they went through.
Together, they constructed a house at the base of the tree that Rio lived in, hidden away from any prying eyes. And despite neither of them being tinkers anymore, they still continued working with their previously abandoned experiments and machines. Now as romantic partners.
Even though they were mostly isolated from the other fairies, neither of them would have it any other way. After all, the company of each other was more important to them than anything else.
Hand in hand until the day of their eventual deaths.