Trapped in the Featherlands

Broken in the Badlands

The Badland swamp buzzed about with life as restless as Erica's sleep. Amphibious creatures croaked into the night. The sky hummed with the dance of hundreds of fireflies, a colony as vast as one could see. The twinkling lights melded into the stars above. Erica looked up at them, watching them court one another in a display as romantic as any other. The fairy swallowed. Her heart raced lying against the cold ground. She breathed deeply, catching a scent that calmed her with blissful familiarity.

Beneath her chin, Lilly laid against Erica's chest. Erica smiled at Lilly's gentle breathing. She glowed into her nocturnal role as a security blanket, something that she knew Lilly would need more than anything else. Erica looked down. Lilly's face was serene. She slept deeply and more beautifully than any of the fairies looking down at her from the night sky. An expression of peace rested across Lilly's face that Erica wished should could keep there forever. The fairy wrapped her arms around Lilly, holding her in complete safety from the horrors of the Badlands.

Erica ran her fingers through Lilly's hair. The silky locks drifted through her fingers like a gentle stream. Lilly, in her slumber, moaned softly, holding Erica closer to her. Erica smiled. Her hand found Lilly's. The fairy stroked her fingers across Lilly's hand with tender, soothing tickles. Erica embraced Lilly's warmth against her body. She breathed in her natural aroma while she stared up into the twilight beyond. Erica sank into a pool of joy in being so close to the girl. There was no place that she would rather be, no one who could ever make her want to stay lost in the Badlands. Erica smiled down to Lilly's face, radiance in purity. She laid a soft, lasting kiss against Lilly's forehead before guiding her slowly off to the side. Erica eased her way out from underneath the girl, assuring that she would remain asleep in her errand. Erica slipped out and rose to her feet. She had waited long enough in making sure she knew how she felt and knew that she may only have this last moment of secrecy to do what needed to be done.

Erica turned toward the swamp. She quietly pushed her way through tall weeds and bushes. The songs of the toads and crickets guided her to the water's edge. Above the murky pond, more of the fireflies danced about, marking glowing reflections across the water. The land, water, and sky all melted into the same luminescent image, stretching for infinity up and down before the fairy. She stepped through briars and bramble up to the gently lapping edge of the lake. Erica heard her own beating heart add itself to nature's choir. She closed her eyes. A surge of warmth beamed within her. The fairy extended her foot out to the water and bore her weight atop a lilypad. Erica took another step out into the water. With each, another lilypad bloomed beneath her feet. The petals supported the fairy's frame with every step. Dozens of glowing bugs danced around her head, teasing her hair and tickling her ears. Erica breathed in the energy of the swamp, of the music that encircled it.

The fairy stopped in the center of the lake. She knelt down as more pads blossomed forth to hold her up. Her head dropped. Her hands clenched her knees. Her chest rose and fell slowly, taking deep swallows of the swamp's presence. Behind closed eyes, Erica's mind drifted back to the girl she had left sleeping. She thought back to each of their harrowing adventures. She recalled how each touch, each embrace, made her feel more alive than anything else. Her lips pulled back in a smile, picturing Lilly's wide, carefree smile she would make even in the most stressful of moments. She thought down to Lilly's lips, how, but for a brief moment, they felt on hers. It was a moment of no wrong. Of perfection. As if she had found exactly where she belonged after a lifetime of aimless wandering.

Erica's heart fluttered. She sniffled. Her smile grew more and more painfully the more her mind drew to Lilly, the more she knew Lilly was the reason for all her smiles. Erica reached up and caught a single tear with her finger. She dipped the teary finger into the water. From the ripples of her touch, a shimmering blue glow began to build. Brighter and brighter the water bloomed into concentrated light. The water beneath Erica held her in a basking warmth. Before her, a cloudy mist rose from the blue lake. The mist parted for the insects dancing around it. It morphed into a feminine figure, that of Erica's fairy queen.