Hearts Asunder-unicornskydance

                                                  HEARTS ASUNDER
                                         written by unicorn-skydancer08
                                                     (a.k.a. "Mel")

                                             * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My first ever attempt at a story based on the world of Disney's Tinkerbell. I really enjoyed the movie, though I felt it could have been better with a little more drama, a little more suspense, a little more action. And I fell in love with Bobble and Terrence, so I decided to give this a try. It's always good to have variety in your writing.

This is what you might call an experiment. A full-length chapter story may or may not follow, depending on what you guys think. And just to let you know, this story's pretty depressing, and the ending's not exactly what you'd call a "happily ever after". So, be prepared.

                                             * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Night had descended once again upon Summer Glade, in the paranormal realm of Pixie Hollow, within the heart of the enchanted land known as Never Land. That which was not illuminated in the pure white light of the moon fell into velvet blue and purple shadow.

Though most of the fairies had already retired for the night, a few continued to roam here and there. Among them was Tinker Bell—usually called Tink, for short—and Terrence. The two fairies had been seeing one another for quite some time, and nearly everyone at the Hollow claimed that Tink and Terrence went together like sunlight and summer, like rain and spring. At that time, they were perched on the edge of a tree limb, watching the moon together. A few fireflies hovered about them, winking their otherworldly light at them, and the stars overhead glittered and sparkled like a dispersion of diamonds. The air was rich with the fragrances of the summer blossoms that bloomed all around them, and a soft evening wind whispered sweetly through the trees.

“Sure is a beautiful night, isn’t it?” Terrence quietly commented to Tink, turning his head slightly and offering her a handsome smile.

“Oh…yes,” Tink answered, though somewhat uncertainly. “It’s…lovely.” She looked away, so that Terrence wouldn’t see the emotion that swam within the depths of her bright sapphire eyes.

With her face turned to the side, the young pixie sighed softly. As much as she cared for Terrence, she found her heart longing for another, someone who could truly thrill her and love her—be the “wind under her wings”, so to speak. She knew Terrence loved her, and she knew he would do anything for her, and never cause her any harm. Still, despite his kindness and gentility, despite the way everyone else viewed the two of them together, Tink honestly couldn’t view Terrence as anything more than a good friend, a brother.

Yet she couldn’t find the courage to give voice to her innermost feelings. She didn’t want to hurt Terrence, didn’t want to come off as cold and denigrating to all the other pixies in the Hollow.

Everyone would ridicule her, she was more than sure—point their fingers at her, accuse her of being ungrateful, of letting a perfectly good thing go to utter waste. Was Terrence not good enough for her, they would most likely say? Did he not treat her well? Maybe she was just being a selfish, heartless little snob about it all, they’d scoff to each other when Tink’s back was turned to them. Tink seriously doubted she could endure that kind of humiliation.

Far worse than the notion of what others would say and think of her was the idea of how Terrence himself would feel. He would be crushed. His heart would be completely shattered to bits. Tink could never put him, above all pixies, through torment such as that.

Thus, she was compelled to always keep her true emotions stuffed down deep inside, to keep her mouth shut and never utter a word to anyone.

“Are you all right?” Terrence asked Tink gently, sensing that something was bothering her. “You’re very quiet.” He paused just a second before adding on bewilderedly, “Come to think of it, you have been unusually quiet all evening. Is there something wrong, Tink?”

“Nothing,” Tink lied weakly. “It’s nothing, Terrence. Nothing at all.”

Terrence never considered himself the wisest or the cleverest pixie within the Hollow, but he certainly maintained enough brains to know that a little bit of “nothing” quite often meant a whole lot of “something”. Slowly and gently, he reached for Tink’s hand, carefully interlacing his slim, strong fingers with hers. “Is there anything you wish to talk to me about?”

Unfortunately, this was the one thing Tink could not talk about, with any of the fairies, least of all him. As much as she yearned to tell Terrence how she really felt about him, to tell him the truth, she knew certain truths were simply best left unspoken. She did not try to pull her hand from Terrence’s grasp, but she could not bring herself to look him fully in the face, either. Rather, she just stayed right where she was, her head bowed, praying fervently that she could somehow be freed from this awful pain that gnawed relentlessly at her heart.

Why must this be so hard, she asked herself? Why did she have to care so much?

Meanwhile, not very far from where Tink and Terrence were stationed, unbeknownst to either one of them, a solitary figure hovered within the deep night shadows, watching them intently. Bobble drew in a soft, sharp, almost involuntary breath as he regarded the two young fairies sitting together in the silken white moonlight.

In truth, his real name was Phineas. But everyone in the Hollow referred to him as Bobble, because his bright blue eyes were constantly magnified to at least ten times their size behind a pair of dewdrop glasses, that were really more like a pair of goggles strapped to his face. He was Tink’s best friend—one of the very first pixies she’d come to know and love from the day of her arrival at the Hollow. They worked side by side in the Tinker’s Nook, and they teased and kidded each other, and looked out for each other, like any typical brother and sister.

But Bobble wanted to be more to Tink than just a good friend.

In all essence, he loved her. Oh, yes, how he loved her. He loved her so very much, it hurt. How he prayed to be her mate, to be that special “someone” to her. Never in all his life had he wanted anything so badly, had he ever felt such a strong, desperate need.

That was one of the strange things about fairies. Fairies, in general, were typically thought of as happy, mirthful creatures: fluttering constantly from here to there all the day long, walking on sunshine, as carefree and gay as bluebirds; going around granting wishes, helping things to bloom and blossom, and spreading cheer to all the world. Joy was what fairies were literally made of; it was the very essence of them. Bobble recalled the words of Queen Clarion, the kind and loving ruler and monarch of all Pixie Hollow, spoken on the day of Tink’s naissance: “Born of laughter, clothed in cheer, happiness has brought you here.”

This never meant, of course, that a pixie couldn’t feel sorrow, anger, fear, pain…or regret.

And those were the very emotions that beset Bobble that time as he watched Tink and Terrence. That should be him there on that limb with Tink, he thought bitterly. That should be him holding her hand, and talking to her. Seeing Terrence, seeing everything that he himself had to live without, made Bobble almost physically ill with jealousy. And at the same time, his insides twisted with horrible guilt—guilt for ever feeling like this in the first place.

He knew Terrence was a good fairy, and that he would never harm so much as a hair on Tink. If he ever did, then Bobble would…he would…well, he wasn’t exactly sure what he would do, but he’d do something, all right. Furthermore, Tink was not some piece of property, to be possessed and manipulated. She deserved to be her own, deserved the freedom to live her life as she saw fit, deserved the right to pick for herself the one she wanted.

Still…regardless of all that, Bobble yearned to have Tink for his own.

He wanted her to need him, the way he needed her.

Yet he did not dare make a move on her, for doing so would be nothing short of traitorous. It would be an insult to Terrence, a disgrace to all of the Hollow, a shame to himself, and a likely irreparable damage to Tink. Bobble would sooner cut his own throat than deliberately make Tink unhappy, or cause her any form of injury whatsoever.

Thus, he was forced to remain silent, and keep his feelings wholly and entirely to himself. All he could truly do was simply admire Tink from afar. Yet secrets were a heavy load, a burden not easily borne. They raged and churned within you, beat against the walls of your heart until you nearly went mad, until you literally hurt with the very effort of keeping them inside and you had to practically bite your tongue off so as to refrain from telling.

Nonetheless, certain secrets, as great as they were to keep hidden, were also far too great to reveal. Bobble sighed and put his forehead briefly to his wrist, which was propped up against the tree in front of him, closing his eyes in earnest.

“Tink, are you sure you’re all right?” Terrence persisted, when she would not answer him.

“I’m fine, Terrence,” Tink said, gazing up into his moon-illumined face and smiling bravely. “Don’t worry about me. Everything is…just fine.”

Terrence couldn’t tell whether it was a trick of the light, but he thought Tink looked rather pale. And her smile was somewhat quivery—not a full and totally sincere smile. In gentle concern, he extended his free hand to her and lightly traced her jawline with his fingertips, causing Tink to shiver a little. “Are you sure there’s nothing wrong?” he queried.

“I’m fine, really.” Rising to her feet and taking a tentative step back from him, Tink went on, “I…I think I’ll just go and head on off to bed. It’s getting late, and I have an extremely busy day tomorrow.” Though this wasn’t quite completely true, it was the best excuse—and the only proper excuse—she could come up with.  

Terrence was not convinced that Tink was entirely well, but he decided not to push her. Perhaps she would feel better after she’d gotten some rest. “Well, all right,” he conceded, as he stood also. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Goodnight, Tink.”

“Goodnight, Terrence.” Tink allowed him to pull her into a warm, sturdy embrace, and she even let him kiss her, although she turned her head slightly to one side at the last second so that his lips ended up brushing her cheek instead of her mouth.

Bobble’s heart gave a sickening jolt upon seeing Terrence kiss her face; and at the same time, the tinker fairy felt a wicked pleasure that Tink had moved her face away. But then guilt for his feeling of satisfaction struck him immediately, like a swift punch in the gut.

Tink felt her face flush red-hot with embarrassment, and when Terrence looked at her directly, she didn’t hesitate to apologize. “I’m sorry, Terrence.”

Although Terrence was a little hurt, as well as baffled by Tink’s odd behavior, he simply smiled at the girl and answered casually, “Hey, don’t worry about it.”

Tink offered him one final halfhearted smile in exchange before turning around and taking off, anxious to get away from him before anything else happened.

She eventually landed at the base of the rosy cherry tree, behind which Bobble took refuge. No sooner had she set foot upon the earth than Bobble suddenly fell to the ground directly in front of her with a loud “oomph!”—having just inadvertently tripped over a stone. His abrupt appearance made Tink jump a mile in surprise, but she stayed put.

Without a word, Bobble leaped to his feet and hastily brushed himself off with his gloved hands, inwardly berating himself for acting like such a clumsy fool in front of the girl.

“Hello, Bobble,” Tink greeted her friend civilly. “Are you all right?”

Bobble gave a slight start at the unexpected question.

“Er…if I may, lass, I was about to ask ye the same thing,” he said, in his rich, fluid accent.

“Me? Why, I—I’m fine. Just fine.” Tink tried vainly to ignore the unpleasant knot that formed in the pit of her stomach as she told the outrageous lie yet again.

“How is Terrence?” Bobble asked, struggling to keep his voice moderately steady. “Is he…treating you well?”

“Oh, yes,” said Tink, rather abashedly. “He treats me like a real princess.”

Bobble faltered. “Er…umm…well, that’s…that’s…wonderful. I’m…I’m happy for ye, lass.” Yet his words sounded weak, pathetic, and totally unconvincing, even to his own ears. And inwardly, he was reeling. How he longed to take Tink into his arms, to cradle her body against his, and tell her just how much she truly meant to him. How he longed to kiss her, and have her kiss him in return. Just the thought alone sent shivers racing up and down his spine, and made his very lips tingle.

At the same time, Tink felt her heart constrict and her throat jump as she regarded Bobble, her oldest friend in the entire Hollow, and her very dearest one besides. How handsome he looked to her, in this light. His chestnut hair stood up at interesting angles, with his front locks trailing appealingly into his face; and his eyes, though grotesquely enlarged by his specs, were warm and soft, yet also deep and evocative. Tink had never seen such eyes.

If there was any fairy in all the Hollow that Tink truly wanted, any fairy whom she truly felt right about, Bobble was the one. He was the one who truly made Tink’s heart flutter, the one who made the very heavens sing and gave summer its warmth and brightness. Tink felt a sharp jab of longing pierce her heart. The inner corners of her eyes began to sting and prickle, and she prayed she wouldn’t break down and cry—not in front of Bobble.

“Are you all right, Tink?” Bobble felt his knees weaken and his own heartbeat accelerate at the look of distress on her face. He felt the warm night go strangely cold around him.

Had Tink found him out, somehow?

Could she sense that he had certain feelings for her; that he harbored certain fantasies concerning her, fantasies he oughtn’t ever be harboring to begin with? Oh, he could never bear the shame of it if she knew! He would rather die than suffer such humiliation. Bobble felt his stomach give a nasty lurch, and he had to force himself to swallow…which wasn’t an easy task, as the muscles in his throat were tighter than the bark on the tree.

Tink shook her head to snap herself out of her reverie. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “Forgive me, Bobble. I—I have to go. I’ll see you first thing tomorrow, at the Tinker’s Nook, okay?”

And without even giving the other fairy an opportunity to say anything in reply, she quickly kissed his cheek and bade him, “Goodnight, Bobble, and goodbye.” And so saying, she was off and gone within the twinkling of an eye.

Bobble stayed where he was and watched her leave him, one hand gingerly touching the spot on his face where her butterfly-wing-soft lips had touched him. As soon as Tink was gone, Bobble slumped back against the root of the tree in defeat and let himself slide all the way to the ground. He slowly drew his knobby knees to his chest and rested his lanky arms on top of them, releasing a long, deep, tremulous breath.

Perhaps it was just as well, the tinker fairy thought forlornly to himself.

Maybe loving Tink was nothing more than a mere dream—a dream that wasn’t meant to come true. Tink was always so close, and yet as far apart as if there had been endless miles of ocean and desert between them. Bobble knew he could dream and yearn and wish and crave all he liked, but it would be a wish that not even Queen Clarion herself could grant him. Tink, he thought, the very name running through his mind and through his heart with the sweetness of a spring rose, and the sharpness of a bee’s sting. Oh, Tink…my dearest Tink…

Bobble closed his eyes and put his head down on his folded arms, hiding his face completely. Although he was visibly shaking, he never did weep outright; the grief that overwhelmed him extended far beyond tears, ran far too deep for the usage of sound. When your heart is literally broken in two, there’s no need to expend yourself in wailing and making noise.

Once Tink was sure she was well out of sight and earshot, she too sank to the ground in a heap of despair, hot tears pooling steadily within her own eyes. Leaning forward, the poor little pixie covered her face with both her hands, and began to cry bitterly.

                                                            ~ END ~

                                             * * * * * * * * * * * * * *