-The fairy ball-
Oh...wow.
Just a second ago he had never even seen another fairy and now he had never seen more fairies in his entire life. He couldn't even begin to count them. He went to turn to his teacher with a 'help me' expression but his teacher was already gone, she had disappeared in the crowd. Sage was very drawn to the type of music they were playing, it wasn't the typical music you'd hear at a dance or...anywhere really. It was really orchestral and pretty, what instrument was making that noise? It sounded like a low flute. Sage walked towards the music, he wanted to figure out where it was coming from. The center of the room was a little lifted platform, Sage had stepped up and was instantly immersed in loads of fairies dancing, and only once he had made it to the center he had realized this was the dance floor. He looked around in every direction and saw everyone dressed so strangely, wearing vines and flower crowns like they were normal accessories. And he realized they WERE normal. They were the normal ones.
He thought that standing in the weirdest place he'd ever seen would make him feel less like the weird one, but he felt even more out of place. Loads of people, with glittering wings, and yet not a soul looked like him, standing in the center awkwardly. The way the fairies spinned was so graceful, doing dances they've probably known since they were kids, but Sage didn't know any. He didn't even know where to go, or how to get off the dance floor without bumping into everyone.
But he did need to get off the dance floor, and he'd leave this place if he ever did find the way out, he was really wrong about going here. He tried to move around but he only ended up going further into the crowd. Alright that's it, he had wings for a reason. He flapped his wings and lifted from the crowd, he had somehow forgot that everyone else here had wings too, he bumped into someone else in the air and fell back into the crowd. In an attempt to stabilize himself he grabbed onto the nearest fairy. He really didn't mean to, but before he could apologize she spun him around, thinking Sage wanted to dance with her. Then they were face to face, Sage realized she was the fairy from earlier, the one with the butterfly wings. Her face shifted when she saw how different and nervous Sage was.
"You're pretty new to this, aren't you?" She said, Sage nodded. "That's weird, if you were separated, why haven't your parents taught you about this?" She questioned, Sage really didn't want to get into all that, so he just shrugged. "You've never been to one of these before, have you?" She said, Sage nodded again. "Well c'mon, I'll show you around!" She said, grabbing Sage's arm and leading him through the fairy crowd and off the dance floor, finally. "Ooh, have you ever had the snacks fairies make for these events?" She asked, Sage shook his head. She turned and starting leading Sage towards the tables, he could see fancy dishes on them. "I'm Josephine by the way." She said, letting go of Sage's arm when she realized she was still holding it. "I'm Sage." This time he smiled when he said it.
When they reached the table Sage looked around at everything on it, but most of the things here were really familiar to him.
"This is just an oreo." Sage said, picking up the small oreo cookie to look at it closer. "No, it's a cream cookie. What's an oreo?" Josephine asked, Sage had already taken a bite of it, and was surprised when it didn't taste exactly the same as an oreo. "Oh, the inside tastes like birthday cake!!" Sage said, taking another bite. "Of course it does, I can't believe you haven't had one before." Josephine said. "Me neither." Sage stuffed several more cream cookies in his pockets for later. "You want some fruit squeeze?" Josephine asked. Sage looked at the drink in her hand "What's that?" He took the drink from her and took a sip. "It's squeezed fruit with sugar in it." Sage looked at Josephine again. "This is just fruit juice." Sage said. "Oh yeah I forgot, humans kind of stole a lot of our customs and recipes. We stole stuff from humans too, during the peaceful era we all shared everything with each other." Josephine explained, that did make sense. "Ooh tiny sandwiches!! You gonna tell me these are called something weird like bread-meat-cheesers?" Sage said, Josephine gave a pity laugh at his remark "No, we stole these from the humans, they sometimes have good ideas." Josephine said. "Why do you not know what fairies call these things anyway?" Josephine asked, Sage had to take a break from eating several tiny sandwiches to answer her. "If I'm honest, this is my first time ever being in a fairy village. I live with the humans, actually." Sage admitted. "Oh that's cool! I never really left the village, sure my age was reset but I just lived the same life again, so I don't really know much about humans." Josephine said. The song that was playing changed and Sage was delighted to know what was playing. "Oh hey, I know this song!! Wanna go back to the dance floor?" Sage said, extending his hand like a formal invitation. "Do you know how to dance?" Josephine asked. "No, not in the slightest. I hope I won't embarrass you." Sage said. "Oh please, you couldn't possibly embarrass me." Josephine said, smiling back at Sage and seizing his hand to accept his invitation. They stepped back onto the dance floor, and Josephine spun Sage again but this time he was ready for it. The dance they did together could only be described as an odd slow dance, except it wasn't slow at all. Everyone else seemed to be dancing in perfect unison and they were taking space.
"I like the way you did your hair." Sage said, he had just noticed the way it was in a bun with one braid tied around it like an elastic. "Thanks!" Josephine replied. "I like your skirt, although you really shouldn't wear just a black collared shirt without a jacket or anything." Josephine replied. "What? Why not?" Sage asked. "Because, it's very close to the hunter uniform, you wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea." Josephine said. "Well that must be the reason that guard was so mean to me." Sage said. "No, those guards are just on edge. There's rumours a dark fairy made a false invitation and they're gonna raid this place." Josephine said. "Wait really? And they didn't call off the ball?" Sage questioned. "No of course they didn't, there's always rumours like that. They just make sure the security's good." Josephine said.
Once the song stopped Josephine looked around frantically.
"Are you okay?" Sage asked. "Yes, I just have to find one of my friends, I forgot I promised to meet up with them." Josephine replied. "Oh okay, I'll wait for you by the snack table then." Sage said, Josephine nodded and disappeared through the crowd. Sage found his way off the dance floor, and walked over to the snack table again. He picked a good waiting spot, this was the only spot with a chair someone wasn't occupying. He ate another cream cookie while looking off to the side. He saw a bunch of fairies gathering in one corner and wondered what they were doing. Well there's only one way to find out. He abandoned his waiting spot and walked over to the corner.
There were two nature fairies taking vines, tying them together, using their powers to grow flowers on them, and handing them out to everyone as necklaces. Sage wondered if he could do that, he was a nature fairy afterall. He picked up one of the vines, tied it together, and tried to grow the flowers. He tried really hard to grow something but nothing happened. He could only do it if it was already budding. How were they doing it? He tried to copy exactly what they were doing but to no success. Since he couldn't make any himself, he took a flower necklace from the pile the other nature fairies had made. Maybe he could use it to cover up the black collared shirt he was wearing, Josephine's explanation made the way everyone was acting make a lot more sense. Although Sage wondered, if everyone else was a bit weary of him because he looked a little like a hunter...why wasn't she scared of him?
Suddenly all the lights went out.
And that's saying a lot, since there was chandeliers, disco lights, lanterns and string lights everywhere. And suddenly they all just disappeared. Scared quiet noises came from all the fairies as they tried to figure out what was going on. Then the light fairies used their spells to turn the main lights back on, and standing everywhere were tons of people holding guns, in black collared shirts, just like the one Sage was wearing. The minute the lights turned on, the strange people seized the light fairies and forced a strange looking braclet onto their wrists. Sage actually knew what that was, he learned about it in class. They're bracelets made by hunters that weaken fairy powers, they have such a big effect on magic that wearing one for too long could even drain your powers permanently. When Sage saw those bracelets something burned deep inside him, this anger and this need to help these fairies, to do something, but he wasn't strong enough. If any of his teacher's lessons were true, his best plan would be to run. But there were even more hunters piling in from the door. Sage had to do something, he just had to. He saw the potted plant beside the door, he moved his hands in the direction of the door and tried hard to move the plant, and he did, the vines grew in an instant and the hunters turned towards him. His adreline was high now, their attention was on him, a distraction was just what those fairies would need to break free. The nearest hunter decided to take his shot and aimed his gun at Sage, but Sage was already running towards the stage the band was playing on earlier. Meanwhile, while attention was on him, all the fairies that hadn't been captured were yanking the brackets off their friends and using their powers on the hunters, it was a loud commotion, dishes breaking, yelling, screaming and suddenly Sage too added to the commotion by grabbing the microphone and saying "THERE'S ONE BY THE DOOR, HE'S STILL GOT HER!!" The escaped fairies rushed towards the hunter by the door, who had a small wind fairy and was trying to put a braclet on her despite her resistance. They blinded him with light so he couldn't see, set him on fire, and the two nature fairies from before used the vines on the door to grab him and trap him in vines against the wall. The hunters clearly came ill-prepared and now they were trying to flee the area. They were pushing the vines at the doors aside, Sage tried something he hadn't done before, he tried to hurt someone with his plants. He wanted them to hurt...
And thorns came out of the vines, instantly piercing through their hands and making them scream in pain. Sage moved the vines to either side, moved them behind the hunters, and used the vines to push them put of the ballroom. He instantly heard pained screams coming from beyond the vines. Oh yeah, he forgot those had thorns in them.
Suddenly Sage felt weak, really weak and close to fainting. He tried to make his way off the stage, but fell at the last step, he banged his head really hard on the stairs, and then it all went fuzzy.
Josephine.
Where's Josephine?