Wings

Catania watched Mariposa leave until she was entirely out of sight, then whirled on her father. "You can't send her away! She's my soulmate!"

Her father just scoffed. "She's a bad influence. She is also a butterfly fairy! Our sworn enemy! She must have tricked you into giving her a crystallite!"

"That's not true! Mariposa has been nothing but kind to everyone! Including you! And you have been nothing but a jerk to her!" Catania snapped.

"She has been a nuisance! She ruins everything she touches, and I will not have her endangering you!" 

Catania shook her head, trying to clear her head. "She's not endangering me! She's my soulmate. She would never hurt me."

A few citizens mumbled their agreement but quickly stopped talking once the King glared at them.

Catania wasn't done yet, though. "And she's made me happier in the week she has been here than I have been in my entire life!"

"She has probably been manipulating you!" Her father sighed, shaking his head. "You don't understand. I'm just trying to keep you safe."

Catania shook her head and ran over to Sophie, not seeing any way to get through to him. She felt a tear run down her cheek and quickly got onto Sophie, flying off towards her favorite spot.

She faintly heard her father address their subjects. "It's alright, people! The butterfly fairy threat is over! Smile, dance, enjoy!"

The people started mumbling to themselves, not knowing how to react to what just happened.

Catania clenched her fists tightly. Mariposa wasn't a threat. Far from it, she was the sweetest, kindest, funniest, bravest fairy she knew. And he didn't even say her name!

They landed on her tower a few seconds later. Catania dismounted and sat down, hugged herself, and started sobbing.

Anu flew next to her, trying to see if she was alright.

"Ugh. I don't understand?" Catania growled, her voice breaking. "He's the one who doesn't understand Anu!"

Anu made a sound in agreement.

"How could he just sed her away like that?! Couldn't he see how much it hurt me?" She asked, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the flutter flower. Just seeing it calmed her slightly. Mariposa was right. It did remind Catania of her.

She put it back in her pocket when she heard a strange noise. Looking up, she saw familiar green smoke turn the crystallites around ger to stone. One of the smoke things branched off towards her, and she gasped once it snuffed out the crystallite necklace Mariposa had given back to her.

Catania stood up, quickly checking to see if the flutter flower was still alright. It was, thankfully. She didn't know what she would have done if it had gone out too. Once she was satisfied it was fine, she looked out over her kingdom, her eyes going wide. "What? Oh, no."

She hopped Mariposa was okay.

"Catania!" A voice yelled.

Catania turned to see who yelled her name, and she lit up, forgetting about the problem for the moment.

Speak of the fairy...

---------------------------

Mariposa flew back to her room, trying to hold back tears. Zee wanted to cheer her up, but nothing she tried worked. 

She flew into her room, packed up whatever stuff she had out, and left.

It wasn't until they flew just outside Shimmervale when Mariposa spoke again. 

"I don't know what's worse, that I failed, that I have to go home and admit it to people who believed in me, or..." Mariposa tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "Or that I might never see Catania again."

Or hold her hand, see her beautiful blue eyes, or hear her adorable laugh... Mariposa sighed. The last one was defiantly the worst.

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of distant thunder, but when she turned to check it out, instead of seeing a faint storm on its way to make her day worse, she saw a singular fairy riding a cloud towards Shimmervale. "What is that?" She moved forward to get a closer look. "I thought everyone was already at the ball."

Zee hummed, nodding in agreement, then shrugged and tried to fly away.

Mariposa grabbed her leg quickly. "We can't just go! What if it's dangerous? What if..." She gasped. "What if it's the Gwyllion?" What if Catania was in trouble?

Zee pretended to sympathize, then made a run for it again. 

"Zee!"

Zee growled, turning back to Mariposa and saying something about the King telling them to leave.

"I know the King told us to leave. But we have to warn them!" Mariposa stated.

Scoffing, Zee turned back around and began to fly away again, but Mariposa grabbed her leg and pulled her back again.

"Zee! We have to help the crystal fairies! They're our friends!" Zee broke out of her grip, so Mariposa tried again. "Catania's our friend." And so, so much more. "And Sophie," Mariposa smirked. "Are you going to say that Anu's not a friend?"

That got Zee's attention, turning back to look at Mariposa.

"If the King and the other crystal fairies aren't our friends now, well, I'm going to be a friend when they need one most." With that, Mariposa turned and flew after the cloud, stopping to hide her bag behind one of the flowers, before continuing.

Mariposa flew as quickly as she could, hiding at the edge of the field and watching the woman. 

She had raised the staff she was holding high above her head, magic green smoke was coming out of it, and the moment it touched a crystallite, it turned to rock.

Mariposa looked at Zee in shock, then went back to watching the woman.

As soon as she finished the spell, she started to move towards glow waterfalls. Mariposa took this chance to get into Shimmervale. She lost sight of the woman for a while, but that was okay. As long as she didn't spot Mariposa, she was going to be okay.

Mariposa flew high above the kingdom, almost as far up as the palace's towers. That's when she saw Catania, sitting in the spot she had shown Mariposa earlier.

Mariposa tried to force the smile that was trying to form away. This was not the time for that.

She couldn't stop the butterflies or her heart from skipping a beat.

Shaking her head, she flew over to Catania as fast as she could. "Catania!" She called out, catching the attention of the crystal fairy, who smiled brightly at her. 

"Mariposa!" She exclaimed, rushing forward to hug her tightly.

Mariposa smiled and hugged her back, then pulled away, a serious expression on her face. "I think its the Gwyllion. She's putting out all the crystallites!"

Catania gasped. "If she turns all the crystallites to rock, Shimmercale will freeze!"

They both rushed to the edge when they heard screams. Catania looked down and saw her father become paralyzed. Just like before.

"Father! No!" She yelled. Even if they did get into a fight over Mariposa, she still cared for him. 

Mariposa watched as the woman flew over to the King, starting to talk to him. Or taunt him. They couldn't hear.

"We have to help them!" Catania stated, looking at Mariposa. "What should we do?"

"We can't do much until we know what her next moves are. Let's wait to see what she does." Mariposa replied, taking Catania's hand.

Catania nodded in reply, holding Mariposa's hand like a lifeline.

After a little while, the woman gestured up at the heartstone, and Catania gasped.

"The heartstone!" She turned towards Mariposa. "The heartstone is like a candle. If we keep it lit, we can re-light all the other crystallites!"

Mariposa nodded, then turned towards the palace when they heard thunder.

Catania gasped again and got onto the ground. "It's the Gwyllion!"

Mariposa got down with her, but upon seeing how close the Gwyllion was to the heartstone, she sat up. "She's going to get to it first!"

"What do we do now?" Catania asked.

"We do what your father did. We find a way to break her magic staff."

"But how do we-" Catania was cut off by a flying fox dropping down next to them. They both screamed. 

"You guys are lousy hiders, eh?" He said with a strange accent. He then started to attack both of them.

In the commotion, Catania got pushed backward and over the edge.

"Catania!" Mariposa screamed, throwing herself over the edge after her, she didn't even hesitate.

She grabbed Catania's arm once she got close enough, holding her in place until Sophie came down, and Catania got onto her back.

This was going to be much harder than they first thought.