Chapter Text
Follow The Rules
What about Da Rules?
What rules?
This was reality, not the dream of Fairy World.
What world?
This is the human world.
Adapt to survive.
Rewire, like a robot.
Wait no, he was a dog today.
Adapt like a dog in the city.
Hypothesis: If a fairy touches iron, then its skin will burn, because it's allergic to the mineral according to legend.
Look around, dog.
See the metal structures around you.
How unfamiliar this is.
Step on the scraps of careless rubble.
"Touch the iron."
Alerted back to reality like the blow of a whistle.
Command.
Rule #1- Obedience.
A fairy shall always follow the orders of humans.
The fairy reached out to the object presented to him.
Is the myth true?
Shall it burn?
Shall it hurt?
Shall it invoke an allergic reaction?
The dog touched the foreign rubble.
It doesn't burn its paws.
It doesn't hurt its paws.
It doesn't invoke an allergic reaction.
But it's not comfortable to touch either.
It feels icky, like walking on eggshells.
It wants to shrivel away, and
Return to the comforting polished floors of home.
"Interesting reaction. How do you feel?"
WHISST of attention, pay attention to the whistle of the voice.
Rule #6- Answer questions.
A fairy must always answer questions asked to them by a human.
Speak.
Bark.
"Uncomfortable."
"Good fairy."
Clicking validating words.
He was a good fairy.
Oh wait, I'm just a dog, I'm just here to obey.
Treat.
Past the rubble, there is a reward sniffed out.
Sweet and oaty to taste.
Satisfactory,
But the hunger persists.
The dog must hunt further in the city.
------
Hypothesis: If a fairy's crown is forcefully bashed, then the fairy will experience discomfort or harm, because the crown is connected to them biologically or paranormally.
The human takes hold of the crown. The drugged fairy doesn't react, but the crown does, it pulls back like a magnet.
Interesting.
Magnetic magic.
Something was missing.
But will the dog notice?
Don't steal from the stray dog.
A rat scurried away.
It shall chase the rat thief
Look around, fairy.
The dog chases the rat to the road.
What did it scurry away with? Its toy? Its food? Its strength to live?
Look at your crown in the hands of the human.
Hammer lifted.
The dog enters the road.
SCREEECHHH
Paranormal pain like a live puppet pulled by the wired strings of its veins.
Frozen like an animatronic hitting a shuddering error.
Twitching and shriveling like a dog to a blaring truck horn.
The sounds of the horn may pierce the nerves of the dog, but it shall not harm it.
The crown did not crack further.
Interesting reaction.
Why must the rat lead it into traffic?
Rule #3- No Questions.
A fairy shall never question any orders, actions, decisions, or procedures put upon the fairy by a human.
Nevermind.
The dog retreated to a sidewalk.
"Good fairy."
Clicking validating words.
He was a good fairy.
Oh wait, I'm just a dog, I'm just here to obey.
Treat.
Past the traffic, there is a reward sniffed out.
Sweet and oaty to taste.
Satisfactory,
But the hunger persists stronger.
The dog must hunt further in the city.
------
Hypothesis: If a fairy's skin is sliced with an exacto knife, then the small cut will heal completely within a matter of minutes, because fairies genetically have a rapid healing process.
The fairy was guided to lie down on its back.
The stray dog finally found a good alley to rest, it was so tired.
It's been a long day.
Lay down on the cold floor, it will all be ok.
Ignore the sounds of horns
Ignore your starving stomach,
Ignore the growls not from a dog's fear, but from a dog's hunger.
Save your energy and fall into the irresistible rest.
Lay down on the sharp floor, it will all be ok.
SHARP!?
Something hurts.
Something cuts.
Precise cut.
Make it bleed.
Cut
Slice
CAKE
NOT AGAIN!
What went wrong?!
He didn't want to be their bread again.
Stop.
Please stop!
He wasn't numb this time.
Bread doesn't have nerves.
Maybe he wasn't bread this time.
He was a dog
Laying on broken glass.
Glass;
Sharp,
Piercing,
Just like the pain.
Microscopic sharpness.
Slice drawn down the skin of the limb.
It had to escape.
The dog whimpered and weakly moved to flee the grasp of the glass.
But that only made the glass cut deeper.
Digging into skin
Piercing sharpness
Stop.
This sharp jolt to each nerve was encumbering.
Pain was tiring, weakening.
He could barely move but he had to.
But his body screamed to be still.
He just couldn't.
The fairy resisted.
"Have you forgotten the rules already? Stop resisting."
Oh no.
Rule #2- No Resistance.
A fairy shall never resist to anything ordered, acted on, or put upon the fairy by humans.
How could he forget?
Forget?
Oh no.
Rule #5- Remember all rules.
A fairy must always remember the rules told, and never need to have them repeated twice.
He had hit two birds with one stone.
What a bad dog.
Bad, bad dog.
Adapt to the rules to survive. How dare you resist, how dare you forget.
Stop resisting.
Be still
Allow the glass to exist underneath
Moving anymore will make it hurt.
Succumb to the encumber.
Adapt to survive.
Quiver and whimper in silence.
Let the blood pool below you and your dried blood shall become your bed.
Good dog.
"Good fairy."
Clicking validating words.
He was a good fairy.
Oh wait, I'm just a dog, I'm just here to obey.
Treat.
Past the pain, there is a reward sniffed out.
Sweet and oaty to taste
Satisfactory,
But the hunger persists.
But the dog cannot hunt further in the city.
------
Bossy examined the cut closely.
Closer.
Microscope.
Set the timer.
Watch the blood stop.
Watch the wound inflame
Watch the tissue regrow
Watch it seal shut.
Watch it remodel.
Stop the timer.
Only a little over an hour.
An hour of silence
An hour of immobility.
An hour of obedience.
An hour of waiting.
An hour of staring at the ceiling.
The city was not fun.
But it was for the man.
At least for the uptown kind of guy.
Quick pace,
Organized routes.
Always working.
Always moving.
Oh, did someone get shot?
Too bad,
The traffic never stops.
The city has no patience,
Neither does the city man.
The city man thrives in this environment.
Taking control of the project.
He enjoys the sense of control.
If only he could take control of the institution.
The fairy has no control.
A dog has no control
Trapped in the cruel structure of a human-built environment.
It's hard to survive
It wasn't built for animals to thrive.
Croak
The dog's stomach growled.
It was starving.
The scraps its been able to find by traveling the harsh streets were thought to subside the suffering of starvation, but if anything, it has only woken a stronger urge of hunger.
Its body demands a stop to the teasing.
A few crumbs won't be enough.
Quiet!
The dog told the croaks.
But it wouldn't stop.
Shut!
The dog told the frog
But it wouldn't stop.
Something else was going on.
The frog sounded different, abnormal.
No, this was a different pain.
Something that's been boiling in the back for a while.
Due to being different than the other dogs,
He wasn't able to feel the full effects until later when it suddenly breaks him.
Like a popping balloon?
It all comes on too fast,
with little warning.
It choked on its throat
A fire in its chest
Sparks of color spat out.
Shreds of paper damp with spit and rainbow acid
Oh, a balloon filled with confetti.
Confetti on the table.
Oh.
Oh.
Magical backup.
"What was that!?"
Question.
Rule #6
You have to answer.
The fairy fumbles to form words.
The hunger was too loud, the world was too faded, the chest star was burning too brightly.
He couldn't grasp the strength to speak.
"I didn't drug you that much. Answer the question."
Sure, but he had starved him,
And left him to rot in a cage
That kept its energy condensed while it tried to burn brighter.
Did he want it to die?
"Answer the question, fairy. Or have you forgotten the rules again?"
He couldn't answer.
His chest burned too harshly.
He had to suffer through it.
He had to answer.
Force yourself.
"I…"
"You what? Go on, speak!"
He couldn't speak
He had no bark left in him.
No voice left to even whimper.
You have debarked this dog with agony.
He was suffering.
Make it stop.
Help it, please.
How?
Feed it something I guess. That could help stop one source of pain.
Give it another scrap off the table.
"Answer. The. Question."
Blinded from the fog of agony.
Dazed by the hunger, he can't focus.
The fairy cannot form words,
It cannot explain what it is.
But oh,
Rule #4- Satisfaction must be earned.
A fairy must obey, follow the rules, and be a good fairy to earn food or satisfaction.
How could he forget?
You must trick for a treat,
But speaking wasn't an option
But it was the only thing demanded.
He needed food
But must earn it
He can't earn it
But must eat
He needs to eat
But can't speak
He needs to speak
But can't.
A cycle of dead ends.
Pressure
He can't take it.
Pressure
You can only hold it back so long before
It collapses
And explodes.
The star sparked.
Angel? Energy.
Some familiar energy sparked through the cracks before retreating back to static.
Like a blown-out light bulb
The human had jolted back from the spark surged.
"What was that?!"
What was that?
The fairy didn't even know.
Its mind was too foggy to understand itself.
It wished it could understand.
It wished it could explain.
It wished it wouldn't have to suffer the consequences of breaking The Rules.
What were the consequences?
"I guess someone doesn't want to be a rule-abiding fairy. What a shame, I'll have to waste my time delivering consequences."
No, No this isn't fair.
Please don't make him suffer more than he has been.
He just wanted to be a good fairy.
What was he going to do?
Hearing noises, arm grabbed, something something.
What is he doing?
Please don't hurt me.
He really tried to be a good fairy.
Door opens
The atmosphere shifted as a new human walked in.
Oh,
Hide your cruel behavior.
Unhanded.
"Assistant, Why are you here?"
"Why are you here, sir? How long have you been working independently?"
Longer than permitted.
"Not long, I was just finishing up."
Crumbs takes note of the undertone of a switch of demeanor but doesn't question it.
He should never question the methods of those above him.
Bossy switched tools
And leaned in close enough to discreetly whisper to the fairy.
"You've lost your chance to speak up."
Injected.
No, not again.
Darkness crept from the corners of its vision.
No, why again?
It just wanted a treat.
But now it was left,
Stuck,
Shivering like a dog waiting for a walk
That will never come.
The dog grasped the little light left in its eyes.
Fogged clips of voices were heard as the dog faded to numbness of all senses
"...Talk to…C.E.O… present…"
"...time…"
"...call…funding…"
"...shortly…"
"...fairy…"
Fairy?
He was not a good fairy.
Oh wait, I'm just a dog, I'm just here to obey.
Bad dog.