Roof beam chat (fairies.)

The Head Quarters was in relative quiet from the outside. But once you had entered the large oak doors of the building you could hear the hum of people talking. The sounds drifted from many different rooms. But Emily chose to ignore all of them. Having dropped Alexandria off at the Magic Mirror room she was now heading towards the roof. Her small pink light darting down the corridor and towards the attic door. No-one else could go up into the roof except the fairies because there was no floor, just roof beams. But Emily liked to balance along the roof beams and spend time with her friends up there. It helped her think.

Bobbie paused unsure for a moment. Standing on the floor and glancing around. Before shrugging and becoming yellow light once more. She then flitted off after her friend. Heading for the roof as well. If Emily wanted a fairy conference they why not. It would be entertaining if nothing else. Though she was unsure if Ash and Misty would be much help at a conference. Either way might as well pacify the other girl and head for the roof beams.

Ash actually liked the roof. Though he often ended up not paying attention and falling off beams. He was less co-ordinated than his girlfriend. But due to the fact he liked the roof, and because for a brief period he had actually been watching what the others were doing, Ash nudged Spark to follow them up to the beams. He then let out a happy breath and went back to his thoughts. If Misty did not want to come she could fly away. So moving Spark without asking her seemed fine to Ash.

Misty normally didn't pay much to her surroundings but had a knack for keeping track of were Bobby, Emily, and Flix were without really trying and tended to follow them without actually knowing why. However, this ability seemed to vanish when she was around Ash because she mostly just started focusing on him. So Misty wasn't really sure why he had Sparks head for the roof. She didn't even realize he had, for that matter. She didn't much care, really. If she was with Ash she knew she would be perfectly happy.

Flix hesitated a moment, not being one to mindlessly follow Emily. Or anybody, for that matter. But when she saw all the rest of her friends follow she decided she might as well. She had nothing better to do than try and make one of Emily's orderly meetings fall apart. So she flew after them, keeping her two inch tall girl form. She then flew under sparks and ticked his underbelly with a grin. She then turned into particles of green light and flew as fast as she could the rest of the way to the roof.

Bobbie had a feeling that this meeting was going to end with Flix getting yelled at - again - and not caring - again. But in truth she did not care because Flix took the boredom out of the things Emily made them do. Bobbie was balancing along the beams like a tight rope walker, hopping from beam to beam, entertaining herself when she saw Flix teasing the Bumble Bee. Laughing she shook her head and returned to her balancing "so that was hard ... go to hospital and bring her back. Though I am glad she did not write us like Peter Pan. Life is so much more fun when you do not have to worry about dropping dead because some child says they are too old for fairies."

"Look we need to have a serious conversation about this. Life is very difficult right now and I am not sure Alex even wants to help us" Emily announced ignoring Bobbie and looking sternly around a the small group "if she can't. Well if she can't help us then we are going to have to help ourselves. Which means we need some kind of plan. But you guys refuse to sit still long enough for anyone to ever come up with anything ... what the heck are you doing Ash?"

Sparks had done a little somersault when he was tickled. But luckily it did not make that much difference to the fairies on top of him. He then continued heading for the roof beams with Ash patting his head. He landed on a beam and Ash dismounted and automatically offered to help Misty though she did not need it. That had all gone fine. However when Emily had yelled at him, Ash had been showing Misty how he could fit his arm into a hole in one of the roof beams - which he thought would make a good secret storage unit. So when Emily saw him, he was squatting down with one arm jammed into the beam he was squatting on. He looked across at Emily serenely and did not reply.

Flix rolled her eyes when she landed on a beam and heard what Emily was saying. She almost immediately began to speak over, waggling her finger and speaking in a mock-serious and high pitched tone that was clearly supposed to be an imitation of Emily, but didn't succeed very well. That meant that Flix wasn't trying terribly hard as she mocked Emily, for she was very good at imitating people's voices when she wanted to. "This is all very serious and we need to make a master plan in case any little thing might go wrong. Now, I want you all to pay strict attention and not goof off or have the slightest bit of fun. Do you all understand?!"

Misty simply fluttered her wings slightly to stay on Sparks' back when he did a somersault thanks to Flix- though Misty didn't actually realize what had caused the reaction. Upon landing, Misty took Ash's hand and fluttered her wings slightly to get down. She then watched what he was doing with interest, nodding thoughtfully as she did so and not even noticing that Emily, Bobbie, and Flix were speaking until Ash turned his attention to them. Misty followed his gaze but remained silent since she wasn't really sure what they were talking about in the first place.

"Stop it" Emily shrieked at Flix with a stamp of her tiny foot and a scowl. She then continued "look you may all want to die but I like being alive. So really I think you could be serious for five minuets. Though if you would rather just have fun until we all get fried then fine! Have it your way! Die! See if I care!" She then turned her back on them and sat down on the roof beam sulking heavily.

"Well that went well sugar" Bobbie declared, though she did not sound that bothered by the outburst. She shrugged "I am sure we can be fixing to have fun and stay alive. I mean this lil old mysterious enemy has not made a move to touch any of us yet. So maybe they have just bored and moved on to destroy some other town. It is as possible as me selling my cowboy boots for an acorn racing hat."

"Do you know what is happening?" Ash simply asked Misty while watching Emily. He stood their comfortable, relaxed, and completely clueless. Having removed his hand from the hole and shoved both his hands into his pockets. He smiled slightly and declared "does Emily not like secret hiding places? ... strange girl." He shook his head as though the idea that Emily would not like his plan was very sad indeed.

Flix actually felt slightly guilty at Emily's outburst, but managed to hide it. She wasn't one to show guilt. She smiled slightly at what Bobbie was saying because it didn't sound entirely likely- both the enemy moving on and her selling her cowboy boots, that is. Flix had a momentary debate over what to do. Apologizing was out of the question, so that left making Emily laugh. So, since she was told to die, she startled making gurgling sounds before falling on the bar she had just been standing on and, for the second time that day, played dead.

Misty turned her attention back to Ash with a shake of her head. "No, I do not,' She answered, but she didn't sound remotely bothered by that fact. She never seemed to know what was going on with her friends, and had gotten used to it... nt that it had really bothered her in the first place, but still. Misty then nodded in agreement and said, "She is." To Misty it seemed a lot like she and Ash were normal and just about everyone else was bizarre.

Misty was then distracted, though, by the fact that it looked like Flix was dead. Misty hadn't been paying attention to what was happening and didn't realize her friend was only faking. She had seen enough death by now to believe it was real whenever she did see it. So she fluttered over to the other girl with a sorrowful expression. She gently poked Flix in teh hopes that she'd respond, which she didn't, and looked just about ready to burst into tears.

Bobbie rolled her eyes and shook her head "Flix that was not even remotely realistic ..." Though she trailed off when it seemed Misty actually seemed to think it was real. She felt a little guilty then. A lot of them had died. Was this the right thing to joke about. So she merely carefully continued "nevermind, you be fixing to do as you wish. Though put in a good word for me at the great big vendor in the sky."

Emily glanced over her shoulder when Flix started making noises. But she refused to give into the mockery. So she merely returned to sulking. She was not going to give Flix the privileged of her responding. They should not be making fun of such a serious topic. They needed to learn when it was time to have fun and when it was not. But she found the corners of her mouth twitching slightly as she resisted laughing.

The idea of Misty crying was a little to much for Ash. He hurried over to wrap his arms around her and try and making it okay. He did not know how to make it okay. Was Flix really dead? She was not responding? That was bad right? "Maybe she needs the kiss of life ..." That was the best he could offer. He had no idea how to save a life. So he just stood there helplessly looking very lost and sad indeed.

Misty normally found that Ash's presence in itself was rather comforting, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference when she thought she was loosing one of her closest friends. Instead, she finally burst into tears and began downright sobbing. She had already lost a lot of friends, and the idea of loosing Flix, too, was just to much for her.

Flix abruptly sat up when she heard Misty start crying, once again feeling rather guilty. She seemed to be doing a good job of upsetting people today. She actually started to look it this time, since it was rare to see Misty cry while it was quite common for Emily to get mad at her. She even went so far as to apologize, "Hey, I'm sorry, I was just kidding." However, this kind motion- well, kind for Flix, anyways- was rather ruined as she patted Misty demeaningly on the head as she got to her feet.

Misty didn't seem to notice the insulting gesture, though. Her tears abruptly stopped and she looked thoroughly relieved. But the relief was soon replaced with utter confusion. What exactly had just happened? She was so confused that she actually spoke aloud in a tone that was still cracking from the sobs that had been racking her body not a minute earlier, "Huh?"

Bobbie was not sure how to deal with a crying Misty. It did not surprise her that Misty had not realized it was a joke. But it was hard to know how to react to it. So she merely hovered back with her hands in her pockets, not saying anything. She half smiled when Flix 'woke up' and finally spoke "well my lil darlin's this meeting does not seem to be going quite as planned. Perhaps we should play a game to take our mind of things?"

"Well like what?" Emily instantly asked. But she did seem to be slightly interested. She half turned around and her frown softened slightly. She was not opposed to the idea of fun. She just felt she always had to be the serious one. The mature one. But sometimes that took its toll. Right now she could not think of anything she wanted to do more than take her mind of things - which was weird for her.

Ash was not happy. He had no idea what had happened. But something had made his Misty cry and that upset him. So hearing Flix apologize just made him automatically assume she had done something wrong. So he randomly announced "that was mean!" This said he seemed to recover his little spurt of anger and relax back into thoughtful. He was already forgetting about what the others were doing and thinking about his new invention. Though he remained close to Misty as he did so.

Flix rolled er eyes at Ash. "Well, that's why I apologized, isn't it?!" She objected though she wasn't sure why she bothered. Ash already appeared to have stopped caring. She supposed she said it more for her own benefit than anything, to assure herself that at least she'd apologized.

Not really expecting a reply, Flix then turned her attention to Bobbie with a grin. "A game? Like fun?" She asked, sounding happy with the idea. She couldn't help but add, though, "How come Emily's not jumping down your throat then?! She always does when I try to have fun!" She said this teasingly, though, not really caring. She was used to Emily yelling at her and had stopped caring... wait, no, she had never cared when people yelled at her. But it was especially easy to ignore when it was a common occurrence.

Misty, meanwhile, continued to stand there looking utterly mystified. She still was not quite sure what had happened and nobody seemed to be about to explain it to her. If she hadn't just been thoroughly upset that she'd thought she'd lost her friend, she'd probably have stopped caring at this point. As it was, she actually had a desire to know what had gone on and make sure Flix was actually alive and not... a fairy-zombie or something. So she quietly waited for someone to explain.

Bobbie glanced at Misty and finally told her "Flix thought she was dead, but it turned out it was not quite her time yet." She then returned to the idea of the game she had come up with. She wanted to make sure that Emily really was okay with the idea first however. So she waited a long enough period to see if Emily was going to protest - before grinning and continuing "my idea for a game is that we see who can make it up and down from one end of the roof to the other. Here is the catch. You have to do it hopping from roof beam to roof beam, and both feet have to touch every single roof beam! At the same time - I mean like actually hoping between beams, only using your wings to the bare minimum."

"Because your fun is selfish, and mean and upsets other people. Your fun made Misty cry" Emily protested still shooting daggers at Flix. But she had risen to her feet and did not seem entirely opposed to the idea of a game. In fact she seemed almost happy with the idea. A half smile crossed her features and nodded slightly when the rules of the game had been explained to her. Well to them.

Ash was now hopping to one beam and then back to the original beam. He was not paying attention to the others and just happened to be doing what they were doing. Except he misjudged one judge and fell right off. Now the sensible thing to do would have been to fly. But Ash did not do the sensible thing - he never did the sensible thing. So he merely kind of just dropped like a stone.

Misty nodded slightly when Bobbie explained what had happened. The explanation might not make sense to most people, but to Misty it did. So she once again stopped listening. She noticed Ash falling and her eyes followed him but she did nothing. The idea that he could actually get hurt from falling didn't occur to her. She pictured her boyfriend as being invincible, and no fall could hurt him, not matter from how high, and even if he didn't seem to be bothering to fly.

Flix nodded at Bobbie's suggestion and opened her mouth to enthusiastically comment. She had chosen to ignore what Emily said because she knew she was right, to some degree or other. Well, at least about making Misty cry. But as for it being selfish... well, she liked to think that she did things so others could have a good laugh, too.

However, Flix didn't have a chance to say anything to Bobbie, either, because she spotted Ash falling. It was clear that Misty wasn't about to go after him, so Flix did. Ash might be closer to Misty than anyone else in the group, but he was still Flix's friend and she didn't want him to get hurt. So she dove after him as fast as she could in the hopes of managing to catch up and pull him back up to safety.

Emily wondered why Flix had not spoken and why Misty was looking downwards. Glancing down to she watched as Ash landed on a stack of pillows that were scattered across the floor. The fairies kept pillows on the floor just in case. If one of them started coming down with whatever was killing off everyone else then it was best to have a safety net. She expected Ash to get up again but he did not. So she turned and dived after Flix towards where Ash had landed. She was soon followed by Bobbie.

Ash was lying in the pillows. He had gone very red from the fact his temperature had rocketed. That was how it had started with the others. A temperature so high the skin was burning hot to touch. His gaze was focussed as his lids lazily lifted and closed in a slow blinking motion. His body made no movement other than that. Well that and the odd twitch to show he was still alive for now.

Misty wasn't really worried about Ash, still assuming he would be perfectly fine. However, she instinctively flew down when everyone else did. She had a habit of following her friends wherever they went. And when she wasn't doing that, she was following Ash. Since all of them were in one place, that made it an easy choice of were to go.

So Misty fluttered down, not bothering to change into light form, and landed softly on the pillow before instinctively walking over to Ash and sitting down next to him. Misty, looking at him, finally realized something was off. She didn't actually notice anything in particular, though. It was more just a feeling. So she gently nudged Ash and asked, "Are you okay?"

Flix, meanwhile, had landed just after Ash and very nearly crashed down on top of him. She just managed to flutter to the side in time. She frowned when Ash continued to sit there, looking even weirder than normal. His eyes looked... worrisome. She placed her hand on his forehead and immediately took it back. His head was so hot it actually hurt her to touch it. She frowned and turned to Emily. She didn't say a word- she didn't want to. Because these symptoms seemed all to familiar.

"No ... no ... no" Emily repeated slowly too herself shaking her head as she scrambled to kneel down beside Ash. She had not allowed herself to think that this could happen again. She had almost started thinking the remaining members of the team were going to survive this. Blinking back tears she hastily took command as she always did "we have to get him to our room - he can rest in there - and meanwhile someone is going to have to force the Magic Mirror to give us something more to go on. There has to be something we can do while Alexandria tries to save us. We have to be more than this."

Flix nodded, for once easily following Emily's orders. There was the rare occasion when Flix actually recognized that she should be serious. When one of her friends was dying... well, that was one of those rare times. So she grabbed one of Ash's arms and wrapped it around her shoulder as she attempted to heave him up. But she clearly needed help.

Misty, meanwhile, was still trying to get Ash to speak to her. "Ash- what's going on Ash?" She asked helplessly, for the second time that day looking as though she were about to start crying. She wasn't sure what was wrong but she could sense it was something. And with Ash she didn't like for anything to be wrong.

"He is going to be okay Misty" Bobbie declared, unlike Emily she was happy to use optimism rather than just fact "we just need to take him to our room. He can rest there and you can keep an eye on him, sugar pie." Bobbie did not know how else to reassure the upset fairy so she fell silent. Having taken hold of the other side of Ash and helped Flix lift him into the air. Trying not to show her worry.

"I have some things to do, when Ash is settled can you and Flix go see the magic mirror" Emily told Bobbie and Flix. She then turned and flew up and then off down the corridor. Not telling them where she was going. But she had a lot on her mind. There was so little time and so little they could do right now.

Flix glanced back at Emily and nodded her consent. She didn't know were she was going but she trusted that she would be doing something helpful. Plus, Flix loved talking to the mirror. he never used to- she thought it was dull. But now, as fairies, they seemed so much funner. However, before she got to actually focus on that, she instead flew towards their shared room. It was exhausting since she couldn't go into light form while supporting Ash. Plus, his weight made it all the harder. But it was the only way to get him there, so she didn't comment. Instead, she said in a rather strained tone though she tried to make it lighter, 'Well, at least we get to talk to the mirror- sounds like fun."

Misty nodded, easily excepting Bobbie's words. She was very trusting, especially of her friends, but more than that she just wanted to believe her. She wanted to think that Ash would be okay. So she did. She would have helped to carry him but she wasn't terribly strong and knew she wouldn't be of much help. So she simply flew up with them and followed behind them on their way to the room, keeping her still slightly worried gaze on Ash and completely forgetting to urn into particles of light, though that would have been much easier.