When the guards stared in shock, I snapped free of them and rolled over to
the pot of lava, my sheer weight knocked it over and the lava crawled out, grasping
for Writhe Darkness.
Now, I may not know much about fighting, but I know that if you run into something
hard, it falls over. So, like the Neo-football players of yore, I bowed my head
and rammed the guard nearest me. He toppled like a Domino and I saw another
coming at me. At the last second I jumped to the side and tripped him.
"FREEDOM!" I turned to see what was making the noise and, to my surprise,
saw Hampshire jumping over the barricades with an army helmet on and a Sword
of Domar in his right hand.
He landed on the floor, tripped, and slid across the slippery floor into the
wall, hitting a switch.
And nothing happened. Oh well, I thought. Another guard was running at me
and I grabbed a fallen guard, using him as a shield.
Then I saw the pirates from the crew. They advanced, armed to the teeth, and
I saw soon who my opponent was: Ms. Sunnybutrfly32. She smirked and said, "Guess
you chose the losing side, Princess Zelda," she said mockingly. "Not much of
a Princess, are you? Well, watch your beloved pets die!" she yelled, and threw
her sword at Ari. Ari was busy, and I knew she wouldn't see it in time.
Then everything started to move in slow motion. I saw Ari being hit, and falling
to the ground. Luckily, it was only her wing, not her heart. I turned and a
pirate snagged Nova's paw with the steel of their blade. Tide was hit by a burly
pirate who fell down on top of his wing, breaking it. Hiteru was taken down
from the sky by a brigand with another sword. Tears were streaming down my face.
And lastly, sunnybutrfly turned and smiled at me, throwing her last dagger
at Hampshire's heart. It hit its mark true.
"NO!" I cried, and screaming in agony I flung myself on sunnybutrfly, tossing
her into a wall, where she was knocked unconscious. I grabbed the bloody dagger
out of Hampshire's heart and made my way over to sunnybutrfly.
But she had hit a switch when she hit the wall, and DANGER sounds came, with
red lights. "Warning! System defenses terminated. Whirlpool will be upon us
in 5, 4…" I realised, in the sane part of my mind that by killing sunnybutrfly,
I was doing no-one a favor. I would just be at her level. I dropped the dagger
and cried out, "The protections against Faeries are down! Shikanak! Faerie Queen!
Bring us - all" I paused, thinking of Hampshire, "out of here! And wake that
girl (I could not bear to say her name) up, she at least should have a chance."
I collapsed to the floor, sobbing.
"2, 1." Then the fabric of the world seemed to tear apart and I saw a blinding
light fill the area, sweeping up us all into it, and I fainted, too tired to
think straight anymore.
***
"Hampshire?" I managed to croak out when I woke up. I saw the Faerie Queen's
face loom into view.
Her face saddened, and that was answer enough. I choked out two sobs and then
gave up and let the tears conquer my face. "He's gone, isn't he?" I asked, fearing
I knew the answer already.
"Oh no. He's been busy eating the Faerie Palace out of house and home. It's
getting quite hard to pay the food bills."
I started laughing in relief. "Ari, Hiteru, Nova, Tide?" I questioned.
"They survived. You by far were hurt worst of all, even including Hampshire."
"What? I wasn't even hurt!"
"Yes, you were. When you ran towards Sunny, she was holding her sword in front
of her. It got you in the stomach. If we Faeries hadn't combined our strength
and taken you out of there, you would be a goner."
I shivered. "What's the deal with Vile?"
The Faerie Queen's smile turned grim. "He escaped, with Writhe Darkness. But
we know that this was perhaps their main base, and that means we have stopped
them at least for a while, I think. Also, they will know longer be hurting what
remains of Maraqua."
"Good," I said. "What about…"
"We stopped time and asked her if she would like the chance you asked for
her. We had decided that only if she truly meant to change would she get that
chance. She didn't want to. We banished her to a far-out space satellite, it
will take her a while to get back, and maybe by then she will have changed."
"I just want to go back to my normal Tyrannian NeoHome. I want my life to get
back to normal."
"Well, not quite normal. I have decided to honour you for your self-sacrifice.
We Faeries will make sure that we ourselves will grace you Neo-thanksgiving
dinner."
"That's enough of a reward for me!" I said. Just then, Ari, Tide, Nova, and
Hiteru walked in.
"You're all right!" they cried, running over to hug me. "Zelda, we think you
should have a reward for being such a great owner. We want you to have this!"
They presented me with a scrapbook of all our adventures together.
I felt tears fill my eyes. "You shouldn't have…"
"Of course we should have. Now Hampshire wants to talk to you."
They parted and Hampshire walked in. Hampshire walked up to my bed and hugged
me. "I reckon if I had to have an owner, I'd like it to be you."
"Thank you Hampshire, but I already have four pets…"
Hampshire drew back with mock anger on his face. "An have me give up ol' Betsykins?
Not by a long shot. I said if I had to have and owner,' that doesn't mean I
want one." He stalked off.
"Wait, Hampshire!" He turned and I tossed him 500 Neopoints. "Bet it one the
Food Club!" He smiled and walked off, preparing to do just that. The Faerie
Queen turned as she was leaving. "I hope you will be happy, Zelda. You are surely
one who deserves it."
The End
Notes: Sunnybutrfly32 and Hampshire are fictional. I don't know if they exist
or not. I hope you enjoyed my story! I love to have comments on it, so go ahead
and Neomail me! | 
