Brought Together II: Part Four

     "Smatty took it from me," Fyora whispered. She knew all of the citizens of the hidden tower were in danger now. Unless Smatty could somehow overcome the power the Amulet had over her, there was no way of telling what kind of destruction she could cause....

     With no other options, the Queen simply nudged Strophagus's head with her foot, hoping against hope that he could wake up after enduring that blast. The Quiggle did not budge.

     "Strophagus, wake up!" Fyora said frustratedly, as her arms and wings still wouldn't move. "Of all the situations, please.... Smatty needs you right now."

     To that, Strophagus's eyes snapped open. That last sentence had triggered something deep inside him during his unconsciousness; an instinct to help his friend, perhaps.

     "Queen Fyora! I do believe that the Amulet of Ascendence is using Smatty as we speak," Strophagus said half consciously.

     "Yes, I know that," Fyora answered, relieved that he had come to his senses, well almost. "Strophagus," she began as soon as he had stood up, "we have absolutely no time to lose. We need to get that Amulet off of Smatty and back into the box before it can wreak any serious havoc. And trust me, it can wreak havoc. I still can't believe Smatty assumed control for a few seconds...maybe...." She trailed off, and then shook her head quickly. "Come on, we must find her now." The Queen waddled weirdly up to the steps of the basement and Strophagus ran behind her in curiosity.

     "Queen Fyora, what happened to-"

     "My arms and wings are still paralyzed, and Smatty has taken the Wand of Ultranova so there's nothing I can do about it."

     Strophagus nodded and they rushed off into the hallways without any more discussion, as the issues at hand were too important for them to talk. The hallways of the hidden tower were deserted (as they usually were) but Fyora still found it odd that there weren't any faeries around patrolling at all, as it would have been nice to have some help at that moment.

     After ten minutes of running through the pink and purple corridors, they were standing before the door to the Hidden Tower Store, where all of the weapons were in the process of being hidden. Both were breathless and scared, but Strophagus looked as if he was ready to do anything it took to free Smatty from the Amulet.

     "Queen Fyora," he whispered, "what exactly are we going to do? Is there a plan?"

     "I have absolutely no idea," Fyora admitted.

     "Just wonderful," Strophagus said with a surprising grin. Without any further thought, he kicked open the door bravely and ran in.

     "Strophagus, you've got to be insane!" Fyora called after him, but she followed along anyway.

     The inside of the Hidden Tower Store looked much like all of the other rooms in the hidden tower, minus the fact that there were wooden shelves lined all along the walls that were all stocked with Hubrid's Puzzle Boxes, Baggus Bombs, and many other weapons. In the corner of the room, four air faeries were all huddled next to each other, and they seemed to be under a sort of sleeping spell. Obviously the Amulet's doing.

     And finally, there was Smatty. Holding the Wand of Ultranova in one paw. She seemed to have just finished taking care of the air faeries and was now looking along the shelves of powerful weapons that could easily, along with the Amulet, destroy the entire hidden tower. She turned one hundred and eighty degrees in the mechanical way the Amulet moved her, and frowned at the sight of Strophagus and Fyora.

     "I thought I had finished my business with you two," she snarled, her eyes as dark and unloving as ever. Strophagus noticed that she wouldn't look him straight in the eye.

     Strophagus took a step forward, leaving all traces of his fear behind. He needed to talk with Smatty. The real one.

     "Smatty," he said firmly, staring at the Kyrii intensely. "I know you're in there somewhere."

     "Nonsense," she spat. "You've underestimated the Amulet of Ascendence and now you believe that this foolish Kyrii can-"

     Just as the evil version of Smatty had tried to finish saying that, her arm retreated to her side as it had done in the basement. Fyora watched her in amazement, and then something clicked in the faerie's mind. A solution to this problem that could very well work...it could work....

     Smatty's arm slowly raised itself again, and the Amulet regained control. Without any mention of what had just happened, she raised the Wand fiercely to Strophagus. "I thought perhaps you could have been of some use to me, but it doesn't seem worth it."

     Strophagus simply took a step forward and stared even deeper into Smatty's eyes. He and Fyora now both knew the Amulet's weakness that they had never discovered before, and the Quiggle was more confident than ever that Smatty would prevail over it.

     Smatty tried to hold the Wand steadily, but found that her arm was shaking. It was the real Smatty inside causing all of this. Her arm jerked suddenly; she threw the Wand of Ultranova behind her, and it crashed into the purple wall with a dull 'thunk.'

     All this while, Strophagus continued to look at Smatty with pure affection. He looked right into her, right past the Amulet controlling her. "Smatty, you can do it," he said.

     Fyora (her wings and arms were finally beginning to move again), who was now standing right beside Strophagus, could tell Smatty was winning the fight for control over her body. The Amulet tried to make her run back and retrieve the Wand of Ultranova, but her eyes were beginning to look more and more like Smatty's regular ones. A smile, along with an extremely tired expression, came across the Kyrii's face, and it was clear that it was the real Smatty smiling that time.

     "Strophy, I think I did it," she gasped, her eyes wide with exhaustion and happiness combined. As soon as she finished speaking, the dark-golden gem implanted in the Amulet illuminated the entire room with blinding light, and broke into tiny pieces that fell on the floor like rocks. The bronze Amulet detached itself from Smatty's neck and landed right next to the gem pieces, losing its shine.

     Smatty looked as if she was about to faint. "That was a piece of cake," she said with a laugh before collapsing into Fyora's arms.

     ***

     Smatty had slept for an entire day afterwards, and no one blamed her after what she'd gone through. She never did remember how the Amulet of Ascendence had drawn her to Fyora's basement, but the Queen quickly figured out that there was definitely more to the Amulet than she had thought.

     News had gone around the entire hidden tower that Smatty had defeated the Amulet's power and everywhere she walked she received an acknowledging look or a 'Congratulations!' from anyone who passed her. Even so, she apologized to the air faeries she had cast spells on, and especially to Strophagus and Fyora for causing so much trouble. She didn't listen when they said that none of it was her fault, and being the person she is, laughed about the whole situation by saying things like, "Whoever created that Amulet needs to go see a psychiatrist. Now."

     Two days later, things had finally calmed down. Smatty, Strophagus, and Fyora could get together again without much fuss. Strophagus was sipping on some herbal tea as the three of them sat in his room, still telling tales of how Smatty had acted under the power of the Amulet, and when Strophagus figured out that it had been controlling her.

     "Wait, so I actually called you Strophagus?" asked a surprised Smatty, who had chosen a Neocola over the herbal tea. (She drank way too much of that back at home, anyway.)

     "You most certainly did," the Quiggle replied. "It scared me intensely."

     Smatty laughed, then decided to bring a topic up that had been nagging at her thoughts for the past few days. "What I still don't get is...how did I destroy the Amulet? I heard you two mention something about what caused the destruction of the Amulet, something about an ultimate power...what is it?"

     Fyora beamed at her. "It was love, Smatty. The one thing the Amulet could never handle."

     The three of them smiled and didn't talk for a while after that.

     Smatty and Strophagus then enjoyed the rest of their vacation, which turned out to be quite carefree. She traveled all over Faerie City with her friend, and soon the Amulet of Ascendence was a thing of the past. Nothing could stop those two from having a good time.

     And before anyone knew it, Smatty's vacation in Faerieland had come to a close. With all of her possessions packed into her single bag, Strophagus and Fyora walked her down the strange, cloud-like stairwells of the hidden tower. She took a good look around, trying to remember the place because she had a feeling she wouldn't see it again in a while. She tried to absorb the purple walls, the spiral staircases, and the magnificent view of Faerieland.

     "Well, that wasn't quite the relaxing vacation I had thought it would be, but...I had a lot of fun," Smatty finished as they stood before the golden door shaped like a keyhole.

     "I'd like to thank you on behalf of Faerieland, Smatty. You've been an immense help," Fyora said, shaking the Kyrii's paw firmly. "The Amulet of Ascendence will never threaten us again, and for that, we owe you our lives."

     "Nah, it's okay. I'm just glad that Strophy here got rid of the Amulet all by himself." She winked, turning to the Quiggle. "This was a lot of fun. Let's do it again sometime - without any amulets," she added.

     "I'm sure we'll be brought together again, somehow," Strophagus said with one of his brief chuckles.

     The three of them then proceeded to the outdoors, where an Eyrie Cab was waiting to fly Smatty back to her home. She stared at Strophagus hesitantly, then hugged him for just a small moment. When she let go, he looked as if he had just been struck by lightning.

     Smatty laughed. "Well, bye you guys." She waved to both of them and hopped onto the Eyrie, who had almost fallen asleep. She grinned, and they set off into the air.

The End