An Expedition--with a Kangaroo.

Maybe a Fairy or Two

Instinctively, all three of us raised our arms to shield our eyes from the radiant light. Even though our eyelids were shut tight, we could still see the glow cascading from the snowglobe. After a few seconds, the light subsided. We slowly lowered our arms and opened our eyes.I let out an audible gasp. So did Heather.

"Wow," I said, grinning at the two fairies in front of me, looking around the room confusedly. Bunny was as befuddled as they were. The two fairies seemed tired, and their wings were slightly drooping. As one began slowly descending to the ground, I realized she was slowly falling, so I reached out my hands and caught her in my palms. The other fairy hovered over to my side and peered down at her—friend? Sister?

Tired as they were, the two fairies were still quite beautiful, and everyone stared at them in surprising awe. The fallen fairy, with hair as white as snow, spoke first. "I'm Periwinkle," she said softly, her voice melodious like tiny bells. 

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Tinker Bell," The fairy with blonde hair, a green leaf dress, and a matching leaf jacket lined with fluff told us, albeit a bit breathlessly.

"Kayleigh..." Heather warned me, but it was too late.

"YOU'RE TINKER BELL?!" I shouted at the top of my voice. "AND YOU'RE PERIWINKLE?! AND THE EASTER BUNNY IS STANDING BEHIND US?! THIS IS THE BEST. EASTER. EVER!!!"

"Your voice sounds familiar," a deafened Tinker Bell answered me. 

"And you can understand us...you must be a Believer," Periwinkle added to her sister.

"I like to think that I am," I replied frankly. I didn't notice Heather uncover her old garden science kit and come towards the fairies with a flower and a towel in her hands. Meanwhile, the fairies stared at me in gratitude, confusion, and realization. 

As Heather tiptoed next to me so as not to startle the fairies, she put the small towel and the flower along my arm. "A peace offering," Heather finally whispered.

Kangaroo (excuse me, Bunny) finally cleared his throat. "Hey, fairies. Haven't seen you both in quite a while. Are you all still in touch with Toothiana?"

Tink and Peri seemed to finally notice Bunny, but they simply glanced his way. "It's been almost a century since us fairies in the Winter Woods have even talked to any of you Guardians," Periwinkle said. "It's been even longer for the fairies in the Hollow,"

As Heather held out a finger to help Periwinkle dab her wings dry and give Tink the flower, the fairies continued their talk with the Easter Bunny. I tried to get ahold of what they were talking about as I listened intently to their exchange.

"Nonsense," Bunny said. "Toothiana has an entourage of almost a million little fairies. How could none of them step out of their realm and contact your people?"

This statement piqued my interest. "What do you mean by 'stepping out of their realm,' Bunny?" I asked the Guardian. 

"It's a long story," he sighed and took a deep breath.

"As you know, we were animated and brought to life in two different worlds—the Disney world for the fairies and the Dreamworks world for myself. We don't get along well, to say the least. There are constant fights between the two lands, and the Guardians and Fairies have no exceptions. This has branched out into our personal lives—some of the fairies that help Toothiana were recruited from Pixie Hollow. And that's where Tinker Bell and Periwinkle are from." Bunny explained.

"The fairies of the Hollow were obviously unhappy. We were supposed to liaise closely with the Guardians before both sides broke into a fight. The recruitment only tore us apart even more. Both sides saw it as an act of betrayal since the fairies from Disney left Pixie Hollow, and Toothiana took in folks from the other side, which meant they might be spies." Tink explained.

By this time, Periwinkle had more or less dried off her wings. "Anyway, we're terribly sorry for intruding. But we can tell you're Believers, so we'll trust you on this one—we need your help," she whispered gravely.

I let out an audible gasp. "There's usually nothing wrong with Pixie Hollow—what's going on?"

"It's the changing of the seasons," Tink responded. "A massive snowstorm came from the Winter Woods and wrecked more than half of our supplies in the Hollow. Even the Home Tree was slightly destabilized because it wasn't producing as much pixie dust as it did before the blizzard. Now, the spring fairies are barely prepared to bring back life to the Mainland, much less fly there,"

"Everyone's blaming the winter fairies," Periwinkle shook her head dismally. "But even Lord Milori doesn't know what went wrong. We've searched all the fairies in the Winter Woods for traces of destruction or anyone who had motives of harming the Spring fairies. However, everything's been peaceful since Queen Clarion and Lord Milori's marriage. There's been nothing to worry about for more than half a century,"

"Are you sure?" Bunny asked tentatively. "Maybe it was one of the Spring fairies themselves?"

"All of us are exhausted, Easter Bunny," Tinker Bell shot him a look.

"Can we help?" I asked slowly. "We don't have much to do today, and Bunny's going to leave for Jamie's house soon—"

"You know what, the girl's right. The absence of Spring is affecting everyone, and I hoped that Jamie would know the answer to the never-ending winter. It seems to be coming from Pixie Hollow, and as the Easter Bunny, I have a duty to fulfill to bring hope to the world. Maybe this is one way where we can redeem ourselves as allies, not adversaries," Bunny spoke up.

"I wholeheartedly agree with you both." Heather stepped forward, and I grinned at her. Our argument had already subsided because we had to reach a common goal—to bring back Spring.

Bunny produced a miniature snowglobe from his pack. He whispered, "Pixie Hollow," and threw said snowglobe on the ground forcefully. A portal filled with iridescent colors appeared before our eyes—so this was the source of the blinding light! Tink and Periwinkle flew into the portal without hesitation, and Bunny followed closely after them. The portal seemed harmless, so I jumped—headfirst (not the wisest decision). Heather also stepped in after me, and we both screamed as the portal spun us around, and around, and around.

But we were going to visit Pixie Hollow, and that was all that really mattered right now.