The Dark Fairy (Young Justice)

Chapter 31: Irony Oh Irony

Walking down the bustling and noisy streets I shifted closer to Dick and he wrapped his arm around me. I reviled the heat seeping off him in the early winter air. I may have had a coat and scarf wrapped around me, but the extra heat was more than welcome.

Right now, we were walking down what was one of the many sidewalks of New York city. Why are we in New York you ask? Well that would be Zatana’s doing.

The mission during Wally’s birthday had gone smoothly, beside the fact that we had been deceived to think that the snow machines were the objective. What happened is that Wally had been sent on a separate mission while all of the rest went up and tried to stop the huge machines that had been stationed in the sky.

These machines had been responsible for the early cold weather this year and it was no surprise that villains were behind the act. What was surprising was that Wally’s separate mission was probably the most important part of this.

You see, due to the increasing temperature and snow, a heart that was supposed to travel between cities to a little girl couldn’t be delivered. Wally’s job was to get the heart there before time ran out. While he was going there not only did he face Vandle Savage, but Count Vertigo also joined the party.

You see the little girl was queen of a small country up north and was Count Vertigo’s niece. If she had died the throne would have been abdicated to him. Luckily Wally got there in time and even managed to devise a plan to get Count Vertigo’s immunity stripped by tricking him into confessing.

On the way back to the cave, Zatana and I had begun talking about the Cronum and how to crack the code. We were busy discussing the whole city connection between pieces. For instance, Paris was the city of love. We obviously already knew that the next city was the city of Dreams from what the riddle said, but it wasn’t till Zatana jumped up with a twinkling expression that we knew the meaning.

New York.

It seemed so obvious now that I thought about it. The city bustling with actors, singers and overall artists, trying to make it big. But what really struck the cord of New York city was the constant gesture to a stage or performance. Now, centuries back when these Cronum parts were hidden, I doubt there was a famous Broadway stage like there is now, but from what I took from the prophecy, the fairies back then knew what was to come much better than any of us at this point. No doubt they saw the great fame that was to rise in that part of town, so that’s where we were headed.

As I saw the theater doors and posters lining the billboards along the street to the left I couldn’t help but thank those ancient fairies for their choice of venue. Not only had I gotten to see the streets of Paris but I was about to step into the most amazing musical theater central in the world.

It’s no secret that growing up I loved the dramatic arts like it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I remember I would learn any song that ever graced the stage if it were from my favorite musical. I hadn’t really kept up to date in the recent years due to being preoccupied, but I still remember all the Lyrics from ‘The Naming Of The Cats’ song from the old Cats Broadway musical.

Dick and I entered the back alley door that initially had been locked but like any lock has ever kept us out. I know that is technically illegal, but when have we ever really stuck to the rules. The plan was actually pretty simple:

There were obviously many Broadway shows that happened in New York in one night. The idea at the moment was go to as many shows as we could, preferably the oldest theaters in the city.

Right now we were just trying to blend in with the extras and dancers running up and down the backstage with costumes. We were here for the ever popular Wicked musical and I could just about see a whirlwind of munchkins and witches running around in a frenzy. With the show going on for a good hour now and the next scene in a few minutes you would think they’d be more organized.

“Where is our Glinda!?” shouted out one of the men racing from the make up rooms.

Before he could consume any of the innocent staff with his fit a girl, maybe in her early twenties, made a jittery stubble towards him. From her tool kit and the smudges of green paint I can only assume she was an intern makeup artist. She was too young to be there on a job and she clearly feared the man she was talking to more than any other employee.

“Sorry sir, but Madison got sick and her understudy is too! Both of them are in the bathroom right now throwing up! They both went out to the same place last night and it seems they might have eaten something off!”  She said hurriedly.

The expression on the man’s face was one of utmost rage and desperation. In his new and very loud outburst he seemed to have scared the girl into stumbling back. Right into, you guessed it, me.

Now fate has some pretty cruel and twisted ways of controlling my life but sometimes I feel like it just has a fucking party when it comes to me. I swear there is popcorn being popped and lawn chairs being opened just to watch my misery in full and glorious viewing.

Naturally, when the man, who from what I had seen so far assumed to be the director, looked at me expected many things. Of course life has that way of being an unpredictable bitch.

“You! You work here don’t you?!” I blinked in surprise at his accusation as I helped the poor girl up. I couldn’t exactly say I wasn’t since I was backstage authorized.

“Um… yeah?” I said with a nervous smile snaking it’s way across my face. The girl sent me an apologetic frown, not just for her clumsiness but the situation she had let me stumble into.

What happened next…. Clique to say the least.

“You know what? I can work with it. She’s already blonde…. Maybe a bit more shade…Hmmmmm. You know what it might actually work… Hey Kid!” He yelled and I snapped my head back to him. I had raised an eyebrow at his mumbo jumbo of words and was honestly creeped out by the stares he was giving me up and down.

“Yeah…?” I said uneasily. I shifted between my two feet at the uncomfortable intensity of this man’s gaze.

Dick, somehow managed to stay hidden with all this happening. You see, since we needed to blend in, we didn’t have our hero costumes on and he had taken to manning the stage as a form of cover. Every now and then he would glance my way to see if the situation came to a violent or just plain bad ending. All things considered, he was pretty good at hiding his rage when he noticed the mid forties man size me up.

“Can you sing?” He asked simply.

I stared at him. Blinked. And stared again.

How was I supposed to react!? He was a Broadway producer! My singing was okay but… well… Um how am I supposed to complete with those people out there!? I was about to respond with an incredulous no before Dick caught the corner of my eye.

He gave me a small smile and nod sideways before carrying on but I got the message. Was he crazy!? Oh well. It’s not like I hadn’t tried singing before.

“Well I guess but-“ I was cut off by a strong grip clamping over my arm and resisting the fighting urge to punch the man who had dared touch me. However, before I could have a say in what was going on, I was dragged away, the only thing really staying the same was the clobbering make up girl trying to keep up with us.

Before I knew it, I had been sat down, forced into a chair and faced towards a lighted mirror. He stood in front of me a broad, though noticeably nervous grin on his face.

“I know it’s short notice, heck I’m just doing this because I got no choice, but please, take over for Glinda. Since you work here you should know the songs by now.” He said, his thick Manhattan accent going strong.

I blinked in surprise at his proposition. How in the world was this even possible?!

“Why me? Even if they’re for a different role, shouldn’t all your understudies be here? I may not be bad, but even a munchkin backup could do better….. Right?” I asked somewhat flabbergasted by the unprofessionalism going on right now.

This was against the contracts of basically every performer part of this and, the part him wanting me to play a lead role is even more preposterous. What is the coincidence that this could even happen. It doesn’t even make sense!

The man, who from his name tag I had only just noticed I deduced was Alton Cranings, scratched the back of his neck in an embarrassing nature. He seamed bashful and ashamed even.

“Well you see…um, I may have given them the night off. This is our last show for a while here and most of the cast had been involved in a pretty loud… obnoxious… And alcoholic party.” He said, nearly whispering the last bit.

I stared at him blankly, though clearly showing I was judging him pretty badly at that moment. He cleared his throat and continued

“Nearly all the understudies were drinking pretty hard, taking into account that they had a small chance of being cast today in anyways. Since I had thrown the party, it was technically my fault so I sent them all home, thinking there wouldn’t really be a problem tonight…. Guess I was wrong huh?” He said with a shaky smile.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. As much as I wanted to do this, I knew that I was here on a mission. The fact that memorizing the lines wouldn’t be a problem. I had practically studied the Wicked musical and knew all the songs. I might have to glance at the dialogue a bit but that shouldn’t be too hard.

“Okay fine… But if I do this, please don’t expect me to be a Barbara Streisand out there.” I said exasperated, though secretly excited. I had wanted to do this since I was little!

“Yes! Knew you’d come around! Bessie, get to work on her costume, we need Glinda in 10.” He said gruffly.

My eyes widened at the time given but realized soon that it wasn’t a problem for the small make up artist. She practically shoved me in a dress and handed me the script while she packed my face. Seven minutes later and I was behind the curtains, waiting for the music to start.

I nervously read over the lines and already knew them thanks to the mental image I had secured from my own mind. I have to admit that using telepathy on myself made me a little uncomfortable. Makes me wonder how the others feel when I do this…

I fidgeted with the rim of my poofy gown that I had been forced into in less than two minutes. Despite the impracticallity and how over the top it was, I couldn’t help but admire the design.

It was probably the lightest shade of pink I could imagine. It was almost like the color of a washed out satin pillowcase. Then a shawl of transparent and blue tinged fabric glided over it, not making it purple as thought but almost like two different colors at the same time. From the waist up was almost like rhinestones had latched onto my bodice and crawled up to below my collar bone. It was a strapless dress so my shoulders were bare but behind me were two beautifully made wings. They didn’t really compare to my real ones, but to be a manufactured product was almost unthinkable.

I couldn’t help but show a small wry smile at the intense irony of this entire situation. Out of all people, the one who wasn’t actually working here got chosen and out of all people, I was chosen to play the role of a fairy. Ridiculous really.

The time had been bumped up slightly so I still had to wait another 8 minutes before going on stage, but the wait made me even more nervous. How had I even gotten into this mess again?!

I sighed and decided Dick should probably know what’s happening. ‘Hey Dick, minor set back, but I may or may not have just swindled my way into being on Broadway without trying.’ I spoke from my mental link.

‘Pfft, honestly? Not surprised. Only you would find a way to get in the spotlight.’ He said amused.

I frowned at his jab and continued to look across the room. I tried to defend myself but to no avail.

‘Well it’s not like I expected this to happen Jack ass! It’s worse enough that the dress I’m wearing has a skirt that’s probably five times bigger than me!’ I shouted out annoyed.

‘Okay, okay! I was just teasing, don’t get your dress all ruffled princess. But, on the mission side, have you found anything? I haven’t exactly been able to find the Cronum from lugging the set around.’ He said.

I was about to reply when my eye caught the stage planks. The theater was built pretty low… and there was supposed to be solid ground underneath right? But knowing the ancient fairies….

‘I have an idea… look underneath the stage. It’ll probably be props but knowing fairy magic and if the Cronum is there, there should be some sort of trick to let you into a room.’ I said thinking through everything.

Before I could say anything else I was grabbed and positioned right in the middle of the stage. I realized I had been standing there for a while and my time had gone by quickly.

It was ShowTime.

The curtain in front of me ruffled before being pulled and opened. My inner self screaming I was screwed was louder than I’d like to admit when I saw all of the people in front of me.

On the theater you go…

Before I could get an awkward pause, my years of dramatic arts came to me and hit me like a ton of bricks, blindly leading me through the scene. The woman playing a character called Elphaba had a slight spark of confusion when she saw me playing her counterpart, but the skilled actress simply went with the sudden change in casting.

(Okay, I’ll be honest, at this point in the story I might get some things wrong and I’ll probably offend some people. I absolutely love the Broadway musicals showcased, but unfortunately have never been able to go and see one, let alone the Wicked musical. I know this is probably the most famous musical out there, but the only information I was able to go off of for this scene was Google and YouTube.)

The entire idea of the musical was that two girls, both magical, however one is said to be good and the other portrayed as bad. These two come together. The scene I was meant to play while the original actress was puking her guts out was where the supposedly popular girl was trying to teach the unpopular girl how to be… well popular.

I played the scene pretty well to my opinion. It was hard to do things in the first few lines but I surprisingly slipped into my role quite comfortably. Then it was time for the song, and despite my nerves, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of performing

“Your gonna’ be popular ~” I sang out in note but just as I was about so sing further, the entire theater room shook. I knew exactly what this was.

I sighed as the people in the stands panicked and screamed all over the place. Looks like I was having too much fun and Karma decided to take action. Oh well, it’s not like I’ve wanted to be on Broadway for the longest time.

Note sarcasm.

I sighed in exasperation as a large statue like the one we had found in Paris, crash through the stage. At this point the actress I had been sharing the stage with up until now had run off with fear painted all over her features.

The statue was different, compared to the one I had destroyed a little less than two weeks ago. For starters it’s stature was female and had no armor. Instead it was dressed in a similar manner as my own. It was just as, if not taller than the one we had faced before and now that we could see a face, a prominent scowl was etched across the ancient rocks face.

I looked down the hole that the angry statue had jumped out of to see Dick waving at me with something in his hand. I knew immediately from the same pull I had felt before that it was a piece of the Cronum.

I would celebrate or even try and Congratulate Dick, but right now I had to deal with yet another Silvalia Guardian. I have to admit, the odds that the first show Dick and I go to has the thing we’re looking for. Now that I think about it, maybe I was drawn to this theater specifically because of it.

When we had been handing out assignments, I had been drawn to this show in particular. At the time I simply put it to sneaking into my favorite musical that we had options for, but now I’m thinking that strong pull from the Cronum might have been induced in a different manner this time round.

Just looking at the stone creation I knew that I couldn’t defeat the same way I had the other. There were still a few people scurrying out and any flames could burn this entire place to the ground.

Suddenly the statue took a stance and I instantly recognized it as a fighting style. Not just any fighting style though, it was the same style as my 10th most effective style. The one I had been hiding for a while now. I smirked as the last piece of the puzzle in this part of the riddle clicked.

The 10th style was sort of like a dance. In most countries it is used in, it referenced as the dance of death or the dance of war. It is probably my most frivolous and outspoken style I have. I got into my own sure stance, however not before summoning my fairy form and summoning my wings.

A show for a prise…

A/n: Okay... I'm SO SO SO SO SORRY EVERYONE! I know I haven't published in a long time but I promise I'm not dead! I have had the hardest time trying to get the ball rolling with this chapter and for some reason, today something clicked and whoopdie doo I have inspiration once more! I know that I haven't updated in a long time but I really had a big writers block and honestly lost a little faith in this story. I looked back on all my old chapters and damn are there plot holes. I am going to fix them when I have finished this book though so don't be too worried about the cringieness

Thanks for reading

Lots of love

Ivy