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Peri sat on Dev's bed, watching the ceiling in boredom as Dev played Tarantula Tap Dancing Time Travelers. He contemplated making an excuse to leave the room for a bit, but he knew leaving a kid, especially one who was probably expecting Peri to leave anyway, alone because he was bored was a stupid idea. So he just swung his legs over the bed and sighed. And then his phone rang, making him jump. He scrambled to answer and not drop the damn thing. His face lit up once he saw the name: "💙⛓️💙⛓️Reppy ⛓️💙⛓️💙". He answered with a suave, “Hey there, Reppy! What's-" All that came from the other side was sobbing. Peri immediately knew something was wrong "Reppy? Reppy, what's wrong? Irep??""PERI. PERI WE NEED YOU HERE NOW, PLEASE.""Reppy, I.. I'm on my way." He didn't question it further. He hung up the phone and turned to Dev "Hey, Dev? I gotta go for a bit, okay? Irep needs help. Something's wrong, and he needs me right now."Dev rolled his eyes "Fine, just be back in time for Prime Meridian's new episode. Remember, new season, meaning new manga adaptation." Dev brightened a bit just thinking about it."Would miss it," Peri replied, shooting a finger gun at him and making a clicking sound with his mouth. He poofed away to the castle where Irep resided. Irep was sitting on his bed, blankets wrapped around his body, sobbing. He didn't look good. "Reppy?" Peri decided to break the silence. As soon as he heard Peri's voice, his eyes lit up."PERI!!!" He shed his blanket and clung to Peri like a cat"Oof! Wait a minute- Foop? Long time no see! I missed you!""I MISSED YOU TOO! You being here makes everything better!" He squealed a little. Foop always was the most energetic of the three."What do you mean? What happened? Did Irep get hurt? Why are you here? You don't usually front often. Was it you on the phone, as well?"Foop let go of Peri, his gaze turning to the ground. It was then Peri saw their ear; the top of it was cut off, clipped. It looked intentional. There's no way they did that on their own.“Yeah, Irep got.. a little hurt.”Peri traced his finger around the damage. "WHAT HAPPENED? WHO DID THIS?" Peri snapped, immediately becoming protective. He was willing to kill for his Anti-Friend. That was the term he used for Irep, as boyfriend and girlfriend never felt right, and she never really liked partner or significant other. So Peri proposed Anti-Friend, and she loved it. So it stuck.Foop hissed at the touch ever so slightly. "Well, I guess Irep said something snarky to our dad, and he just blew up. He screamed about how Irep was a failure for dating you and Irep fought back. It got bad. And, well..”Peri hugged him again, squeezing tight "That bastard.. I swear, Foop, I'm going to get you out of here. I promise.”"Thank you. You don't know how much this means to us, to me."Peri's ears perked up as an idea sparked in his head. "Hey, what say we get ice cream, my treat?"Foop sniffled, pushing off of Peri "You'd do that?""Course. I love you guys."Foop smiled weakly. "We love you, too.”    They poofed back into Irep's room, both laughing. Foop let Irep back in control of the body at some point, and she had forgotten all about what had happened before their date. At least for a little while. They sat on the bed and sighed.“Thank you for caring about us,” Irep said softly. “You're great at distracting us from life.”“I try,” Peri laughed, rubbing the back of their neck. “Because I care about you. A lot, Irep.”Irep blushed and looked away. “I care about you, too.”Peri took her chin and tilted it back towards them. “Don't hide your pretty face,” Peri spoke, leaning in. “You're so beautiful..”Irep leaned in as well, succumbing to its emotions. Their lips were only able to grace each other as the door flew open. The two pulled away from each other as they saw Anti-Cosmo in the doorway, looking guilty. “Son, I– Irep,” He was still getting used to Irep's genderfluidity, “I didn't mean to hurt you. I was mad, and I wasn't thinking straight. I had a long day–” He looked up and saw Peri, holding his child's hands, looking as if they were previously embraced. His guilt was gone, replaced with anger. Why should he feel guilty for an Anti-Fairy dating their Fairy? It wasn't right in his eyes.Irep pushed Peri away. “Dad, you're here. To apologize?”“Well I was. When did Peri get here?” He said the second half with venom clear in his voice.“He's been with me for a while. We went on a date.”“A date?” Anti-Cosmo spat. “You're kidding me.”“Well-”He started approaching her. “You know how I feel about this, Irep. You know how everyone feels about this-”“Well maybe I don't care!” Irep snapped. “I love them, dad!”“It'll pass.”“No, it won't! Our love is strong!”“You may think that now, but-”Elk took control. He couldn't take this. Irep wasn't doing enough. So Elk did something. He pushed their dad. Shoved him. Hard. He fell to the ground. He sat there for a moment, shocked. “Was that necessary??” Foop asked Elk, now in front.Anti-Cosmo finally stood up. He grabbed their head and struck him across his face. He yelped, and put a hand to his cheek. His breathing quickened, and soon enough, he was crying. It was Peri's turn to get mad.“What the FUCK?” they shouted, pissed.Anti-Cosmo just rolled his eyes. “Oh no, I hurt my son! Cry me a river.”Peri growled, pulled his wand from his pocket, and smashed it. Anti-Cosmo’s eyes widened; he'd forgotten about that little detail. The world around them was engulfed in purple, before disappearing, returning the room to normal. Peri's wings flared, and he held his wand in front of him with a strong grip, pointing at Anti-Cosmo. Anti-Cosmo didn't back down, and quickly pulled his own wand out. He shot at Peri, who dodged the attack. He shot a much bigger beam at Anti-Cosmo, who was hit in his chest, and blasted into his throne room. He barely had the chance to get up before getting hit by another blast of magic. But he managed to stand up again, and got a hit on Peri, finally. But it didn't do much, other than fuel their anger. The fight went on. Ultimately, Peri was getting more blows on Anti-Cosmo than the other way around, Peri having very few injuries. Foop wanted to step in, to stop Peri from doing this, but Elk held him back. Their dad needed to be humbled. Anti-Cosmo looked over at his child. “Irep, please, tell him to stop this..”Irep, now back in control, just turned its head at its dad. He'd hurt it. It owed him nothing. Anti-Cosmo looked betrayed. Served him right. He never wanted to admit defeat like this."Gah.." He felt so weak. His body felt limp, he was bruised and bloody with multiple wounds. Had Peri, of all people, done this? And was he still going? He tried to get up, only to be met with a broken wand to the chest. He looked up at the purple and gold sparkle winged monster in front of him. It growled."Any last words?""I- Anti-Wanda.""What about her?"Anti-Cosmo could hardly stay conscious as he breathed heavily "Tell her I love her.....""Like I'd ever. Now for the final blow..." Peri lifted himself off the ground, flying high into the air. Irep hid behind his father's throne, terrified. Peri charged up their wand, ready to hit Anti-Cosmo in the heart when his phone rang. Anti-Cosmo blinked; the moment was completely thrown off. Peri cleared his throat, his face red, embarrassed. "This is, um, oh dear. This is awkward. Uhh, I need to get this.""No, no, take you time, I can wait."Peri picked his phone up from his pocket. It was his mother. "Hello? Mom? ... S-slow down, what-- ........." Peri suddenly just.. poofed away. Anti-Cosmo finally let the exhaustion claim him.   He appeared at his mom and dad’s home in Fairyworld. The sky was dark and grey. All he heard was the blaring sirens of an ambulance. He pushed through the door and outside* "MOM, MO--" only to see Hazel sobbing, his mom holding her closely, also sobbing, and his dad getting rolled on a hospital bed into a hospital car. All he could do was stand there. Frozen. His wand slipped from his hand and onto the ground, cracking more. The lights illuminated half his face, possibly even half of Fairyworld, and all he could focus on were the sirens, the blaring, ear piercing sirens. His father's figure flashed into his mind; cold, unconscious body, with the same cuts and bruises and torture Anti-Cosmo had endured. Of course; they were connected in that regard. If one gets hurt, so does the other. Peri just.. had to face it. He might’ve just killed his own father.    Irep had called an ambulance for his own father, and the two now resided at the hospital. Peri, Wanda and Hazel sat outside Cosmo's hospital room. Peri sat across the bench from Wanda and Hazel. His hair was a mess; he was frazzled. He did this. He did this. He did this. He did this. He did- “Excuse me, are you Cosmo Cosma's family?”They all looked up together. “Yes,” Wanda replied. “What's his current state?”The doctor sighed. “He's in a coma right now. He'll need a lot of time to heal, and we suspect he'll need at least a couple months here before being discharged.”“A FEW MONTHS?”“Ma'am-”“HE'S MY HUSBAND, CAN'T YOU DO SOMETHING?”“We are, ma'am, all we can. His condition is very severe, it's lucky he even survived.”“HE'S STRONG, HE'LL MAKE IT THROUGH!”“With enough time, he should.”“SHOULD? HE'S-”Peri blocked the rest out. The image of his dad in that car flashed in his mind. He hurt his dad. This was all his fault. His mom was mad at him, by default. What did he do? Why couldn't he have just-No. He did good. He got justice for Irep. But he hurt his father. It was 50/50 in his eyes.“Peri, let's go home.” Wanda grabbed them by the arm.“Oh- okay. But what about dad?”“We'll be back tomorrow. I need to rest. And.. so do you, I imagine.”Peri didn't say it, but they really could use the sleep. They worried about Irep, they worried about their dad, they just wanted to sleep all this off. The three of them poofed home, Wanda carrying Hazel as she wept. As soon as they all got home, Peri walked quietly to his room, talking to no one, and just paying attention to himself. He shut and locked his door. He sat on his bed and justcried. He sobbed. He twirled his wand, making the room soundproof, so no one could hear his sobs. He hugged his legs and wrapped his wings around his body. He didn't even realize when he fell asleep.    Splash.He walked around the white, empty space, the black goop splashing with every step. Where was he? His breathing was labored, and it smelled horrid in there. It was freezing cold, but he had no jacket, just his normal clothes and his wings. His tail swished back and forth in a rhythmic motion, acting as some sort of comfort in this unfamiliar area. He suddenly felt something grab at one of his tails. He spun around, splashing himself as he did so. There was nothing. He felt another grab. Spun around again. Still nothing. But it didn't stop. He kept spinning around, splashing around him, his breathing getting quicker, his heart beating rapidly, and the world feeling colder and colder. And then it stopped. He spun around once more, and someone finally showed themself. It was Cosmo. Peri's breath caught in his throat. “Peri?” he spoke, but it seemed.. distant. Like the voice wasn't truly there.“Dad?” he responded, eyes wide.“Why would you hurt me?”“I didn't mean it. I didn't- I was trying to help Irep!”“So you put your partner above your own family?”Peri held his wand close to his chest. “Please, I wasn't trying! I wasn't thinking straight!”“You're so selfish,” Cosmo spat. He threw himself at Peri. Peri moved out of the way, dropping his wand in the process. It fell into the goop, and into the abyss.“Hey, where did-”Cosmo pushed him to the ground. He fell onto his chest. He tried getting up, but his wings melted into the floor. They stuck together, his wings dripping, merging more and more into the floor. Peri started hyperventilating. “Dad, please, don't do this.”“You made me suffer,” his voice was no longer his own. His voice was demonic, not one that belonged to his father, “so now I'll make you suffer too.” And he placed his foot on Peri's back and shoved him down. Peri woke up with a gasp. He shoved his blankets off, immediately regretting it, as the dream came back to him and he suddenly felt cold. He was sweating. He looked around; he was in his bed. His wings were fine. There was a knock on his door.“Sweetie?” It was Wanda. “I heard you waking up and I was worried about-”“I'M FINE!” he suddenly snapped. He did not mean to do that.Wanda was taken aback. “Oh, I.. alright, I'm heading to bed. Goodnight, dear. I love you..”“Love you..” he mumbled. He couldn't shake the dream. What did it mean? Was his dad going to recover? He didn't know. He didn't know much. But he did know that he couldn't use his power again. It just hurt people. And he couldn't talk to anybody either. Too dangerous. Dev.. could be an exception. Oh, right, Prime Meridian! Hopefully Dev wouldn't be too upset he missed it. Right? He had a good excuse. He didn't mean to. Man, he was messing up left and right today, wasn't he? His only option was to try and sleep this all off again. If he could sleep, that is. Tomorrow will have to wait. Tomorrow will be a new day.