"You are a nasty... nasty, horrible... little creature. Sweetness and light indeed!" screamed the hysterical man, steadily backing away from the slim, delicate youth coming towards him. His progression was halted as his back thumped heavily into the door behind him, the lean yet muscular man whirling around in an instant and immediately starting to grapple with the door's handle. "You... you stay away from me! You are horrid and not only that, you are mean. Yes, mean!"

"Yes Master. If you wish me never to come near you again, then I shall do my best to fulfill your wishes," stated Firefly quietly. The Key was the very epitome of obedience as he sank slowly down onto the wooden floor just a few yards from the one and only entrance to his rooms. With a sly grin flashing quickly across his face before his expression took on an overly wounded tone, Firefly gave a sigh as his Master continued to fumble his way into exiting the Key's rooms.

"Come near me again? Come near me *again* you say?" came the reply from a scream bruised throat. "You are mad. I keep telling you to stay away... to be gone from my sight and still you persist in keeping as close to me as a bear hibernating in its cave. You are never gone from my sight... my hearing... Ohlah! Ohlah... even in my dreams you are too close!"

"My humblest apologies Master. I... I only wished to savour your presence."

"Phah! You will do nothing but savour my belt across your skinny backside if you take another step towards me. You stay sitting... you horrid overgrown child. SIT!" snapped Firefly's owner.

"But I am already sitting Master. Do you wish me to sit closer to you?" came the innocently worded reply.

"WHAT! Closer to me? Sit... and stay sitting until I pass through this accursed door. Cursed is what you are. Stay I tell you!" Screamed the blond long haired man. Pointing a shaking finger at Firefly as the slender youth made a move to get up from off the floor, Firefly's Master finally managed to twist thought possible, the Master fled through the door towards the safety it offered but not before he stopped and turned around to impart a few more words of derision towards Firefly

"I tell you this. All your airs and graces... your sneaking about and playing of tricks upon your rightful Masters will come at naught. You should accept what you are. You are no Fae"

"I *am* Fae" Firefly raised his head and locked eyes with his departing Master, his face cold and full of spite.

"Phah. Still so full of pride and more than just a hint of once winged arrogance in that reply, Key. Key... that is all you are now. All you will ever be," sneered the Master from the open doorway. "You will die as a Key. Get comfortable. *Glowbug.*"

"I *am* Fae!"

"You are *human*!" whispered the Master, taking an obscene delight as watched the Key's face drain of all color. "Without those disgusting wings of yours that make you Fae... you are nothing but a mere human. You will live out the rest of your days as a human and when you die, you will die as a human" With that final remark, the Master slammed the Firefly door shut, making sure to turn the lock before he strode down the wooden hallway towards The Palace reception.

"I... I am... F...Fae" came the whispered reply into the otherwise silent room. His mind reeling as if he had just been slapped, Firefly barely registered that he had crumpled on the floor, much like a sodden rag.

Lying on the cool wooden floorboards of his main room, the lithe youth cursed himself as he, for the first time in two years, finally despaired over the road Mother Fate was taking him. As bitter tears made their way down his deathly pale cheeks, the Key continued to lay curled up on the floor until, exhausted from his tears, he fell head first into a deep slumber.

He was fascinated. Never in his whole life had he ever had the good fortune to see anything so strange... so dark. And the size of it, how could such a... a thing grow to such an odd shape?

Unable to help himself, the young Fae knew that he was staring and he most certainly knew that it was wrong to keep doing so but he figured since the object of his curiosity did not know it was being stared at... then his manners did not matter. It was not the way the *thing* was coated from the base of its trunk to the very top of its tallest branch in the many different hues of the forest leaves that had his attention, it was the way that the *thing* had somehow encouraged the sky herself to wrap around the highest reaching branches.

The little Fae was excited and yet nervous. It was not every day that you discovered a new variety of tree. He knew it was a tree because it was too slender to be a bush or shrub and the odd looking *thing* was surely not a sneaking blahee, one of rarely sighted walking trees, because this tree's bark was too dark. Almost black and not the bright white of the flesh eating blahee.

Except, it could not be a tree. Simply because the long haired youth could see that it... the *thing*... Thingy had what looked like legs and arms. Just like him. And he was sure that... Thingy... had hands as well. Or were they just a different type of branch that he had never seen before? And if the 'hands' really were branches, then what Thingy was trailing through the stream water would obviously be twigs and not long, slender fingers.

With a frown on his face, the red head continued to stare at the odd tree in front of him. It had to be a tree, it was a tree was not it? But if it was not a tree, then what was it? No. No... it was a tree. It was simple. Anything with wings was Fae, anything without was either a tree, shrub or one of numerous species of wildlife that dwelled in the forest. That fact that Thingy had no wings and was too tall for either a shrub or animal meant that it was a tree. Taking a chance, the daring Fae took a gentle, silent step forward, carefully twisting genuine tree branches out of his way to have a better look at the odd tree specimen. As he nestled in closely against a rough barbury oak, a realization struck him.

Thingy?

'Oh Amar's green earth!' he thought, 'why such a dullard of a name? Can I not come up with something more inspiring?'

A self-depreciative snort resounded through the otherwise silent forest as the youth despaired over the name. Here he was, a Fae discovering what only could be a new type of tree or even mutated shrub and he could only come up with a name like *Thingy*? How on the good green earth would he be able to show his Clan's Elders his fabulous discovery if he continued to call it Thingy?

Vowing to come up with a better name, he took a long lock of hair and started chewing on the ends as he took his eyes off Thingy for the first time in over an hour. In his ruminations, the lithe Fae had failed to notice that his object of curiosity had stepped back from the little stream and was now looking in his direction.

"Htu... htu's mone?"

As every fibre in his being froze, the delicate youth barely flinched as the bedraggled lock of hair fell out of his gaping mouth. Staring once again, this time in complete shock, the Fae was horrified to see that Thingy had moved without his noticing.

Not only that, Thingy had spoken. Or at least made a pretence of doing so. As hard as he tried to convince himself to run in the opposite direction, the Fae discovered that he was in fact moving closer towards the odd tree. Slowly but surely, low hanging branches were moved out of his way by hands that he was sure were acting of their own accord as he continued his journey forward.

Finally, after what seemed like an eon, the nervous Fae stepped out into the open. His heart beating almost out of control, he sidled up close to a tree on the edge of the cool forest. Unable to help himself from playing with a leaf plucked from the tree, he stood only a few yards from the object of his curiosity, vulnerable to any action that Thingy might take against him. With a sidelong glance towards the odd tree, he waited for something to happen.

Looking at Thingy from underneath his lashes, the Fae's heart rate escalated another notch as Thingy took a step towards him, causing the lithe youth to press back against the tree behind him. As the bark dug roughly against his delicate wings, he gasped in pain when he felt a sharp twig pierce through his left wing. Teeth gritted, he tried to blank out the fiery pain that radiated over the entire left side of his back. Groaning, the pained youth ventured to shift himself from the offending piece of wood only to slam himself backwards again the instant he noticed that Thingy had taken another step forward.

"Htan ion?"

Barely able to hold back his scream of agony from the razor sharp twig ripping into another part of his left wing, the moaning boy tried in vain to reach around his back to his damaged wing. He hurt. Badly. Already he could feel a deep hot throbbing pain coming from the first rip in his wing, something that did not bode well for his future health. Afraid to move for fear of hurting himself more, the Fae stared helplessly as Thingy moved its branches up and down its green hued trunk. A deep breath wrung a grunt of pain from him while it caused Thingy to move even closer.

"Htan ion... wae I puin?"

The soft deep voice of Thingy was suddenly too much for the little Fae. He wanted to be gone. He did not want to hear the questioning concern from the odd tree even if he could not understand the words.

Words?

As tears started to make their way down his face, the struggling youth doubled his efforts to get free even as the horrifying thought ran through his mind. Thingy had spoken, just as he had heard before but this time... this time he could actually hear the intent behind the words. And that was more frightening than being injured, alone and many weeks travel from his Clan.

His panic mounting, the terrified young Fae wrenched his left shoulder away from the tree as hard as he could only to freeze as he felt the tear in his wing lengthen. Breath after deep breath was gulped down into his lungs until finally, an agonized scream roared through the small clearing.

On and on he screamed, the throbbing in his wing steadily rising into a sharp stabbing. As if his legs were made of slender reeds, the Fae found himself tumbling to the ground, only to voice his agony even louder as his wing tore free from the rough nub of bark. His screams still sounding through the forest, the Fae lay on the cushioning grass, too intent on his pain to notice that Thingy had moved to his side.

Hands?

Only barely through the waves of pain did he register that someone was running their hands over his body. He could feel calluses against his own much softer skin. Everywhere, he could feel himself being touched but nothing mattered but the pure agony he was currently experiencing.

His stomach twisted, growling as it churned from the nausea that came hand in hand with his pain. The screams started to lose their intensity, instead, dying down into deep groans as tremors racked his body. All the while he could feel the hands moving their way from across his shoulder blades, up his slender neck and finally, touching his chin.

Gently, he found his face being upturned from the tear soaked grass and suddenly, he was looking into a face. A face that bore a worried smile, bright, white teeth clashing with darkness of the skin.

It was too much. He could not think anymore. He did not *want* to think anymore, he just wanted to be somewhere else. Away from the terrible pain.

Swiftly, the land of lost dreams beckoned to him and with a harsh grunt, the little Fae allowed his eyes to close. Just as he slipped away, he marveled at how Fae like Thingy actually appeared to be.