With a flutter of pure, white feathers, Carabosse landed gracefully in a tree within the centre of the Enchanted Forest. Not at all shy, she made sure to find a good seat to watch her brothers and sisters rush about. They were trying to help Mother rebuild the Great Oak, whilst simultaneously trying to put out the last stubborn green embers.

She wanted to take an even closer look, so that she could hear their whispers and moans as they suffered the hardships brought on by her outburst weeks ago.

"This should be interesting," she communicated to Ibis who was perched beside her on the sturdy branch. He then watched Carabosse's snowy owl exterior melt away and disappear into the tree's shadow. She slithered down the trunk and lay low, so that no one would see her.

"It's out! That's the last one out!" An ochre fairy, who Carabosse remembered to be called Terre, announced with glee. His shining mahogany eyes sparkled and his brown and orange, moth-like wings fluttered behind his back.

"What? Really? What a relief!" cried Margot, the aqua fairy that was working beside him. "We can finally move forward and forget all that Carabosse has done here!"

Carabosse's brow furrowed at hearing her name being used so casually. The fairy that uttered them, she remembered, was one of her tormentors at magic school; this also added a heat to her inner fire. She made emerald green flames light up her right eye and winked it with a smirk on her lips. Three more glowing green embers were then created in the last ember's place.

"What?" Terre muttered through his teeth in frustration.

With an irritated click of her tongue Margot tried to douse the new embers with raining droplets of cool water. Terre also tried to help kill the threatening glow by burying the embers in earth, only to see three more embers appear out of nowhere, then four more, then five. A hushed, cruel laugh left Carabosse's chest as she saw their faces fall.

"But we were done!" Terre cried. He then squeezed his eyes shut in anguish, clearly his next thought was making him stress. "We'll need to call the others back..."

"No!" Margot's tone matched her brother's perfectly. "It's not fair!" she added with a whine.

"I'll go and get them," Terre muttered, disheartened. With his head bowed, he turned to leave.

"No don't!" Margot grabbed his sunken shoulder. "We can do this, Brother!" she added with an enthusiasm that Carabosse did not expect to witness. "This can be our chance to truly impress Mother."

Carabosse sucked in air through her gritted teeth and with a sharp click of her tongue she looked around for another way she can beat down their spirits. A beautiful shining tree caught her eye, a tree that she understood to be brand new. With a wicked grin she lifted her right black-gloved hand and clicked her fingers with a muffled snap. The sound grew and resounded through the air, then a large, unnatural crack appeared within that young plant's trunk and it was torn apart.

Carabosse's much louder laugh was drowned out by the panicking screams of the tree fairies that fluttered around it. Distracted from the embers, Terre and Margot rushed to see what happened. As their backs were turned, Carabosse brought the embers together. The way she moved her hands as she controlled her magic looked like an intricate dance. Green flames began to mirror her movements as the embers grew into a raging emerald and orange fire.

"No!" screeched Margot when she noticed.

"No..." Terre echoed sadly, despair gripped tightly to his throat, only allowing a choked whisper to come out of his mouth. He fell to his knees and pulled at his fluffy, dark brown hair.

"Yes!" Carabosse hissed with dark delight, before returning up the tree to the branch where Ibis was watching the entire show.

"Was that necessary?" Ibis reprimanded her gently with a glint in his wide eyes. Carabosse materialised from the shadows and sat upon the branch in her original form. She delicately crossed her ankles over and reached her hands up to her twisted, amber hair-do.

"I guess not," she said as she smoothed out the fly-aways. "But it was fun."

Ibis had nothing to say to that. Being an owl, he couldn't truly understand the inner workings of a fairy's mind; despite the telepathic connection. A silence fell upon the two of them, which got on Carabosse's nerves.

"Are you judging me, Ibis?" Carabosse accused her feathered friend.

"Judging?" his confused thoughts echoed in Carabosse's mind. "I would never judge you, Carabosse, you know that."

"Well why aren't you saying anything?"

"I just didn't realise that you were coming out here to play childish tricks on the other fairies," Ibis' calmly communicated.

"Of course that's not what we came here for!" Carabosse snapped back, annoyed at the idea that Ibis should think her as petty. "I came back to this place for research. There must be a perfect way to get my revenge on Mother and her pathetic clones."

"Alright, Carabosse," Ibis sought to quench the fire that was beginning to burn within his friend. "I didn't mean to upset you, I just wasn't sure what your plans were."

"Are you truly on my side, Ibis?" Carabosse asked, seeking reassurance.

"Of course," Ibis answered simply, with no hint of irony.

"Good!" Carabosse said with a smile. "Come on, I know exactly who we must find!" She then transformed back into a snowy owl, kicked off the branch and flew amongst the tall trees, closely followed by her tawny owl accomplice.

The numerous trees rushed past Carabosse and Ibis as they flew. She knew exactly what to look out for as she scanned the area. She kept her large, snowy owl eyes and ears open for Cezanne, one of the Rosebush Twins. It didn't take long for her to spot a pair of rose-red butterfly wings, fluttering amongst the grand flower beds of the southern part of the forest.

"It's time, Sister." Carabosse heard the Rosebush Twin say in her, put on, regal voice. She could never forget such a voice. Perched upon a branch of the closest tree to them, she listened into Cezanne and Fleurine's hushed conversation.

"Ooh! I wonder which one of us she'll choose!" Fleurine squealed with excitement.

"It'll be the highest honour for whoever she chooses!" Cezanne agreed in a more composed tone.

Another squeal left Fleurine, which made Cezanne's hand rush to cover her mouth.

"Shush! We mustn't speak any more of it, not here," Cezanne hushed her excitable twin. Fleurine's rose-pink wings' fluttering slowed and she looked at her sister with confusion etched on her brow, making Cezanne jump into an exasperated explanation. "Don't you remember what Mother warned us about? Carabosse has joined the Dark One! Nobody knows what she has learnt from him. She may have a way of listening to us right now!"

Carabosse gave her owl accomplice a knowing glance and her wicked chuckle filled Ibis' mind.

"Of course, Sister, you are right," Fleurine uttered with a sheepish nod.

"Let's go, they'll be waiting for us," Cezanne said, then opened her butterfly wings.

"Ooh! I love visiting the castle!" Fleurine squealed and clapped her hands.

"Shush!" Cezanne glared at her twin. "What were we just talking about!"

"Sorry..." Fleurine whispered, then followed her sister in flight towards the human kingdom.

"How very curious," Carabosse's thoughts echoed, making Ibis swivel his head to look into her scheming owl eyes. "I wonder what could be happening at the castle..."

"Are we to follow them?" Ibis asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course," Carabosse responded, then put on a mocking tone to mimic her school bully, "They'll be waiting for us."

She then pushed off the branch, spread her white wings and with a roll of his wide eyes, Ibis followed her.

◇

A strange noise resounded amongst the human village's wooden rooves. It had a variety of pitches that mixed together in a chaotic, yet musical way. This sound made Carabosse stop.

"What's that?" she asked Ibis, as she treaded air with her snowy wings.

"What?"

"That noise?"

"That's the sound of the human's young laughing, Carabosse," Ibis answered wisely.

"Oh," Carabosse sighed and decided to perch upon a roof to listen closer; she wanted to soak in this strange sound of joy. With her eyes closed, she concentrated on each decibel that was presented, until she detected a sneering undertone. Her eyes flew open as she noticed another, much sadder, voice that was almost lost within the mix.

"Stop it, please!" the small voice begged amongst the sneering laughter.

"Did you hear that?" Carabosse turned to Ibis, who perched on the roof beside her. The look in his round eyes showed her that he knew exactly what she was talking about without having to communicate one word.

With that, Carabosse melted into the shadows, just as she did within the Enchanted Forest. She followed the voices until she came across exactly what she thought she'd find - a group of children, boys and girls dressed in clean colourful clothes surrounding a thinner and weaker girl. The girl was clearly an outcast. She had long, tangled, dark hair that fell upon, beige rags that were smeared with mud and grass stains. The others called her cruel names, pulled her hair and laughed at her for crying. They were tormenting her and it looked like their game was far from over.

With deep rooted outrage, Carabosse didn't stop to think before deciding to step in. She stood out from the shadows and grew into her human-sized fairy form. She leapt into the air, landed heavily in the middle of the children and acted like a barrier between the little girl and her bullies.

Fear froze them to the spot.

"Leave her alone," Carabosse growled.

"Why should we?" questioned the bravest (or some may say the most stupid) out of the bunch.

Carabosse needed no words to threaten them. She opened out her large, intimidating, dark wings and let her eyes glow blood red. Such a horrifying sight made a new sound fill the air, a sound Carabosse enjoyed much more than the laughter - the children's terrified screams. They all ran away not daring to look back.

A dark laugh left Carabosse's chest as she slowly lowered her wings and began to walk away.

"Th- thank you..." A tiny, nervous squeak stopped her in her tracks. Carabosse turned towards the little voice and the girl recoiled as the dark fairy's emotionless, black eyes met hers.

Taking in the girl's tear and mud stained face, Carabosse noticed that the girl was beginning to regret saying anything at all. They stood there staring at each other for a few minutes, frozen fear meeting unexplainable dark power.

Suddenly a weight perched upon Carabosse's shoulder, ripping her focus away from the girl's grey eyes. She glanced towards Ibis and with a nod she quickly transformed back into a snowy owl and flew away with him. Leaving the little girl, all alone, staring up at the sky after her mysterious saviour.