Pull-String Theory
Prologue
He knew something was wrong the moment Bonnie opened the door. Her eyes were filled with tears as she rushed into the room, and her mouth was open wide as wails poured from her throat. Motionless on the bed, Buzz grinned up at the girl as she hurried past him. A familiar doll was clutched desperately in her hands. Eyes moving only when Bonnie's back was turned, Buzz quickly tried to assess the situation. He wanted to figure out what had happened to cause such an upset.
Had she been hurt? Had she tripped and fell once again, like she had done four weeks ago?
Staring straight ahead when Bonnie's attention was drawn back to the bed, Buzz felt concern pulse through him when she unceremoniously dumped Woody onto her pillow. Moments later, she released a small object, which landed by the fallen cowboy. As another sob escaped Bonnie's lips, she rapidly turned on her heel and ran from the room in obvious distress.
Buzz immediately took the opportunity presented to him. Pushing himself up into a sitting position, his gaze fell on Woody. Mouth opening so he could ask what had gone wrong, he felt the desired words vanish from his throat as his eyes spotted the item that had been dropped by his friend. His body froze. Lips parted, Buzz's limbs tensed up. His eyes went wide and unfocused as he stared at the length of string that had a tiny loop attached neatly at one end.
"You- Your pull-string, Woody!"
Horror tore through him. Glancing at his friend's face for a moment, Buzz was momentarily struck with the notion that the situation had not quite sunk in for Woody yet. His features were blank, his eyes holding an almost glassy look while he sat their without moving.
Willing his body into action, Buzz jumped up and ran over to Woody. An urgent desire was surging through him, pushing him forwards and telling him that he needed to get Woody to focus on him. Placing his hands on Woody's shoulders, Buzz shook the toy gently to try and direct Woody's attention to him. It didn't work. Finding his panic levels beginning to rise considerably, Buzz turned his gaze back to the object that was causing Bonnie's - and currently, his own - terror. Buzz reached out a hand tentatively and, hesitating slightly, he brushed his fingers against the end of Woody's pull-string. It was worn from all the use both Andy and Bonnie had given it, but the plastic was still holding out very well.
Wrapping his fingers around it, he pulled the loop up just enough so that the loose piece of string dangled in the air.
"How did she break-"
Buzz's sentence cut off abruptly when Woody suddenly slapped his arm. The action was rough and startling, and Buzz became awash with confusion as his attention shifted to Woody's face. Woody was glaring at him. Watching with bewilderment, Buzz couldn't help but let his worry show when Woody shook his head slowly and deliberately. His hand shot out rapidly to point at the pull-string, before snapping up to the door in which Bonnie had exited through.
Buzz understood instantly. Looking back to the round plastic in his hand, he couldn't quite stop his mind from trying to figure out how the damage had been done. It didn't matter either way how it occurred, of course, because he knew that Woody didn't care. The cowboy doll did not want Bonnie to be blamed, even though it probably was her fault. The pull-string being torn off had obviously been unintentional, but that didn't negate the truth that Woody was now broken.
Without seeing Woody's back, Buzz couldn't determine exactly how much of the string had come off. However much it was, it seemed that it had caused harm, and not just to the string itself.
Buzz swallowed.
"Can you speak?" The question made his chest tighten in despair. Locking his eyes with Woody's, Buzz couldn't help but feel denial fill him. The silence greeting him was all the answer he needed, but he didn't want that to be the reply. He wanted to hear Woody's voice, condescending and irritated, telling him that he was being silly. But that wish wasn't going to be fulfilled.
Woody's voice was gone.
The severity of the damage made Buzz want to curl up and cry, despite the fact that he was a toy incapable of producing tears. This could not be happening.
Being torn from his thoughts when Woody tapped him abruptly, Buzz's focus switched to his friend once more. The gesture had been far more violent than the slap, practically desperate in its nature, and Buzz couldn't stop his eyebrows rising. It took only a second for the reasoning behind Woody's action to become abundantly clear. With a panicked expression marring his features, Woody was staring at the door whilst his hands flailed wildly in its direction.
Buzz nodded firmly and dropped the string. Though he was reluctant to do so, Buzz left Woody's side and rushed back to his former position on the soft bed. Collapsing into his inanimate posture, Buzz saw Woody do the same from the corner of his vision. Then, not a moment later, Bonnie came sprinting back into her bedroom. Her cheeks were still noticeably wet from all the crying she'd been doing, but her composure was much calmer this time around. Running over to her pillow, Bonnie picked Woody up with one hand and the broken string up with her other. She then proceeded to leave the room again.
"It's okay, Woody. My mommy said we're going to a special man to get you fixed." Sniffling, allowing a little smile to grace her lips, Bonnie drew in a deep breath and closed her bedroom door.
Waiting for a few seconds to make sure Bonnie would not come back, Buzz pushed himself up and stepped over to the edge of the bed. He could see many of the other toys coming out of their hiding places, and he took a short instance to just watch them. Should he tell them what had gone on? Would it be beneficial to tell the others that something was wrong? Surely it would just cause a panic, especially if this stranger Bonnie had spoken of couldn't fix Woody's voice properly.
The problem was that not explaining the predicament to the others would be a highly difficult task. The word 'fixed' had been said loudly and clearly, and judging from the expressions on everyones' faces, the news had not been received too well.
"So, what's broken on him? Stitches come loose? Got a scratch?" Dolly asked, her tone light and unconcerned as she lifted her head to look up at Buzz.
The desire to lie was strong, but Buzz knew they'd see through any tale he made up easily. Closing his eyes, Buzz let out a sigh as he thought about how he could relay the information to them all.
The damage that had been done to Woody was truly worthy of being thrown away. Even though Mom had offered to try and get him mended, if Woody couldn't be fixed it was a logical conclusion that the suggestion of trashing him would be brought up. Being as young and loving as she was, Buzz had confidence that Bonnie wouldn't dump any of her toys without a fight, especially if it was her favourite. That didn't remove the twinge of fear at the back of his mind, though.
Buzz was one of the most stoic and calm of the toys, and he knew that if certain toys came to the same conclusions as him - namely, Rex, and perhaps Jessie and Mr Pricklepants - they could become hysterical.
Opening his eyes, Buzz steeled himself for the reactions he was sure to get. He needed to tell them, regardless of what they'd do in response. Jumping down and landing with a quiet thud on the floor, Buzz stood to his full height and prepared himself for the inevitable.
"Woody's pull-string has snapped off."
"What?"
The array of gasps was not unexpected. Jessie's tiny exclamation of denial made his heart wrench. She was intelligent, despite her natural personality hiding it, and she knew how terrible that piece of information actually was. A pull-string doll losing its string would be like him losing his battery pack.
"Oh no!" Rex cried. "That's terrible! What're we going to do?"
"It's okay, Rex."
"He'll be thrown away!"
"That's enough!"
Everyone hushed up as Buzz yelled out angrily. Drawing out a long sigh, he rubbed his forehead, before glancing at the toys with a placating expression.
"Look, we need to remain calm. It's going to be fine. You heard Bonnie - Mom's going to get him repaired."
A couple of the toys nodded, before most let out small noises of agreement. Buzz smiled reassuringly. Everything was going to be okay. There was no need to panic, at all.
"No." Firm and hard, the negative comment sliced through the mass of hopeful voices. All sound ceased immediately, and everyone turned to stare at Dolly with varying degrees of bafflement.
"Sorry?" Buzz asked.
"No," Dolly repeated, shaking her head and taking a step back as her features twisted in fury.
"Dolly, what's wrong?"
When she locked her eyes with his, Buzz was taken aback by the rage flashing through her features.
"You don't get it. They'll try and fix him, sure, but it's too much."
"What do you mean?" Jessie asked. She was playing with her braid; it was a nervous tic that Buzz loathed seeing her do. He frowned, wanting an explanation as to why Dolly was making them all lose their hope.
Dolly moved her gaze to Jessie, and her expression thankfully softened. "They'll have to cut him open to get into his voice box so they can attach a new string. Completely take him apart. This can't be cured by a simple needle and thread."
"Oh my," Mr Pricklepants muttered, his eyes going wide. "You're right."
Now Buzz was beginning to grow concerned. What was the problem? What was wrong? Voicing these questions out loud, he had a feeling that he was not going to enjoy the replies.
Dolly's gaze lowered to the floor. "Toys aren't supposed to be messed with; not like that. It can change us."
"How?"
"Remember how you told us how you were when Lotso got into your battery pack?"
Buzz nodded. It wasn't exactly a happy memory, nor was it one he particularly liked being reminded of. Lotso was a dangerous toy that he never wanted to encounter again. And, although he knew Sunnyside was now a nice place thanks to Barbie and Ken, he couldn't deny that, deep down, he kind of hated the place. He wanted nothing to do with it, and he certainly didn't want to think about his experiences there. Why would Dolly bring it up?
"You became different, because the mechanics that make you function were edited and messed with."
That made sense. Lotso had effectively switched his controls, whilst his friends had tried resetting him to see if that would help. Neither had done him any good, regardless of intention, and he'd only become himself again once he'd been hit with a television. How it had fixed him, Buzz would never know, nor did he care.
The problem was, he was a toy that required batteries to work. He could be manipulated if the correct things were done to his insides. But how did this relate to Woody? He didn't need batteries to stay alive.
"It varies from toy to toy. Some lose their memories, some have their personalities change. Some don't even get affected, if they're lucky. But since he has a voice box, it'll probably cause some harm."
Buzz shook his head. "No, that's impossible. You can't know that."
Dolly sighed. "I know, Buzz."
"How?" he demanded, anger pouring into him. There was no way that she could be telling the truth. His friend would not change because of this. She was lying.
Dolly's expression turned sad all of a sudden, and she gave Buzz a helpless smile.
"I know, Buzz, because I've seen it happen."
-o-