I saw the movie, it was fantastic. It was the perfect Pixar movie to be fair. It brought me back to the days of Monsters Inc and the original Toy Story. When first seeing this movie no fic leaps to mind. However something grew and I had to write this. Hopefully you'll enjoy.
Lost Lyra.
It was the lack of muffled sounds from the viewing screen alerted the other emotions that something was wrong. The screen, normally filled with whatever the Dream Productions studios had scripted throughout the day, was now silent, and flickering with static, much earlier than normal. The first to be woken was a stout, red coloured being. He grumbled in annoyance and rolled out of bed. Growling he stomped downstairs into the main console room of the HQ, worry quickly dissipating his anger as he regarded the distressing sight of the screen.
"Joy?" he called. His gruff voice rousing the other emotions from their slumber. "Joy?" his alarm was clear in his tone, and the other emotions hastily joined him at the console.
"Ugh, they're having some bad times down at Dream Productions," a slim green woman scowled, flicking her hair away from her face. "Anger what's the deal? We were sleeping,"
Anger brushed her away, calling for his friend again. "Joy!"
"Joy's missing?" the sudden realisation sent Fear into a panic. "Sadness d'you know where she's gone?"
A frown had alighted the smallest emotion's face. "How should I know?" she readjusted her glasses and walked up to the console, running her fingers against the humming controls.
"Well you have been pretty close since the incident," Fear noted. It was no surprise that since the two had journeyed into the Long Term Memory their relationship had become incredibly steadfast and intertwined.
Sadness shrugged. "It doesn't mean anything though,"
"Well we've got to sort this out," Anger grunted, resting his hands on his hips as he regarded the static on the screen. "What's the plan?"
"I don't know," Fear exclaimed, worrying his hands together anxiously. "What happens if we don't find her?" he gulped, and chewed his lip between his teeth. His eyes dancing nervously between each emotion.
"Well we go out and find her," Disgust prompted. "Simple,"
"Who'll keep charge of HQ?" the question posed by Fear grounded them back into reality.
"We don't need too," it was Sadness' voice that surprised them. "She's come out of REM, earlier then normal, but she doesn't need to dream right now,"
"Sadness has a point," Anger muttered, tapping his chin with one large finger. "Question is, how do we get there, and were do we start looking?"
"I think I know exactly were we start looking," Sadness pointed out of the window of HQ and onto the darkened landscape. To their surprise they saw a faint yellow glow heading into the winding black passages of the Long Term Memory.
"Where is she going?" Anger asked, striding over to the large bay windows. "She's going pretty far back,"
"Her bag is gone," Disgust realised, pointing to the corner of the room where Joy kept the small impossibly big drawstring bag.
"Oh, I think," Sadness' eyes widened with realisation, and her face dropped into frown. "I think I know what she's looking for,"
To the other emotions surprise she quickly took the flight of stairs which lead into the living quarters. The other emotions followed her, piling their way up the stairs and trailing her into Joy's bedroom.
"What on earth?" Fear gasped, as he saw maps covering the walls of her room.
"She's got an obsession," Disgust snorted, flicking through some of the open manuals on Joy's covered desk.
"Recovering memories from the memory dump," Fear read over Disgust's shoulder. "Guy's she headed into the memory dump! We could lose her forever!" in his sudden panic he clutched at his face, scraping his fingers down the side of his cheeks and chewing on his lip.
"It looks like she's made this trip more than once," Anger muttered, his fingers tracing the intricate blueprints that lined the walls. "Look," he pointed to one in particular. The prints underneath were almost unintelligible through the scrawled notes that were written above them. Anger frowned, his forehead creasing as he read the ideas and possibilities that ran across the pages.
"She's looking for someone," Fear pulled back from Disgust's shoulder, and ran his hand over his single strand of hair. "Who could it possibly be?"
"Oh no," Sadness' small voice was enough to bring the three other emotes to focus on her. "She can't be!" her small teardrop form pushed past them, heading down the stairs with rapid little footsteps. She turned down a corridor, which lead to the recreation room, and the others froze when they heard an annoyed cry. Rushing to his friend's aid Anger was the first on the scene. To his surprise he saw that there was a flight of stairs leading to a ramp on one of the far walls. The open doorway lead out across the vast expanse of the memory dump and Sadness was stood there, teetering on the edge of the doorway.
"Sadness! Get away from there kid!" Anger snapped, lurching forwards and grabbing her sweater, pulling her back in one fluid movement. The pair stumbled backwards and Sadness collapsed on top of the stouter emote, letting out a soft depressed moan.
"This is why she wanted the rec room built!" Disgust and Fear had cannonballed into the recreation room, and were frozen at the sight they saw.
"Sadness, Anger what's going on?" Fear questioned, hurrying forwards to gently pull the blue tear-drop away from the steadily rising emotion.
"I think Joy's trying to fix something that she can't fix," Sadness mumbled forlornly through her sweater.
"What do you mean?" Fear probed gently, trying to keep his own anxiety at bay so he didn't have to watch this other emotion crumble.
"She's trying to raise someone from the dead,"
"But that's impossible!" Anger exploded, picking himself off up the floor and glowering at Disgust for not helping him from his predicament.
"But Joy thinks nothing's impossible," Fear breathed. "That's where the problem lies,"
"Thanks for the tip Tiff!" Joy called and waved behind her back to one of the friendly night workers. Tonight (after Riley had finished dreaming and slipped deeper into unconsciousness) Joy had once again set off down her ramp (with hand-crafted rails; for safety) and headed once again into the vast expanse of the Long Term Memory, Bing-Bong's drawstring memory bag clutched close to her side. She knew what she was trying to do was practically impossible, and leaving Riley during her shift was unthinkable, but she knew that she had to complete her promise to the imaginary friend. She rounded a corner, greeting the night workers as she past them, (and trying to ignore the whispering from behind her back), she stopped as she realised she'd hit another dead end. Sighing Joy saw a blue cross daubed onto one of the sides of the towering storage racks.
She had been here before.
Groaning in frustration she turned on her heel and stalked in the opposite direction. Swinging her bag around her shoulders she wrenched (a little harder then intended) it open, and grabbed the blueprints. Sitting down she rolled the prints out flat, wondering and trying to work out where she had gotten lost in the first place.
"Damn I should have taken a right instead of a left," Joy grunted, before standing again and retracing her steps. "This would be so much easier with Sadness,"
Her chest twinged with guilt. She had promised her partner that she wouldn't go weaving back into the LTM, but she couldn't get the thought from her head that she had let Bing-Bong down, which (to her) consequently meant that she'd let Riley down. Joy stopped at the crossroads where she had made the wrong turn, and bit her lip, she could stop now, bury this memory and never look back...
She shook her head. "No," Joy memorised the next leg of her journey, rolled up her blueprints and slipped them back into her bag. "I'm not going to let either of them down. Come on Joy you can do this!" shouldering the drawstring bag she jutted out her chin and strode forwards into the unknown. Without knowing that her co-workers were quickly following from behind.
"This way guys!" Sadness lead the other three emotes through the winding passes of the LTM. The three emotions were feeling equally worried and scared of this new world. Fear had nearly passed out at the sight of the endless winding corridors, glittering with their colours, but some quiet words from Disgust had helped him calm and head along with them. Anger was trailing behind, his large hands in his pockets and his fingers drumming against the inside pocket of his suit trousers. He couldn't understand why Joy would put herself in this much danger to save an imaginary friend that they'd almost completely forgotten about. It made his blood boil just thinking about it. Did Joy know that they could loose everything if she put herself in danger?
He muttered to himself, trying to ease his rising frustration through the vast strings of curse-words (which he – now – knew and loved). Something made himself force his eyes up from the floor and to his shock and surprise, he saw that Fear's hand was tightly clutched in Disgust's, (maybe Disgust wasn't feeling to peachy about this situation either). They made their way around another corner, only to hear Sadness sigh forlornly.
"I think I have us lost," she whined.
(Anger noticed that has soon as they stopped Fear's and Disgust's hands instantly dropped apart.)
"Lost?" Fear squeaked, almost hiccuping with nerves.
Before they could get out of control Anger strode forwards, coming to stand next to Sadness. "Right," he clapped his large hands together to draw their attention. "We need plan B. Sadness has got us into the LTM we need to find a way to Joy," he paused. "Any ideas?"
Fear was about to open his mouth, but a familiar scream stopped them.
"JOY!" their concerned shout was unanimous. Without thinking the remaining four emotes tried to find the quickest way to the sound.
"NO!" it was Joy's voice again.
Somehow in the panic Fear had taken the lead, and started to take them down and through the winding passageways.
"How do you know where you're going?" Sadness called, desperately trying to keep up behind Anger's larger strides.
"You're not the only one who read the manuals," Fear replied, turning a sharp right and then a smoother left.
"JOY!" his shout left his mouth before he could stop himself. The other emotions skidded to a halt. To their surprise they had ended up at the edge of the towering cliff that housed the Memory Dump.
And Joy was hanging onto the edge for dear life.
"OUTA MY WAY!" Anger roared, as he charged forwards, and landed heavily on his chest as he grabbed onto Joy's hand. "I got ya Kid," he yelped in surprise as he slid forwards. "You kids gonna help me or what?"
Forced into action by the sound of his demand Disgust and Fear grabbed onto his shins, heaving him and Joy onto the ledge of the cliff. Sadness scuttled forwards to the cliff edge, and lent down, offering her hand to Joy.
"Joy take my hand!" she cried, desperation filling her voice.
"But the memory!" Joy was almost sobbing in fear. "It's the last one I have!"
"It's either you or the memory kid, and it looks like it's gonna be both if you don't let go!" Anger snapped, the fire on his head starting to burn.
"Joy come on!" Sadness urged. "Take my hand-"
"I can't!" to their shock Joy's eyes were full of tears. "It's her last one of him!"
"Oh Joy," Sadness gave her a bitter-sweet smile. "I know it's-"
"If I had just-"
"I know you two have gaff, but if I don't do something soon my arm is going to fall off!" Anger snapped, his flames reaching their peak. "Come on Joy!"
"Joy," Sadness tried again, and to Anger's shock she lowered herself dangerously far off the edge of the cliff.
"Fear I need your help up here!" Anger called to the shaking emotion. "Before Sadness throws herself off as well!"
Fear let go of his leg, scrambling forwards as he tried to stop Sadness from falling off the side of the pit. "Sadness what are you doing?" he cried, grabbing the back of Anger's shirt to anchor himself to the edge. Neither could see what the other emotion was doing from their position but Sadness seemed to ignore them. Leaning as far as she could she pushed forwards, her hand brushing past Joy's cheek as she grabbed for the memory.
"Sadness it's supposed to be a happy one!" Joy cried, trying to wrench it away from the other emotion, forgetting that Anger was struggling to hold her as she dangled off the edge of the cliff.
"And Riley will never be happy again if you don't let me take this from you!" Sadness finally snapped. "You've gone too far this time Joy. Let us help you!" without warning she snatched the emotion away from Joy, and Joy couldn't help but cry out as she saw blue tendrils of light soak up the yellow. With one swift movement Sadness rolled the memory across to Disgust and reached for Joy's hand. "Come on Joy, let us guide you,"
The words seemed finally ring true, and Joy grabbed Sadness' hand, allowing all four emotes to haul her up from the cliff. She collapsed on the ground, gasping and sobbing as she clutched the old canvas bag to her chest. The others stood back in shock at seeing their friend break down in such a way. Sadness was the first to responded. She sat down next to Joy and wrapped her arms around her slim figure, rocking the emotion back and forwards as Joy sobbed onto her shoulder.
"It was the last one," she shook in Sadness's arms'. "The last one. I managed to find it. The other one was fading quickly,"
"I know," Sadness soothed, rubbing her back gently with her hand, willing for Joy to have her glow back.
Disgust picked up the memory. Surprised when it didn't turn green as she touched it. She gently swiped her hand across the glass and watched as a giant pink elephant thing played with Riley in the garden at the old house. Fear came to stand with her, watching the memory as it replayed again under his touch. Anger joined them, his face twisted with confusion and his embers still crackling away on his head.
"All this for a memory?" he grunted.
"Not just any memory," Sadness replied, combing her hands through Joy's short hair. She was now sitting down on the edge of the cliff. Joy was curled up against her, shaking with silent sobs, and her face was pressed into Sadness's chest. "It's Riley's last memory of Bing-Bong,"
"Wait that weird imaginary creature that wanted to take her too the moon?" Realisation crossed over Disgusts face.
"The moon would not have been safe," Fear interrupted. "So many problems to overcome,"
To their surprise Sadness rolled her eyes at them. "Yes that one, Joy wouldn't be here now. He saved her life down in the Memory Dump,"
Joy shuddered against her and Sadness pulled her closer.
"He's gone?" Fear physically wilted, his tendril of hair falling against the back of his neck.
"I mean he was weird but I always kinda liked the guy," Anger jammed his hands into his pockets, scuffing at the ground with his shoe.
"That's not the point," Joy had finally managed to control her outburst, but was still curled up against Sadness. "I was trying to find the last memory that Riley had of him. This one's nearly burnt out," she pulled the other memory from her bag. The glow was fading, and it was fading fast. "He wanted to take her to the moon," she smiled, brushing her fingers against the fading thought. "I hoped that I'd be able to give him that last wish. As a thank-you for saving my life, but it looks like I've failed,"
Sadness hugged her tighter.
"No, no you haven't," Fear's voice caused them to look up. "Look I've got something to show you guys, and it might just help Joy with her problems too, but..." he trailed off, rubbing his hands together nervously. "But it'll be breaking quite a lot of rules," he twitched, tapping his foot nervously as the others looked at him expectantly.
Anger smirked. "Well we've already broken a heck load already, why don't we break some more kids?"
The group looked at each other, and then all looked at Joy, who was now standing, the bag slung over her back and her hand clasped in Sadness'.
"Joy?" Disgust prompted, still holding the glowing blue memory. "You do realise that this is a terrible idea, and I'm not just agreeing with Fear here. I mean this is possibly the. Worst. Idea. Ever. That we've ever had,"
"I can think of one more," Anger muttered, rubbing the top of his head. "So what's the plan?"
"We boldly go where some of us have gone before," Joy announced, tugging slightly on Sadness's hand. "Lead the way guys,"
Fear swallowed as he turned back to the towering shelves of the LTM, and Sadness joined him by his side. "So let's get to it,"
"What is this place?" Sadness asked, as they rounded a corridor and came face first to a door. Fear had easily lead the group through Dreamland Productions, and had taken them to a seemingly abandoned warehouse at the back of the complex. He was shaking profusely by the time they had reached the door, to the point that he couldn't even find the key for the lock.
"It's what I asked the techs to build," Fear muttered, trying to stop his hand from shaking as he tried to put the key into the lock.
"Let me do it," Anger growled, snatching the key from the tittering emotion and slamming it into the lock.
"Easy!" Fear hissed, wrenching Anger's hand away.
"What is wrong with you two?" the annoyance was evident in Disgust's voice. She pushed the pair away from the door and turned the key. To her surprise a control panel slid from the wall on the right side of the door.
PASSWORD
"Can you move please?" Fear asked, coming to stand in front of the panel. The others watched him curiously as he pressed the password into the lock. Several options came up, and Joy scanned the words quickly.
"Coma?!" she blurted, surprise lilting her voice.
"I got this built for a worst case scenario. I mean if Riley slipped into a coma the manuals suggested having a second base of operations. I got this made," he scrolled through the options, and came to a selection that read: REM reactivation. "This is only a Worst Case Scenario. Right now we're breaking every single rule in the book. But we need you okay Joy, you know what happens when the rest of us are left to deal with controlling Riley," as he finished his selection the door clicked open.
"Huh, I knew that you were a nerd," Anger grunted, as he saw the chunky computers lining the walls. There was a makeshift studio at the back of the room and a small camera on a stand with it's light blinking on and off. Fear ignored Anger's comment and made his way into the gadget filled room. Almost automatically he started to turn computers and machines on, causing the room to fill with a soft electrical hum.
"Joy could you hit that button next to the light switch?" Fear asked, as he pointed to a small red button on the side of the wall. Joy nodded and reached over, pressing the button on the wall. To her shock a memory projector slid down from the ceiling, illuminating the room in a soft white glow.
"You've been keeping this from us all this time?" Disgust didn't sound impressed, she crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at Fear.
Fear grinned weakly and twitched slightly as the others regarded him quietly.
"Well?"
"I think it's amazing," Joy murmured, bringing her bag up to her chest. "But what's it all for?"
"As I said, emergency situations," Fear rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "And I mean I know we're not in a situation as of now. But the way that you've been acting over the past few months I knew that I needed to help. It would become an emergency,"
"You've noticed?" Joy's face fell and her glow dimmed slightly, she glanced at Sadness for support and the shorter emote nodded, pressing a comforting hand against her arm.
"We all have Joy. I think Fear's right. I think you need to say good bye to Bing-Bong and make his last wish come true as well,"
Joy swallowed, her throat thickening with sudden tears. "How do I do that?"
"You talk to Riley in her sleep," Fear concluded, twitching again. "It's the only way that I could think of this working. With the memory projector you can use those two memories and explain to her why they're so important, even if she doesn't remember when she wakes up,"
"You're saying that we reveal ourselves too her?" Anger suddenly exploded, fire rising from the top of his head.
"No," Fear shook his head. "I'm saying that Joy speaks to her through a dream. That way Riley won't believe it and if she remembers it she'll think that it's a figment of her imagination," he paused, and glanced at Joy. "If that's okay,"
Joy swallowed her tears and nodded. "Lets do this,"
It took them some time to work out what they were going to say and how they were going to work their innovative idea out but after a hour (and some bickering they had managed to get it sorted). Fear was going to direct the camera, and other emotions were going to join in when they were needed. Joy was going to headline the main event, with any extra support if she so required it.
"Right you ready Joy?" Fear asked, from where he was standing behind the camera.
Joy swallowed and nodded. Stepping out in front of the rolling camera. "Hey Riley. You might not know me, but I know you. I'm one of your emotions. Feelings if you will," she paused, bouncing on her toes as she tried to work out what to say. "There are five of us, Sadness," she gestured for Sadness to come and join her.
Too her surprise she did. Smiling at the camera as she gave a little wave. "Hi,"
"Anger. He's not wanting to participate in this. He's getting-"
"I'm not stressed!" Anger's voice echoed from behind the camera, and there was a sound of a fist being thrown through a wall.
"Disgust," Fear swung around to Disgust (who was helping Anger get his hand out of the wall). "And Fear. He's directing the camera," Fear swung the camera around and grinned down the lens, before focusing it back onto Joy. "You may wonder why I'm doing this, why we're doing this. It's in memory of a friend. You might be too old to remember him, but he definitely remembered you," she nodded and Fear placed the fading blue memory into the memory projector. "His name was Bing-Bong and he was your imaginary friend. You used to play all the time. Back when you were young, in Minnesota," her voice trembled.
Sadness placed a hand on her arm, and trailed it down to her hand, where she knotted her fingers through Joy's. Joy gave her a watery smile.
"He always wanted to take you to the moon on the rocket ship that ran on songs," she and Sadness stood back so they showed the view of the two playing in the cardboard rocket. "He never managed to," tears started to leak from the corner of her eyes. "He was a good dear friend of yours Riley. He helped you through all those times when you were lonely, and you didn't realise," she nodded and gestured for Fear to put in the next memory. "And, I, I was wrong," she glanced down at Sadness, who looked up at her in surprise. Even Anger and Disgust had stopped trying to ease his fist from the wall. "I should have given you some time to be able to enjoy Sadness, because she's wonderful, in her own way,"
Sadness blushed furiously and tried to hide her face underneath her sweater.
"But I digress. Riley. We're in your head. And I wanted to give you this last memory of Bing-Bong. Because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here, and I don't think that Sadness would be either," Sadness squeezed her hand gently. "I want to say that he loved you Riles, we all do. Even Anger, cause he's a big softy under all that rage,"
Digust's favoured jacket nearly went up in flames.
Fear nodded, telling her it was time to wrap it up, as the camera was starting to run down.
"All I want to say is. Have these last dreams of him. Dream of the moon Riley. That's all he ever wanted to take you,"
Fear smiled and nodded, stopping the camera from recording and popping the precious tape from its holder. "We need to get going," he stated. "We're breaking all kind of rules. I mean I was super excited to see the backup room, but now panics started to set in," he shuddered. The tape nearly falling from his hands.
Strutting over from Anger (who now had managed to remove his fist from the wall and was cradling it gently) Disgust strode up to the panicking Fear and plucked the tape from his hands. She slipped the small cassette between her cleavage, causing Fear to blush furiously.
"We'd better go," Anger suggested. "I think someone's called the alarm. I mean we might be from HQ but I don't think that we'll be able to get away with this,"
"Anger's right," Joy agreed, snapping from her revere and joining Fear at the camera. "Did that play okay?"
Fear nodded, his eyes still transfixed on Disgust.
Joy rolled her eyes and nudged him in the ribs. "Come on Fear. We'd better get going,"
"Right!" Fear grinned nervously, a blush rising through his features. "Movement. Always a good idea," he nearly tripped over his own two feet as he stumbled from the chair.
"Guys I think I hear footsteps!" Sadness rang the alarm as several footsteps could be heard heading down the corridor. Joy froze for a moment, as panic gripped her, however it was Anger's movement that got her going again.
"Right we're out of here kids!" Anger decided.
"I wonder how this is going to go," Sadness sighed, shaking her head and plucking the memory from it's place in the projector, and slipping into the orb Joy's bag.
"You want Anger?!" there was a yell from the corridor. "I'll show you anger!"
Disgust snorted. "Not well, if it's going to go like that,"
For once Joy had to agree with the green-tempered emotion. She wondered how smooth their ride home was going to be.
Somehow they had managed to talk their way out of being arrested, and had been granted a safe passage for the way home. Joy had made sure that all of the other four emotes were safely back in their rooms at HQ, before she allowed herself to do what she'd been wanting to do these past few months. Sighing she plucked the large mug of tea, and the tape from the table in the kitchen of the living quarters and headed downstairs to the console. She sat on the commanders chair, taking a sip from her tea and placing it next to her feet. Slipping the cassette from it's protective case she placed it in the player. A yawn overcame her as she started to watch the tape reply.
"I thought I was going to be on Dream Duty," Sadness's voice interrupted her thoughts, startling her to the point where she swung around on the chair. In the little emote's arms' were the bundles of papers that she'd collected over the last few months in her desperate attempt to find Riley's last memory of Bing-Bong.
Sadness blushed when she realised that she'd been caught.
"I was going to throw these in the Memory Dump next time we went over to Long Term," she explained, moving over to the console and dropping the rolls of files into the nearby bin.
"Sadness you don't need too-"
"I do," Sadness replied softly, coming to stand next to Joy. "As Fear said, we need you in top shape. We're nothing without you, Riley's nothing without you,"
Joy felt overwhelmed from Sadness's confession and gave her a watery smile.
Sadness smiled back standing on her tip toes to press a kiss against her cheek.
"It's good to see you smiling again," Sadness smiled encouragingly, before her expression was replaced by a yawn. "Sorry,"
Joy gave her that toothy grin of hers, it was almost infectious, and it made Sadness smile with her. "You should head to bed Sadness, you're shattered," Sadness nodded, pressing a quick kiss to her lips before heading up to her bedroom in the living quarters.
"I'm nothing without you," Joy whispered, as she pressed her fingers against her lips, relishing in the tingle left from the soft peck. She turned back to the monitor and watched as recall memories played on the screen, all displaying the moon.
"You head to bed kid," she turned as she heard Anger's soft voice from behind. "I'll finish up in here," he was popping various moon memories into the projector queue.
"Are you sure?" Joy asked, feeling her eyelids drift closed.
Anger nodded. "Now get out of here. I think Sadness is struggling to deal with her own problems."
Joy gave him a weary smile. She stood, yawning again as she plucked her tea from the floor. As she passed Anger she gave him a swift kiss on the top of his flat head, before heading up the stairs to her quarters.
She didn't see Anger smile, as she made her way up the stairs, yawning at almost every step. A good night's rest would sort the kid out, and then everything would revert back to normal in the morning.
He hoped.
That's the end of part one of the "Lost" series. I wanted to focus on how all of the emotions depend on each other for support, (don't ask me where the pairings came from, they were just written as they went along!
Here's the synopsis of Part 2, which will be posted as soon as it's ready:
Ambivalence (Part 2 of Loss Series)
When Joy is arrested by the Mind Control from Long Term Memory for breaking every rule in the book, Anger realises that he has to break even more rules to get her out. Even if that means roping in the help of Mom and Dad.
Hope you enjoyed. Please review and fave if you feel the need too!
Ta Ta!
LostLyra