As Stephanie perched next to her unconscious friend on his bed, she let her gaze drift around the room.
She saw that Sportacus was in the middle, she was on the left, and Robbie was on the right.
Her "room" was pink and had all her things from her uncle's house, but Robbie's side had only a TV, his chair, and a dresser of clothing.
" Where are your things, Robbie?" she asked her newly reformed friend.
" I left everything at my lair, because I have to provide for the two of you now, so I am going to sell my inventions. I work on them there." Robbie replied, brushing back a lock of blond hair from the elf's peaceful face.
Stephanie leaned down and gently kissed the elf's nose.
Robbie made a gagging sound, then looked down in surprise when Sportacus shuddered, and slowly opened his eyes.
" Leave this to me, Stephy." Robbie whispered urgently. " I know how to deal with sports elves coming out of a blood rage."
Stephanie slid off the bed and stood out of the now wide-awake elf's sight.
Sportacus made a low growling sound in his throat as he looked up at Robbie, who carefully touched the tips of his ears and looked into the bottomless depths of his dazzling blue eyes.
Then Robbie, in a soft, sing-song voice, told Sportacus about, well, Sportacus, ending with: " This elf is a true hero, and…" he looked expectantly at the still form of the elf, gazing fixedly up at him.
" And that hero was me." Sportacus said, in such a thick accent that it was hard to understand him.
" No, IS you." Robbie said gently, but firmly.
Sportacus shook his head and struggled to speak clearly.
" I have no crystal."
Stephanie took the twin halves of the crystal from her bag and handed them to the elf.
Sportacus took them and in a moment, had them fixed together, and back in place on his chest, in the number ten clasps.
" Now you are a hero again." Robbie beamed down at the athlete, but his smile vanished as Sportacus slowly shook his head.
" No, I am not worthy to be called a hero no longer, I have been touched by the blood rage, and I am fearful and bonded. No, my hero days are over."
Sportacus closed his eyes in resignation.
Robbie looked at Stephanie in despair.
Sportacus's crystal suddenly blinked to life.
Sportacus leapt to his feet, but swayed unsteadily.
Stephanie rushed to his side, but he had already righted himself and dashed out the door.
" So, not a hero, hmm?" Robbie mused, grinning to himself. " Born a hero, always a hero I always say."
Stephanie looked at him with a small smile. " I certainly hope so." She said.
" What did he mean by bonded, Robbie?" she looked at him for an answer.
Robbie shifted his feet uncomfortably.
" What he means is just what you would think; he is emotionally attached to someone, and he can't break that tie, he is bound to them for life. Usually this happens only when elves join together as mates, but can happen if an elf is broken, traumatized usually, and wants comfort and care for the remainder of his shortened life. Er, I think he bonded to you."
Stephanie just stared at Robbie for a moment, then began to cry.
" I want the old Sportacus back! I hate you Robbie! I HATE YOU!" she ran, screaming into Robbie, pounding her fist on him.
He merely bowed his head and let her vent her frustration and rage on him.
Suddenly, there was a swishing sound and they were both scooped up into a pair of strong arms.
They were pried apart as Sportacus forcibly threw Robbie across the room.
" Was he hurting you?" the hero asked.
His eyes had a reddish tinge to them.
" No, No Sportacus!" Stephanie shrieked as Robbie let out an unearthly howl of pain as he suddenly was raised into the air, writhing in agony.
Sportacus let his magic torture Robbie a moment longer, before releasing his breath and Robbie collapsed to the floor, groaning in misery.
Stephanie was frightened, and Sportacus immediately hugged her tightly to him, crooning softly in her ear, trying to calm her.
" He was not hurting me, I just want you back the way you used to be, Sportacus!" Stephanie sobbed, causing the elf holding her to whimper as he heard his full name, and tried to settle her.
" I can never be exactly the same, Stephanie, but you can fix me, I know you can."
Sportacus held her until she asked to be put down, and then he stepped back from her, glancing fearfully from Robbie to Stephanie.
Robbie slowly got up, and came over carefully.
" So, you still can save people." Robbie stated, edging closer to the nervous elf.
Sportacus nodded, backing away from Robbie into the wall.
Robbie tried to shush Sportacus's frightened whimpers as he carefully walked up to him.
" What are you doing, Robbie?" Stephanie asked, worried.
" Making sure of something." Robbie answered, not bothering to hide his own fear of the powerful elf.
Robbie slowly reached out and touched Sportacus, then ran his hands all over him, finally stopping after repeating the gesture twice more.
He breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to Stephanie.
" Are you sure you can handle him yourself? I mean, he's yours now, and if is any trouble you will have to train him; he's not human you know." Robbie looked concerned at the small girl in front of him.
" Don't worry, Robbie, I had to deal with him before he regained his speech, and I was just fine. He's not an animal, he's my friend." She smiled reassuringly at both of them, as Sportacus was edging around Robbie to reach Stephanie.
" We will have to get him used to being separated from you, without making a fuss." Robbie said, looking at Sportacus as he stood behind Stephanie, defiantly glaring at the ex-villain.
" That will be hard to do." Stephanie stated, looking at Robbie worriedly. " I have been working on that for a while now, and we have not made much progress, have we, Sporty?" she asked, leaning backwards into him.
" And he needs to get used to his own name." Robbie said with a frown. " No one else is going to call him by anything else, and we can't have him freaking out all the time."
Stephanie looked unhappy, but nodded.
" And we need to discuss a lot more of what taking care of him till we get him restored back to normal will mean. We ARE going to get him back to normal, or die trying, Stephanie." Robbie said to the pink-haired girl who was squeezing Sportacus's hand tightly.
" I won't ever be 'normal'." Sportacus said slowly. " So don't even try."
Both Robbie and Stephanie were shocked at that response from their formerly always cheerful and happy-go-lucky hero, and both felt as if this was going to be a long haul to get him back to normal.
" Well, we may as well get used to the fact we are going to be all working very hard at this." Robbie stated. " But without lunch, we won't get very far."
Stephanie looked puzzled, then laughed as she realized it was indeed time for lunch.
She walked over to the stove as Sportacus shadowed her, and together they made chicken salad sandwiches for them all to eat.
Sportacus ate his minus the manaoyise, and Robbie swallowed his trying not to make disgusted faces at the lack of sugary sweetness, but overall they survived the meal without any major mishaps.
Stephanie washed the dishes afterwards, and Sportacus dried them and put them away.
Robbie sat back and watched the two of them for a while, then went outside to his lair.
As soon as Robbie left, Sportacus relaxed and began exploring their new home.
" It has everything my airship ever had, plus all your stuff." Sportacus said wonderingly, flipping and cartwheeling all over the large house.
" Yes, Sportacus, I think we will all be quite happy here." Stephanie said, forcing herself to speak the hero's name, wincing as he tensed at the sound of it.
He glanced at her, a pitiful look on his face. " Don't call me that, please?" he pleaded, tilting his head to the side as he spoke.
Stephanie shook her head. " I'm sorry, Sportacus, but Robbie is right; you have to get used to it, and no one is going to hurt you now, so you don't have to be afraid anymore."
Sportacus shivered, and then moved closer to her. " I'm still scared." he whispered, crouching down beside her and laying his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes as she stroked his ears gently.
" It's okay, Sportacus, you will feel better soon." She murmured, gritting her teeth as he flinched again, drawing in a quick breath.
" I-I can't help it, I feel scared so bad every time I hear it." Sportacus whimpered.
" Shhh." Stephanie stroked him a moment longer, then he stood up, tugging her in the direction of the back door.
" Let's go outside." He said hopefully.
Stephanie grinned up at him, and he scooped her up with a glad cry and hurtled out the door, coming to an abrupt halt as they both stared at the huge backyard.
It was a perfect playground/sports arena, with everything an athlete could ever want, even a large in-ground pool.
There was also a tall privacy fence, and when Sportacus touched it, he let out a shrill scream and was thrown backwards from the electric shock.
Stephanie rushed to his side to comfort him, commenting that Robbie sure was being careful not to let anyone inside the fence.
Sportacus shook his head, then tried to say something, but it was so garbled Stephanie was unable to understand him.
She rubbed his arms and hands briskly, as they seemed rather numb to her, and he finally stopped shaking so bad after a while.
" He-he has that to keep me in." Sportacus shakily explained to an astounded Stephanie. " I am very sensitive to electric shock, and it is running all through the inside of the fence. He don't want me to get out."
Stephanie didn't know what to say, and after a moment Sportacus got to his feet and grinned down at her.
" Well, let's not just sit here and waste a perfectly good afternoon sulking about. Wanna play?"
Stephanie jumped up and ran away, shouting, " You're it!" over her shoulder as she did so.
Sportacus tore off after her, and they had a great time chasing each other all over the large backyard, in and around all the other sports equipment and courts.
They then played tennis, and soccer, and were playing basketball when Robbie threw open the backdoor and strode into the backyard, grinning broadly.
Sportacus shrank back a bit as Robbie strode up, but managed to grin back at Robbie and watch as he turned to Stephanie, seemingly overjoyed about something.
" I did it! I am a GENIUS!" Robbie crowed, scooping the shocked girl and spinning her around.
Sportacus snatched her from him, and looked questionably at Robbie, who recovered himself and beamed at the two of them in front of him.
" I got a hold of the authorities, and because of who I am, you are going to remain a free elf the rest of your life." Robbie announced to an astonished Sportacus.
" Really?" Sportacus breathed.
" Really." Robbie confirmed with a wink.
Sportacus looked at Robbie, then gave him a small smile.
Robbie was ecstatic.
Then Sportacus hopped away and held out a ping-pong paddle.
" Table Tennis?" he inquired.
After that, things settled into a routine of sorts.
Sportacus woke up at dawn, tiptoed carefully around to not wake up Stephanie or Robbie, and went outside and exercised, or saved things, as it happened.
Stephanie woke up a bit later, and Robbie last of all.
Sportacus always had a healthy breakfast ready for them, but Robbie always shunned most of it and ate doughnuts or rolls or something.
Then Stephanie washed breakfast dishes while Sportacus dried them and Robbie headed off to his lair to build and sell more things he refused to show either of them.
After breakfast, Stephanie would head outside to play with her friends, and Sportacus would hang around nearby, joining in sometimes, saving things, and searching for parts of his airship.
When lunch arrived, Stephanie would send a reluctant Sportacus over to Robbie with a slice of cake and popcorn, and would make smoothies and sandwiches for the two of them.
Sportacus would streak back like lightning, and then they would invite the other kids into their backyard to play on their stuff.
At supper, they would head over to Stephanie's uncle's house, and eat there.
Sportacus and Robbie were never the most comfortable there, but both cheerfully ate and were careful as they did so.
It seemed to both of them the mayor's house was just there to cause trouble for either one or both of them with something.
One time Robbie was looking for the pudding in the fridge, and smacked his head into the freezer door as Sportacus opened it to look for frozen grapes.
Another time Sportacus was carrying all the dishes to the sink and slipped on a patch of water on the floor.
He did straddle splits to prevent himself from falling on his face and dropping the dishes, and had to endure the sight of Robbie barely containing his laughter at the normally unfazed hero looking flustered at his sudden slip.
Things continued in this fashion for several months until school started.
By this time it seemed to both Robbie and Stephanie that their blue clad friend was pretty much back to normal again.
He didn't show any signs of his earlier trauma, and was about the town helping as he always was before.
Robbie was a little nervous that Sportacus might be stressed when Stephanie was gone all day, but weeks passed and he hardly ever saw the elf around, except when trouble happened.
Stephanie reported the same, and both were satisfied that he was not clingy at all anymore and could operate on his own.
The first day was the only day he stayed near the school, but after Robbie teased for acting as if he was scared Stephanie would up and disappear, he never showed up there except when needed.
He did always walk Stephanie home now, and hung around more after school, but it didn't bother anyone at all.
She once asked him what he did during the day, but he never got to answer because he had to rush off to save Stingy from falling.
Stephanie still perched on his back and read stories to him and Robbie as he did pushups, and they still washed supper dishes tighter, but since they lived together that was to be expected.
Robbie and Stephanie both figured if he ever got another airship he would resume living there.
So things continued for almost half the school year, neither Robbie nor Stephanie noticing that their strong and cheerful friend was looking more and more pale, and acting a bit sickly and weak.
They both were too busy with their normal lives and just assumed he was now doing what he always had done, and stayed out of the way unless called or needed, since they spotted him flipping around every once in a while.
At night he was always bouncy ands happy to see them, hiding it well through sheer enthusiasm to se them after the whole day, and they never noticed his greeting gradually getting less boisterous.
One day in the middle of the school year, Robbie decided to go home for once.
As he opened the door to their home, he suddenly had the instinct to be silent.
He slowly opened the door and peered in.
The lights were all on, and he could hear a soft mournful sound from the end of the large room.
He carefully crept over, noticing with alarm that Stephanie's usually perfectly made bed looked, well, odd.
To his alarm, he could see a familiar blue cap just showing over the mound of clothing and blankets on her bed.
Robbie stealthy snuck along, worried because Sportacus had not even heard him yet.
The busy elf always heard everything, and was never able to be surprised like this.
Robbie listened, and could hear his muscular friend moaning softly, and whispering Stephanie's name over and over to himself.
Robbie stood rooted to the spot, dread seeping over him as images of the past few weeks flashed through his head.
Sportacus watching Stephanie go to school, a forlorn and lonely expression on his face.
Sportacus flipping aimlessly about the quiet little town.
Sportacus greeting them when they both came in at night, exuberant beyond words, but slowly getting more and more sluggish.
Sportacus's face seemed suddenly pale, and his breathing more raspy then he remembered.
Suddenly clear to him was the condition of the town hero, and Robbie cursed himself for not noticing sooner.
Of course he was still attached to Stephanie, and was missing her terribly every second of the day.
Not wanting to upset them by his attachment, he tried to hide it by staying away and pretending to be normal.
And instead coming to stay still most of the day, wrapped in Stephanie's dresses and blankets, and cry his loneliness and longing for her out.
Robbie realized that neither he nor Stephanie were paying much attention to the elf anymore, and it must have seemed to Sporatcus like they no longer wanted him around.
It must have seemed that way since they always tried to encourage him to stay away from them and do things on his own more often.
Robbie approached the whimpering form of the elf, and gently tried to pull back the blankets from his head.
After a short struggle, he managed to pry him from them, a feat which should have been next to impossible.
Sportacus kept his eyes clamped closed, and made no move at all to acknowledge Robbie's presence besides the shivering in his body.
Robbie gently touched his cheek, and was worried when Sportacus flinched away from him.
The elf was cool to the touch when he should have been warm.
" Sportacus, it's just me, Robbie Rotten. What are you doing? Why are you not out exercising and playing?" Robbie questioned, removing the blue hat and stroking his damp, sweaty hair.
No response.
In fact, Robbie couldn't remember the short athletes saying much of anything at all here lately.
He just smiled and listened.
Robbie gulped, and tried again.
" Sporty, come on, you know you should be out doing crazy stunts and stuff in the sun; you'll die doing this all the time."
Sportacus remained still and silent, though his muscles spasmed once or twice, making the elf grind his teeth together.
Robbie scooped him up, marveling at how light he actually was, and carried him over to the back door.
Opening it awkwardly, he dumped the unresponsive elf unceremoniously down the steps and out into the sun.
Sportacus lay sprawled on the grass, his mustache drooping, and eyes still closed.
His finger tips fluttered and his head lolled to one side; other then that he may as well have been dead.
Robbie rubbed his limp ears and stroked his hair, talking softly to him.
After awhile Robbie stood up, frustrated with the lack of response.
He turned and stalked to the steps, then turned around feeling Sportacus's eyes on him.
Robbie couldn't bear to look into those accusing blue eyes, and turned and fled into the house.
Robbie rummaged around till he found an apple, then headed back outside, only to find that Sportacus was completely gone.
Robbie ran all over the yard, frantic.
He was sure he had made the fence elf-proof, but it seemed he was wrong.
Sportacus was smarter then he thought, and had escaped anyways.
But why?
Why would he run from him like this?
What had he done to make the elf so resentful towards him?
Or was he just upset that his secret had been discovered and that now he was going to be pitied all over again.
Robbie had a bad feeling that that was the case, and that the superhero wanted more then anything to be normal again, and that being considered needing taken care of hurt, when he wanted to care for them.
Robbie sadly went into the house, and nearly did a double take.
The whole house was spick and span again, unlike the mess Robbie had just made, and all of the blankets and clothing looked as if they had never been touched.
Sportacus had obviously been cleaning up while Robbie had been panicking in the backyard, but where was he now?
Robbie decided to go back to his lair and talk to the elf that night.
Night after night Robbie tried to do this, but every night, he was delayed until after the hero went to bed, and it was no use trying to wake him up.
Robbie did not tell Stephanie about his discoveries in a hope that Sportacus would allow him to speak to him when he saw that Robbie never told on him, and in a few weeks it worked.
Robbie rushed home after work and got there right as Stephanie was leaving, telling a disappointed Sportacus he didn't need to come on this sleepover; they would be fine on their own.
After she left, Robbie looked at Sportacus who watched out the window his back to Robbie.
"Sportacus?" Robbie questioned.
Sportacus then turned to Robbie with dull eyes.
" She don't need me anymore, does she?" he asked in a soft, yet harsh voice.
Robbie tried not to looked frightened as the elf's face looked pale and hard to him, and his eyes, though dull, still had a resentment to them that made Robbie flinch.
" Yes she does, she is just growing up and trying to give you your space back." Robbie said gently.
" You don't want me either." Sportacus continued, as though Robbie had never spoken.
Robbie choked, the hugged the elf tightly to him.
The elf was cold, and did not return the hug like he normally would have done.
" You just think I am your pet, and need trained and cared for, that's all." Sportacus said in a flat voice.
" No, Sportacus we need you to save us and help us." Robbie told him, refusing to let go.
" You put electric wire to keep me in, you brush my hair for me, you make my meals for me, you tell me whether I can go outside or not, you won't let me go out into the rain very often, you tell me when to go away, and you tell me I am healing when I am not." Sportacus spat bitterly.
Robbie was quiet, realizing that they had indeed been treating the powerful elf like a pet, instead of the superhero he was.
They gave him no respect at all.
Robbie dropped his arms from around the elf, and backed away, his head bowed.
He did not know what to say, and they both stood there in silence for a while.
" I know how to break the bond." Robbie finally spoke what he had never wanted to say, for fear it would upset the elf.
" Then break it." Sportacus said shortly.
Robbie went to his lair, and proceeded to mix up the potent for breaking the bond Sportacus had to Stephanie.
Then he poured it over the head of the elf, and closed his ears to the shrieks of agony that resulted as the elf was floored by the powerful magic in the fluid.
Robbie walked away, and spent the night in his lair.
The next morning, he walked out to find that the airship was up in the sky, the house that had once stood was gone, and Stephanie coming out of her uncle's house.
Robbie explained the day before's happenings to her, and she nodded slowly, her eyes bright with tears.
" I can't believe how we treated him." She whispered softly.
She then proceeded to tell Robbie that Sportacus had once told her that even though sports elves needed human companionship, being bonded to a human would harm them.
Robbie knew that was true from experience now.
Suddenly, exciting music played, and swishing sounds were heard as there was a soft thud behind them.
They turned around to see Sportacus, in his full glory, standing there grinning at them.
" Hi guys! What's up?" he asked cheerfully, easily turning a cartwheel around them.
" Hi Sportacus!" Stephanie greeted him enthusiastically. " I was just going off to school."
" Okay then." Sportacus grinned down at her. " You don't want to be late."
Stephanie waved and ran off down the street.
Sportacus watched her for a moment, then turned to Robbie.
" So what are you doing out here?" he asked seriously.
" Just enjoying the normalcy of things around here." Robbie said, looking carefully at the superhero.
Sportacus nodded, but did not say a word.
Robbie looked into those bright blue eyes, and felt a wave of calm wash over him.
" Thanks Robbie." Sportacus said, and then flipped off down the street.
Robbie grinned as he watched him, then took a deep breath.
" You're welcome." He whispered as the blue elf disappeared from view.