Sadness
It was no secret that Riley hated being called a chicken. But really, who didn't? To be considered as such brings ridicule and all-around bad attention, and nobody ever wants that. Not to mention, being afraid all the time meant missing out on a lot of potentially really cool and fun things! Things that Disgust and Joy would much of the time urge Riley into.
But Fear had always been there. Not in a way that was intended to make Riley bored, or sad, but just to remind her that it's better to be safe than sorry…
Fear was resilient in his standing on most situations he got them all out of, whether they were obvious dangers or simply precautions. Keeping Riley—all of them—safe was his concern, his purpose.
But, when the danger had passed and he would look back to the others, he would feel his insides fall and his eyes find the ground. Because he was the reason Riley was unhappy, he was the reason her peers, her friends, mocked her…
For being a chicken.
Fear didn't like being afraid all of the time, either. But he knew better than anyone how important it was to be cautious. And he would spend hours of time alone, on Dream Duty or just lying awake at night, convincing himself that he was doing the right thing by all of them even as silent tears ran down his cheeks.
III
Rainbows were supposed to be happy.
Joy had always loved rainbows, had always admired them through Riley's wide eyes. She would count the colors and sometimes try to find the end, smile up at them in thanks to the promises they held.
They were not the same anymore. Now, they held memories of sweet smiles and kind eyes, and a whisper of take her to the moon for me…
Joy would always cry when she saw a rainbow, nowadays. Sadness understood, because while she hadn't been there, the absence of their third party on the last leg of their quest must have been glaringly obvious to her. She didn't yet know what had happened, but something had definitely gone wrong. Joy was't ready to talk, wouldn't be for a while, but Sadness was always there.
The first time they found Riley outside after a rainstorm, Sadness had offered to drive, while the others looked on, uneasy and uncomprehending. But Joy refused. She took control of the console with an enthusiasm she had never known before. Riley thought this rainbow was absolutely beautiful…
Take her to the moon for me…
Joy would be damned if she let either of them down now.
III
Disgust had never felt so useless! there was never a reason for her to make control to the extent that Joy did. She couldn't make Riley laugh or skip or smile.
Joy would know what to do.
She wasn't an optimist, either. Disgust was fully aware of all of the things that could go wrong for Riley without the upbeat emotion guiding her actions. She could make enemies, fall in with the wrong crowd, learn to hate…
Joy would know what to do.
They put in a valiant effort, her and Anger and Fear. But they couldn't compete. They could only make it worse, dig Riley an even deeper hole to fall into.
Joy would know what to do.
I'm not Joy.
III
Anger only ever really wanted one thing, and that was for Riley to be treated fairly. People were so fickle, so self absorbed, and the only one that was ever really, truly watching out for her was herself (with their ever vigilant help, of course).
But then, things fell apart. Everything was off balance and Riley was suffering, and there was nothing he could do about it…
Because it was their fault.
Her main emotion was gone. Her personality was in shambles and the girl was falling apart at the seams because she couldn't figure out something that she would never understand.
It isn't your fault, kid.
And then the idea. The idea. That had been his idea. It fell in with his way of doing things. He would have reacted the same on any other day, too. But any other day, Joy would have been there to make the situation better, to convince him that they didn't have to run from it, they could fix it..
But no. This time was all him. Poor Riley barely made it off of that bus in time as it was, and all of the turmoil she went through before that…
That was't fair to her. Not at all.
I'm sorry, kid. I failed you.
A/n: Well, this chapter was sad. Duh. They won't all be like this, obviously, but I felt sadness was such an important part of the story and really, it was generally pretty easy to write this one. Hope you like:) I should be able to update this pretty quickly.