So... today (March 14th, 2011) I had a really, really cruddy day at school and at home... so, I thought I'd cheer myself up by beginning a new story!

This story was inspired by Neil Patrick Harris and his characterizations of Blowhole and Horrible. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog belongs to Joss Whedon and his peeps, and the Penguins of Madagascar is owned by Dreamworks and Nickelodeon.

Now... onto the action! Let the exposition begin!

Is it possible to have everything you ever wanted and nothing at all – all at the same time?

Was it a gain or a loss to have your greatest dream realized at the cost of your greatest love?

But what if said dream really isn't all it's cracked up to be? Is it still worth it?

These were the questions that had lately plagued the great mind of the not-so-good Dr. William 'Billy' Heilman – much better known as the infamous Dr. Horrible. Even now, as he sat alone in his lab, he knew he should be working on that mind-switching beam for his latest mission for the ELE – the Evil League of Evil – but he really didn't have much energy for such matters today. Something was amiss in his brilliant mind, and it took all his willpower to simple not think about it.

Besides, why did he care about the beam anyway? Latest mission – ha! The beam was his mission. He wasn't even going to be using it… it was truly Professor Normal's mission to carry out. But – as usual – Dr. Horrible had gotten the thankless task of making whatever gadget was necessary for whoever in the ELE had gotten assigned the cool part – carrying out the evil deed. The others said it was this way so he could finish sharpening his wickedness-skills before he was considered 'qualified' for the big leagues... screw that! He was already in the 'big leagues' – he'd made in on the board, hadn't he? Even so, what truly irked him was that every time his machines were used for some big operation, the other villain using said machine claimed to the public that it was their own creation. Dr. Horrible was fully aware that he was working for villains, and that's just what villains do... but it was his invention, dammit!

Dr. Horrible was snapped out of his reverie when he heard a door open and close. His head snapped up.

"Moist." He greeted with a lazy nod. His damp sidekick waved with his free hand – he was holding a small paper bag full of groceries.

"Hey, doc." Moist said, setting the bag down on a table. "I got the celery you wanted, and some ramen noodles – hey, shouldn't you be working on that mind-ray for Prof Normal? I thought the last parts came in yesterday."

"They did." Dr. Horrible replied simply. "I'm just tired, that's all."

There was a long silence as Moist silently opened the doctor's mini-fridge and put the celery inside. Moist knew he'd been acting this way for quite a while now... ever since the incident at the city hall. Well, he'd had enough. Moist finally decided it was time to confront the doctor – sidekick or not, they were still friends.

"Look, dude..." Moist said, shutting the fridge door, "It's been two years since you got in the ELE, and you haven't done a single thing since that bank robbery we did for your initiation. You know, I was talking with Bait and Switch the other day, and they said that the Prof said that Bad Horse himself said that the only reason you're getting these lousy mini-missions is because you're not showing any initiative – no enthusiasm is the way he put it. What I'm trying to say is… you've finally gotten what you've always wanted. You are in the ELE; you have the means for any evil deed your mind thinks up – what gives?"

"I don't know, Moist." Dr. Horrible said, rubbing his temple.

"It's still about her, isn't it?"

"That's enough!" the doctor suddenly shouted. Moist flinched – he really wasn't the gutsiest guy in the world, and he really hated it when people yelled at him.

Still, Moist knew he had to help his friend, so he swallowed his trepidation and gave a last piece of advice.

"All I'm saying is... she's gone now. There's no bringing her back... maybe it's time to start being less of Billy and more of Dr. Horrible."

Then Moist left the room, blushing a bit underneath his perpetual beads of sweat.

Even though he was gone, he certainly got Dr. Horrible thinking again. Deep down, he knew Moist was right – if he ever wanted to become a great villain he had to get past this depression… but he knew he couldn't. He never would – after all, Penny had been the first girl he'd ever loved, the first woman to accept him as he was (admittedly, she never knew about Dr. Horrible, only Billy… but still.) What he really hated was the lingering question that everyone seemed to know the answer to except for him: who had really killed her – Captain Hammer or Dr. Horrible?

Once again, he weighed the circumstances: on one hand, the death ray had been Dr. Horrible's invention and he'd been fully aware that if the thing was overloaded it would explode – he'd been aware that Penny was somewhere close, but not aware she was actually in the room... he'd told Captain Hammer not to pull that trigger, doing so wouldn't hurt him in the least and would cause the overloaded ray to combust... still, Captain Hammer had obstinately pulled that trigger, and Penny had been hit by the flying shrapnel...

Dr. Horrible could feel something warm and wet dripping down his face. At first, he almost thought Moist had simply re-entered the room… then, he realized, it was his own tear. He wiped it away – not an easy feat, with his rubber evil-ness gloves – he was a super-villain, super-villains don't cry… he tried to think evil thoughts: what good had come of Penny's death?

Well, for one, he was in the Evil League of Evil. Bad Horse was under the impression – as was the rest of the world – that Dr. Horrible had actually planned to kill Penny, and that had counted as his murder – his act of true malevolence that he'd needed to gain entrance to the ELE.

Another thing… well, seriously, what chance had he really had with Penny, anyway? He was Dr. Horrible – she liked to volunteer at freaking homeless shelters! Even if she wanted to be with Billy, she'd have found out about Dr. Horrible soon enough and that would be the end of that. Yeah, she'd always been quite the goody-goody, but in actuality, her innocence and optimism had been what Billy and Dr. Horrible always loved about her. He couldn't help but believe that there would have been nothing stopping them from being together if she hadn't been such a goody-two-shoes… maybe, in some sort of alternate universe where she wasn't quite so nice, they'd have been together a long time ago – or at least still alive...

Wait a minute…

Alternate universe... now there was an idea... but was it possible?

He smiled. Duh. When you have a PhD in horribleness, everything is possible.

I promise it'll get more interesting next chapter, I just wanted to update what's been going on with Dr. H since the end of the movie, and also fill in my readers if they haven't seen the Sing-Along Blog yet.

Review!