A look into Kit's thoughts during and after the episode "Last Horizons" (the episode where Baloo goes off to prove that the land Panda-la exists). You really have to have seen this episode to get the latter half of this one-shot.
Talespin and related characters copyright Disney. Used without permission, no intent to sell.
Kit woke up in a sweat, sitting up in bed and grasping the sheets, as if clutching fabric would give certain indication of reality.
Thankfully, it did.
He gasped for breath, waiting for the adrenaline to wear off. He had once again been stirred awake by a nightmare.
Normally, Baloo would sleep through his night terrors; Kit had developed a way to keep from crying out from the torments inside of his mind. Before, when he and Baloo had just met, Baloo would be knocked out of his bed from the cries that Kit would wake up with.
After a couple of hits and misses, Kit had somehow managed to wake himself up faster to stop the screams from carrying into the real world.
That didn't mean the nightmares hurt any less, though.
They were untranslatable to the real world, which also made Baloo knowing about them a problem: Kit couldn't explain—or talk about—any of his nightmares. He knew them by emotions, mostly, and they were emotions he wished he would never have to relive again.
Some revolved around his times in the orphanage. When he was younger, he lived in East Burgeon Children's Home, and most of the time it had been worse than living on the streets. He and some of the older children were constantly berated, mistreated and neglected upon, as most adoptive parents had no interest in a subject that could not be molded to their standards.
He was only five at the time.
By the age of nine, he had had enough of the harassment and ran away. He managed to last through the summer and fall, but by winter he was regretting leaving the shelter the orphanage had offered him. While East Burgeon Bay did not snow, it didn't need to: without much protection, living through nights that dipped to the mid-thirties on a frequent basis was not very manageable.
That was when he had run into the Air Pirates.
It was more like snooping around a bar at the wee hours for some warmth, and being caught trying to steal some peanuts, but the meeting had given him an instant bed upon the Iron Vulture.
Everything came with a price, however.
Most of his nightmares revolved around the brutality he witnessed and endured being a member of the pirate gang. Innocent people robbed and hurt; his own punishment for even looking at somebody wrong. His shoulder had been dislocated by Captain Karnage for simply asking when dinner was.
He had the misfortune to ask after a failed pillage.
He had decided he needed to leave the pirates when he witnessed his first murder by Karnage and his men. It had been a simple pillage that had gone haywire when someone tried to be a hero and pulled a shotgun from behind the counter of a bank.
Kit had been close enough to see the life leave that same fated hero's eyes, while Kit's own eyes were hardened by the image.
Normally the Air Pirates did not murder people in cold blood. It was not any conciliation to what they did do, by any means, but Kit was certain there was not a guilty conscience among the entire crowd during the party the pirates threw that night in celebration—except his.
The feelings that came from those events haunted Kit like memories, and terrorized him during many slumbers within the safety of his bed at Higher for Hire. On the nights he did cry out, Baloo was there in an instant to comfort him, with no idea of the horrors Kit had been witness to in his young life.
Kit would never be able to voice into words his appreciation for finding somebody like Baloo. He was the parent Kit had never had the chance to have, and the most important figure in his life; he had never imagined someone could love him unconditionally, even after being honest about his past.
Well, honest in what he had told Baloo, anyway.
Details about living in an orphanage that beat you, or with Pirates that murdered people, were left out. But Baloo was certainly not dumb in a street-sense: Kit knew he had at least some idea of what it took to cause Kit to run way from both the orphanage and the pirates. And he appreciated that Baloo did not press for more.
His heart had slowed, and the cold sweat had dissipated from his brow. He took in a deep breath and looked across at the empty bed next to him on the opposite side of the room.
Baloo had been gone for almost two weeks now, and Rebecca was ready to put an ad in the paper for a new pilot. With no word from him and his quest to find Panda-la, the worst was beginning to be assumed.
Tears began to well up in Kit's eyes.
If he had been brave enough to tell Baloo how much he meant to him, and that some stupid parade would never change his belief that Baloo was truly the best pilot in the world, then maybe—just maybe—he could have convinced Baloo to stay home.
He believed Baloo that Panda-la existed; Baloo would never lie about something like that. He didn't even need the statue as proof. So why couldn't have everyone else just taken him at his word, or at least pretend to?
Their disbelief sent Baloo on a dangerous mission, and now Kit selfishly feared that he would be left alone again.
Baloo had been his second chance at life—without him, he doubted he'd ever live up to anything.
Rebecca liked him well enough. She'd probably let him stay for a while until he could figure out where to go.
He seriously doubted any other pilot she would hire would ever think of letting him be their navigator. He didn't think he'd want to be somebody else's navigator, anyway.
Kit's thoughts had begun to well up desperation in his lungs, and his throat clenched as more tears fell.
He was beginning to believe that Baloo was dead now, too.
"Hey, Li'l Britches?"
Kit looked up at the nickname Baloo had given him. The people of Panda-la had been defeated, and most of Cape Suzette had been put back into order—well, enough so that Baloo could get his parade he had set out to get in the first place.
It was the evening after the parade, and Rebecca had closed up shop about an hour ago, long enough for Baloo and Kit to have a midnight snack before heading to bed. Saving Cape Suzette had been good on business, and both he and Baloo had a busy schedule lined up.
Well, he had school and a couple trips he could go with Baloo on, but it would still be busy.
"Yeah?"
Baloo had sat down on his bed, putting his nightcap on for the evening. "Did you mean what you said up there, when you saved me from being pancake splatter on Cape Suzette?"
Kit smiled at the analogy, but heard the serious undertone in Baloo's words. "Every word." He too sat on his own bed, and took his navigator hat off, placing it on the nightstand adjoining the two beds.
"I really am somebody, to you?"
Kit looked down, feeling almost embarrassed by re-hearing his own words from someone else. "Well, yeah." He paused, and looked up. "You saved me from the pirates, Baloo. You gave me a home, school, food—adventure. You're my best friend, and like a dad to me ... I—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Baloo had picked him up in a bear hug, which he returned gratefully.
Baloo sniffled. "You sure know how to make an old bear feel proud."
Kit smiled, eyes tearing up. "Please don't go away again like that?"
Baloo put Kit back on his bed, ruffling his bangs affectionately. "I know, I'm sorry Li'l Britches. I get these wild hairs sometimes, and I need to remember that I'm looking out for someone now."
Baloo returned to his own bed, and turned off the light, letting the moon's rays filter into the room.
Kit tucked himself in to his bed, smiling a little at a thought that came to his head. "Or at least take me with you."
Baloo laughed. "Sure thing, kiddo. G'night."
"Good night, Papa Bear." Kit settled into his pillows, and closed his eyes. He had a feeling that while not soon, maybe one day all these good feelings he got from being with Baloo, and Rebecca, Molly, and Wildcat—that all of them would eventually push out all the negative ones he had from his past.
When the good outweighed all the bad, then maybe one day there would be no more bad dreams.
He smiled at the thought, and couldn't wait to begin the busy week ahead of him.