Until We Meet Again
Disclaimer: Okay, so I don't own any of the characters from Lazy Town, as I'm sure we can all agree upon. They belong to their respective owners, and I am not making any monetary gain from this story. Also, fair warning, I have not watched LazyTown in literally close to ten years since I'm eighteen now, but I had to write a piece after seeing the news that Stefán Karl Stefánsson aka Robbie Rotten died today. May you rest in peace, Stefán Karl Stefánsson, and thank you for being a part of my childhood as the notorious and hilarious Robbie Rotten. You will be greatly missed.
Sportacus never thought he would live to see the day currently before him. Up in his airship, the famous hero and renowned fitness buff of Lazy Town dresses in a black suit with a white shirt, the only article of non-blue clothing the man owns. Preparing for such a somber day, Sportacus picks up his trusty crystal and runs his hands over the edges before deciding to place it back on the dresser where it sits on this very rare occasion. No one would need saving today. There was simply no one left to save them from. Straightening his tie, Sportacus puts the finishing touch on his wardrobe, not before he completes two full laps around the airship, however. Even in absolutely dreary circumstances, Sportacus cannot find it within himself to stop moving for very long; every bone and muscle in his body practically screams that exercise is needed or at least some type of movement, be it his leg bouncing up and down or moving his hands while he talks. Letting out an uneven sigh, Sportacus checks his reflection in the mirror a final time before flipping backwards towards the front of the airship, shouting out "Door!" at the very last second possible, yet in the most dejected tone he has ever used in his entire life.
It just didn't make any sense. Robbie Rotten is dead. The words hit everyone in Lazy Town particularly harshly since it had been so sudden, but Sportacus was the one who had discovered the town's villain lying in a crumpled ball on the floor of his lair. (His magical crystal had beeped incessantly, stating someone was in danger. And yet, by the time Sportacus arrived at Robbie's hideout, the unthinkable had already occurred, and Robbie Rotten was pronounced dead at 2:22 AM.) No one had expected the scoundrel to die at a relatively young age of forty-three, but it had been well aware to everyone in recent years that Robbie's body was slowing down day by day. It got to the point later in his life that when Robbie Rotten would try and scare the children- now teenagers- of Lazy Town, he would have to sit down to catch his breath after only fifteen minutes of chasing. He hadn't even had the strength to have a battle of wits with Sportacus in his final months. As Sportacus and Mayor Meanswell carry Robbie's casket down to the freshly dug grave, tears begin to well up in Stephanie's eyes, her pink hair tied back from her face in a loose bun. Out of the corner of his eye, Sportacus notices Ms. Busybody hand Stephanie a handkerchief, which the now sixteen-year-old girl accepts with a small nod of appreciation.
"So, does anyone have any words to say about Mr. Rotten that they'd like to remember him by?" Ms. Busybody inquires, taking the role of authority in this matter.
"Does it have to be something good?" Stingy pipes up, his snobby attitude present even at a funeral for one of the only grown-ups in Lazy Town.
"Preferably," Sportacus tells the rather spoiled teenager, looking over at the group of teenagers doing their best to console one another as they reflect back on the memories created around the villain lying in the casket in front of them. "Here, I will start. Robbie Rotten was, surprisingly, not as terrible a villain as we used to think. There are a lot of other people doing a lot worse in the world, but Robbie was always just in the scheme for the laugh and to try and have fun himself. I would just like to say that as he is surely facing judgement, I hope his rotten deeds do not catch up with him just yet so that he may finally have a chance at being happy," Sportacus continues, thinking of his own past with Robbie Rotten before they went into separate jobs, one a hero and the other a villain, respectfully.
Robbie had always been such a good friend to Sportacus when they were younger. Then something had changed that made Robbie….
"Rotten people aren't supposed to get nice things said about them," Ziggy pipes up, thinking about all the times he got in trouble for taking candy that he wasn't supposed to have and how Ms. Busybody told the other kids not to talk to him in time-out.
"And Robbie wasn't just rotten; he was a villain!" Pixel adds in.
"Children, children, children," Sportacus softly speaks, tutting a bit as he clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth. "Robbie Rotten was not always rotten," he admits, and the reaction on the faces of the five teenagers is beyond words.
"He wasn't?" Trixie gasps, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping open.
"No. No, children, Robbie Rotten when he was younger was my best friend during our childhoods. We played baseball together, went swimming in the pool together, and even did various different sporting activities," Sportacus reveals, and the shock on Stephanie's face is the most profound out of all five teenagers. "Now, it came to be that Robbie grew ever-jealous of my above-average good looks and my athletic skills you all called my 'superpowers', and then it drove him into a stage of hatred and grief in which he cut me out of his life entirely and then switched into trying to revert the town back into a lazy, sluggish state. But, no matter how angry he made me and how rotten he was, I could never stay mad at Robbie, even in the days when Stephanie was new to town."
"Why not, Sportacus? You always seemed to be mad at Robbie when he tried to corrupt us into being like him," Stephanie questions, one hand on her hip as she looks her favorite 'superhero' in the eyes.
"Yes, well, Stephanie, we were still friends, even if he did not see it that way. And, besides, now more than ever, Robbie needs our support," Sportacus remarks, feeling his emotions begin to take a toll on him. "There is a saying that goes 'Anyone can mourn a hero, but only a hero can truly mourn a villain'. I want you all to think about that phrase, because we truly can learn a lot from it. Robbie may not have had many friends in his life, and he may not have done anything heroic or praiseworthy in your minds, but we still need to honor and respect him in the way we would like to be treated," the fitness buff and superhero of Lazy Town explains to the children, hope shining in his eyes as well as a small feeling of gratitude that his old friend was allowed to leave his mortal suffering behind.
As clouds begin to blanket the sky and rain starts to pour from the grey, dismal skies above, Sportacus walks over to Robbie's casket, getting one final glimpse of his best friend before the casket will be lowered into the grave.
"Until we meet again, Robbie Rotten. Your friendship meant the world to me. If we meet again and you still don't forgive me, then I will battle you to the end of eternity without complaint, besti vinur minn."
A ray of light bursts through the clouds, shining down on Sportacus and the casket, and the hero of Lazy Town knows that Robbie Rotten's soul has made its peace with the world. Lazy Town would never be the same without Robbie Rotten, but as long as they kept his memory alive, nothing would ever truly be forgotten about the town's most gregarious villain.
Author's Note: And there it is! I believe this is going to be my first and last Lazy Town story unless some readers show a lot of support and want me to write something else for the fandom. Once again, I want to dedicate this to Stefán Karl Stefánsson, the amazing man who brought the character of Robbie Rotten to life and was a part of one of my favorite childhood TV shows. May he rest in peace. I hope everyone enjoyed; all reviews are appreciated! Have a nice day, afternoon, or night, dear readers!