A/n: This one's a bit short, but I wanted to give you all something. Also, I found Riley's parents' names on Disney Wiki.

Morning came quietly. Riley failed to notice the light beginning to seep through the windows until she was snapped out of her idle focus on the TV by footsteps on the stairs. She turned and craned her neck to see who was coming, and caught sight of her mother. Jill looked to her daughter and tried to give a happy smile. "Good morning, sweetie."

"Morning, Mom."

Jill, who was aware of Riley's plight, took a few steps to stand behind the couch and softly ran her fingers through Riley's hair. "I hope…did you manage to get any sleep last night?"

Riley nodded and gave what might have passed as a tire grin, "Yeah, I slept for a few hours," No need to mention just how restless those hours had been.

Jill looked relieved, and now her smile was genuine, if fleeting. "That's great, honey," she bent at the waist to kiss the top go her daughter's head and then turned to the kitchen. "Do pancakes sound good for this morning?"

Riley smiled as well, "Yeah, that sounds great."

III

Joy practically jumped at the chance to even lay a finger on the console. It hadn't been working for her lately, but when Mom said 'pancakes' she knew she had to try.

And, to her absolute delight, she got a response.

Joy, as well as the rest of the emotions behind her, gave a sigh of relief when the console lit up a happy, soft yellow. It was faint, and it was fleeting, but it was there.

Disgust sounded from somewhere behind her, "Joy, you did it!"

Sadness, her pessimism forgotten for the moment, said next, "M-maybe, Riley really will be okay."

Joy was beaming. It felt good to be able to smile again.

III

It didn't take long for Bill to join his family downstairs. If ever there was a way to summon Dad, Riley thought, it was serving sugar for breakfast.

Riley made herself comfortable at the table while her parents said their morning 'hello's' noticing how, even though they were obviously still tired, they looked less drained than they had been.

Riley, sleepy herself for obvious reasons, found her mind wondering. She couldn't help zoning out entirely, but she very deliberately turned her thoughts to hockey. She was still feeling out her team, and trying to figure out how everyone worked together. The Collins kid seemed a little goal-happy, but she'd seen Marie working to level his playing and make sure he knew he could pass it to her. Marie seemed pretty smart, and she was a good player. Riley would bet that the two of them could be good friends—

Riley was sharply ripped from her thoughts by a loud crashbang, and quickly snapped her head up to look at her parents.

Jill had apparently dropped the pan she was using to make breakfast. And, in her instinctual fumble to catch it, had burnt her hand.

"Ouch!" Her sharp cry was as startling as the previous sound in the otherwise quiet kitchen. Jill gripped the wrist of her burnt hand and hissed through her teeth in pain.

"Jill!" Riley's dad shot over to his wife, examining her hand and her face, trying to assess quickly how bad it was.

Riley, meanwhile, simply stared, wide-eyed, and without truly seeing.

III

"No!"

There was a collective shout from Anger and Joy, and quite possibly Disgust. Everyone stared at the screen as the console shut them out, turning once again a dead dark shade of nothing.

Joy was dismayed, "No! Oh, we were so close!"

"This is ridiculous!" Anger fumed, outraged at what, he couldn't even say, just…everything, right about now.

Sadness spoke tearfully at the viewing screen, like she hoped that Riley would hear her words even though she knew it wasn't possible. "Please, please Riley, don't do this, don't…"

"I can't believe this!" Disgust's voice was shrill and infuriated, "This is so—so stupid! I'm so sick of this crap!—"

As the four ranted and raved, no one took notice of the one voice that hadn't spoken out yet. Fear barely registered the others' shouts and pleads, his terrified focus on, not the view screen, but the console.

It was dark, yes, and almost black. But, as much as he wished for Riley's well-being and he knew that all five of them were a part of that, he found himself hoping that just this once, it would turn completely black.

Because what he saw was perhaps the most foreboding thing he'd ever witnessed within Riley's mind. He felt his gut twist painfully, his head and heart began to pound. He could barely breathe and he felt tears spring suddenly to his eyes, and he stood, shaking in abject horror, as the console slowly, menacingly—and absolutely without a touch from his hand—turned a deep, evil shade of violet.