Thank you guys so much for waiting! It took me this long, and it's actually a really short chapter. I've just been too busy with school and stuff to write. I seriously have no idea how some of you guys do it. Those of you who post super long chapters, twice a week, IN COLLEGE? You seriously must be superheros or something. Or, I don't know, maybe I'm just lazy. Well, here it is, at long last.


"Wakey-wakey, Pinkie."

Stephanie opened her eyes to find Robbie's face uncomfortably close to her own, though on the other side of the bars. She jerked back, but hit her head on the bars next to her. Rubbing her head, she carefully got up into a sitting position. Gosh, she was sore. A night of sleeping on the cold floor was not a comfortable thing. As she stretched her muscles as best she could in the confined space, she noticed Robbie reaching into his side-table drawer for something. He brought out a ring of keys, and proceeded to insert one into the lock. Stephanie's eyes lit up. Was he going to let her go? With the key half inserted into the lock, Robbie paused.

"Now listen, don't go poking about at things or I'll put you back in. You won't be able to get out of this place without my help, so don't bother trying."

He finished turning the key in the lock, and as soon as the door was unlatched Stephanie sprung out and away from Robbie, as if afraid that if she stayed near the cage too long he might change his mind and put her back in. She stopped a good ways out of reach from him and turned to face him, crossing her arms. Stephanie prepared herself for an argument. She was going to have to be tough.

"Why aren't you letting me go?" she demanded.

Robbie gave her an over-exaggerated well-isn't-it-obvious? face and explained, "Well, you know the deal. Sportacus leaves and you can go. Sportacus stays, you stay. And obviously Sportacus hasn't left Lazytown yet."

Stephanie gave him a skeptical look, but said nothing. She knew that Sportacus had to stay in Lazytown. She knew that she was supposed to want him to stay. And she did, of course, but she didn't want to have to stay. She hoped with all her heart that Sportacus wouldn't be forced to leave... But he wouldn't just leave her here, would he?

"If you're not letting me go, why did you let me out?" she asked.

Robbie rolled his eyes at her.

"Did you want to stay in that cage forever?"

Stephanie shifted uncomfortably and waited for him to continue. It was a rhetorical question.

"I don't think it would work out too well. Anyway, there's a bathroom off to the left, and candy in that storage closet, and..."

Robbie drifted off, not knowing what else little girls needed. That was it, right?

"...Well, just tell me if there's anything you really need. Otherwise, leave me alone!"

Stephanie scowled at him and went off to use the bathroom. Once inside she turned to the mirror to observe what sate she was in. A tired girl with sort pink hair gazed back at her. Stephanie forced a smile, as if to comfort the girl in the mirror. The girl in the mirror did the same. Stephanie then sighed and looked away from her reflection. How on earth did this happen? Just a normal day and then she was suddenly in a cage and couldn't leave. This must have to be the worst day ever. She was kidnapped, Sportacus might have to leave Lazytown, there wasn't any food but candy, and Robbie thought that she had a crush on Sportacus!

Stephanie gulped. A crush on Sportacus? Or something like that. He seemed to assume that Stephanie meant something special to him. In other words, he thought that Sportacus had a crush on...

Stephanie stopped. She couldn't complete the thought. It was awkward, and besides that, untrue. She couldn't stand to believe that for one minute, otherwise she... She would have... She would...

Why couldn't she bloody think straight? Every time she tried to end her thoughts, she ended up giving up, backing away. She decided that, what the heck, she was going to end the thought.

Otherwise she would have false hope.

And the other one, the one she wished to be true:

He thought that Sportacus had a crush on her.

There. She finally admitted it to herself. She wished it to be true. She had a crush on Sportacus.

This may seem like a rather obvious and inconsequential conclusion to us, but to Stephanie this was the ultimate defeat. You see, Stephanie had never had a crush before, not a proper one. People told her that girls had crushes on boys, and that that was how it worked. So of course she assumed that she probably had a crush on someone, seeing how that was how it worked and all, but she had never been truly attracted to someone. This was the first time, and it was probably not a great intro. A superhero almost a generation older than you that you met when you were nine is not exactly the easiest first crush. Of course, Stephanie knew how she felt inside, but she refused to admit it, even to herself. To have Robbie Rotten acknowledge such a situation before even she herself had was a rather unnerving shock, and in some ways a total defeat.

Now that she had confronted her own thoughts, she hated them. What kind of messed up person was she? Liking an older man, at her age? There was obviously something wrong with her. What planted these weird thoughts in her head? He was her best friend, when had she started think of him like... Like this? No question about it, she was seriously messed up. There was obviously some flaw in her character that had brought this on. She wasn't right, wasn't human.

After some time Stephanie realized she was crying. Her sides heaved in silent sobs, and tears dribbled down her chin. She was tired, stressed, and emotional, and had finally broken down and taken it out on herself. She took a quick glance at herself in the mirror and caught a glimpse of wet, puffy eyes and pinkened skin. Just as quickly as she glanced up she turned away. She hated seeing herself crying. It just made her look even more miserable and wretched. In the middle of her breakdown Stephanie decided one thing: Sportacus would save her. For sure. She didn't know how, or if he'd leave, but he definitely wouldn't let her stay here. Never.

~Back with Robbie~

Robbie was feeling extremely happy. It was all playing out very well. Everything had gone exactly to plan, and he was actually rather enjoying himself. He really ought to be this evil more often. Oh, and he could only imagine the look on Sportacus's face when he'd gotten the message. Robbie was having a very good time trying on the evil villain mask, and it was beginning to go to his head a bit. Every time he upset Stephanie, or hurt her, he got this wonderful rush of power, and he was very proud of his video performance.

We wouldn't want anything... unfortunate to befall her.

Oh yes, that was good. He sounded like a proper movie villain. He sounded in charge, impressive, scary even.

Robbie chuckled to himself. He was so awesome. He could have gotten up and done a dance, only that wouldn't be a very evil and impressive thing to do. He contented himself with another evil grin and a chuckle. And that last bit... The little twist in his plan... It was brilliant. Genius. Stephanie would never be the wiser.

~Meanwhile, down in Lazytown~

BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP!

The mayor reached over to his sidetable and fumbled with the alarm clock. He eventually succeeded in turning it off, and looked at the display.

7:00

It had been a long night. He slipped on his slippers and went downstairs to see if Sportacus was around. Milford expected that he would be, unless he hadn't gotten enough sleep and crashed.

When Milford reached the kitchen he found a note on the counter. He picked it up. It read:

Dear Mayor,
Robbie Rotten has taken Stephanie. I have left Lazytown with the agreement that if I stay away he will let her go. It was nice knowing you all, and thank you for everything. Expect Stephanie back soon.

-Sportacus

P.S. Say goodbye to the kids for me.

Silence. The mayor dropped the note. He ran outside. He looked out in the street, then up to the sky. The airship was gone.