Title: Nightmares and Dreamscapes- Chapter 4/?
Fandom: Lazytown
Pairing: Sportacus/Robbie
Rating: Still just a low T for now.
Summary: There is no such thing as magic...right? However, when Robbie starts noticing something strange about Sportacus and unusual things start occurring in Lazytown, that belief just might have to be changed.
Author's Notes: RAWR. Yeah, these chapters are short. Thanks for reviews and whatnot! They make my life. (And make me write faster.) And, wow, this chapter took a turn that I did not expect it to.
Sportacus watched as Ziggy gulped down some water, one pudgy hand still on his side. Then his focus was caught by the other children stumbling out of the bushes, Stephanie and basketball in tow. Trixie immediately snagged the ball and ran away with it, laughing madly. Stephanie pouted for a few seconds and then followed her, a grin overtaking the pout. Ziggy gasped loudly at the girls' antics and then ran off to join them, dropping the bottle.
Both Pixel and Sportacus watched as Ziggy and finally Stingy ran after the girls. Eventually Pixel glanced up to him and, noticing that Sportacus was watching the activities with a fond smile, went to join the other kids.
Soon Stephanie came over to join him, gasping for breath. When her breathing evened out, she looked up at Sportacus. "Hey, Sportacus?" she said.
He glanced down at her. "Yes, Stephanie?"
Her eyes went down and focused on the emblazoned 10 on his chest. "What's your crystal made out of?"
One hand went up and covered the symbol and crystal protectively. Brows furrowed now, he looked vaguely uncomfortable. "Why do you ask that?"
She looked down at her toes and scuffed her feet. Her narrow shoulders went up in a shrug. "I was just wondering." Shyly, she looked up at him from behind her bangs.
Sportacus rubbed at his crystal, feeling the faint tingle of magic therein. "Secret things," he eventually said. No, it wasn't really an answer, but there wasn't anything he could comfortably tell her that was truthful.
Stephanie scrutinized him, gave one jerky nod, and then ran off to join the kids again.
Sportacus watched them running around and laughing and wondered where that came from. The children had never questioned him about his crystal or his other "hero" qualities. As a child, Pabbi and Mamma had warned him about humans' insatiable curiosity and how children eventually let go of the belief in magic. They had warned him that children eventually would question his presence. Had Stephanie already reached that point?
With one thumb Sportacus rubbed the smooth surface of the crystal. The crystal was strong, powerful, filled with magic. It enhanced his natural abilities and boosted his magic. As the signifier of the Sportacus line, it had to be powerful. Any magical being would be honored with such a talisman.
Feeling distinctly uncomfortable once more, Sportacus glanced around. They children were further down the courtyard, throwing and bouncing the basketball about. He squinted. However, he did not see any signs of bright pink hair. As his crystal wasn't going off, he wasn't horribly alarmed, but still, he was slightly worried. He looked around again, searching for the bright pink of Stephanie's hair, and then suddenly spun around.
Stephanie, balanced precariously on the brick partition behind him, startled and nearly fell forward. She cried out, throwing her arms out for balance, and Sportacus grabbed her, steadying her once more on the wall.
"What are you doing up there?" he asked her. "It's dangerous." Carefully, he grabbed her around the waist and set her on the ground. Ducking her head, she refused to look up at him.
"Stephanie," he tried, bending down on one knee. "Why don't you tell me what you were doing up there?"
Cheeks flushing, she whispered, "I was trying to get your hat."
Sportacus wanted to laugh, but there was something about the set of her expression that told him he was treading on delicate ground. "Why?" He did smile at her though. "It's just a hat." And harkening back to their conversation, "There's nothing magical about it."
Stephanie twisted her hands together nervously. "Yeah," she agreed and tried to duck her head down further so he couldn't look her in the eye. She said nothing further, focused only on her hands.
About ready to let go of the incident, Sportacus stood, but then Stephanie looked up at him and quickly said, "But your hat always covers your ears and I never thought about it until Robbie pointed it out and I was just wondering if you have pointed ears because Robbie thinks you're an elf."
Once Sportacus discerned what the babble meant, one hand nervously went up to tug his hat down a little further. He cleared his throat, gaze moving from Stephanie to the surrounding bushes. That meant Robbie was around somewhere and not still hiding away in his lair of a home. "And when did you talk to Robbie?"
"When I had to get the basketball. He was hiding behind the bushes with a net. He said he was studying you."
"Oh," Sportacus said faintly. Robbie was up to something…
"So are you?"
His attention snapped back to Stephanie. "What?"
There was something hopeful and bright about Stephanie's gaze. "Are you an elf? Really?" She smiled widely up at him.
He simply couldn't lie about it. Trying to breathe around the lump in his throat, Sportacus gave a quick, single nod. At least that conversation with Robbie explained Stephanie's questions about his crystal.
"Wow," she said quietly. "I won't say anything about it Sportacus. Promise." With a small giggle, she skipped away as if no questions had ever plagued her. What an amazing child.
Distinctly unsettled by the question/answer session, Sportacus decided and called out a farewell to the children. He was going to hide in his airship for a while, get his bearings back. Some quiet and exercise would do him good. With that plan he flipped away from the courtyard.
Robbie had been bored, watching the children throw the basketball at each other. He had been curious what the pink child said to Sportaflop both times she talked to him—she was probably revealing everything he had said to her. It figured. He should have never said anything; it would have been better that way.
After the pink child ran away from Sportakook for the second time, Sportakook waved goodbye to the brats and then flipped away. Clutching the net to him, Robbie followed. Sportacus was fast and, well, flipping, but Robbie already knew that Sportacus would be in the center of town to climb up to his airship and Robbie was determined.
He got to the center of town just as the ladder unfurled from the airship. Riding high on the possibility that he just might succeed, Robbie swung the net…and missed. Sportacus was too far up the ladder. Higher thought functions cut off as he watched Sportacus climb and then, with a muttered curse, Robbie ripped his attention away from the idiot.
A quiet, child-free, elf-free walk home would do him good. He would be able to figure out the next time he could try the net idea…or, better yet (since Pinkie had probably reveled everything), he could just come up with a new plan. Holding the net in a white-knuckled grip, Robbie strode out of the center of town.