The child on his back hadn't said a word the whole way up the ladder to the lair's exit. Sportacus could feel her occasionally shifting to get a better position and after a while he realised that she was actually trying to make sure the teddy bear was comfortable. He couldn't help having a small chuckle of disbelief under his breath.

Ella seemed rather different to her uncle and, from what little he knew of her father, she wasn't much like him either. He vaguely remembered seeing a child much like her once in the past, but that girl had been considerably older and puppet like. One of Robbie's schemes gone too far if he remembered correctly. But the child he carried back to town now wasn't in any way rotten or wicked. From what he could see she behaved herself very well, sometimes a little too well.

He'd been glad that there'd been no crying or protesting when she had to leave Robbie's lair but…well he'd expected there to be some retaliation.

Instead she was silent and did as she was told without so much as a sniffle or mumbled complaint. Sportacus didn't want to loo a gift horse in the mouth but he still wondered if she was really alright. Children couldn't be expected to behave perfectly all the time, it was ridiculous to think so. But still Ella remained quiet and courteous. Neither words of which could be used to describe Robbie.

It wasn't until they met with the open sky, the sun assaulting their eyes that had been adjusting to the darkness of the underground lair that Ella finally spoke. It took her a while longer after exiting the hatch to speak up.

They'd just passed the billboard designed to hide the entrance – and doing a pretty poor job of it – when Ella's little voice surprised Sportacus. More so what she asked than the fact she'd spoken at all.

"What's your real name?" She asked curiously.

"My name?" He repeated with a laugh. "I told you yesterday, don't you remember?"

Ella's little face screwed up in thought before she began to list the names she knew. "Sportaloon, Sportakook, Sportacus, Sportaloser, Blue Kangeroo, Flippity floppity—"

"Alright, alright." Sportacus laughed whole-heartedly and Ella managed a small giggle of her own when his back shuddered with the sound. "I get it, Robbie has a rather interesting list of names. But I promise, I'm just Sportacus."

He couldn't tell if she'd committed this to memory or not and so Sportacus asked her a question instead.

"What's a mustard monkey?"

At this little Ella grinned, he could feel the mirthful expression as she hugged into his back and for a moment Sportacus could see Robbie in her, if only a little bit. "Papa said it was the nicest thing he could call him." Ella explained with a scandalous little snicker. "Said the other names for him were too adult to use in front of me." Then after a brief pause Ella added. "But I still caught him using them sometimes."

Sportacus suddenly felt a massive wave of relief knowing that her father was no longer caring for her. Robbie had not spoken highly of his brother in their brief discussion on the matter and while Ella seemed extremely fond of him – Sportacus thought that there were plenty of better guardians for a young girl to have.

"And who exactly was your father talking about so…colourfully?" He really didn't have any other word to describe profanity without it sounding rude in of itself. So colourful was the word to go with.

"Hm." Ella hummed quietly in thought. "He was a very scary man sometimes, but he and papa played lots of games and he was very friendly to me! I don't think papa ever called him by name. Unless he really was a mustard monkey…he called him cow sometimes too. Papa never played very nice."

He tried not to roll his eyes or sigh. Robbie might have been lazy and generally pretty unfriendly but all of his rude nicknames were at least child friendly. His brother did not seem to have the same graces.

"Where are you from, Ella?" He asked, just to try and keep the girl talking – to try and keep her mind from wandering to sadder territory. "Far from here?"

"Oh! I live in a big city." She explained, excitement able to creep into her voice. "It's gigantic and fancy and everyone is always moving around, they're all so bu-"

"Busy." Sportacus realised abruptly and could have kicked himself for not making the connection sooner. "You're from Busy City."

To which Ella nodded happily with a small chirped "Yup!" Sportacus, had he not been carrying the girl would have started sprinting or at least tried to do a flip to let out from frustration. He didn't' fancy his chances of pulling either off without somehow making Ella sick.

Busy City, it had been coming up an awful lot frequently and Sportacus could not for the life of him figure out why it had suddenly become so prominent. He hadn't thought of it for the better half of a decade and he'd been doing quite well with that until just earlier that week.

Perhaps it was time creeping in, that realisation that he'd been avoiding the topic for far too long finally building such weight that even he couldn't ignore it. It wasn't as though he was running from anything…he just didn't like thinking about it very much.

It may have been high time he just swallowed his pride and sent a letter of his own. Although Sportacus couldn't even begin to imagine how that would go. Somehow a simply 'Hello, it's been a long time' didn't seem sufficient.

While he was still mulling this over, Ella had shifted on his back again. She was peering out over his shoulder at the town as they came into it. The grassy fields held her attention for quite sometime but Sportacus also noticed her eyeing the tree house as they passed it. It was encouraging to see that she looked at the town with such awe, it gave him hope she'd settle in nicely.

"This place is nice." Ella told him gently, words softening with wonder. "You're nice too. Is everything here nice?"

He didn't bother hiding the smile that fought to get out at those words and instead offered up a simple nod. "Everyone here is very nice. It is a good place to live." He knew exactly what she had to compare it to and felt he wasn't doing Lazytown justice in contrast.

Busy City was not the nicest place in the world, and he was being generous with that. Cities frequently fell victim to people's apathy and rush, but Busy City had a particularly bad run of criminal activity and a generally unfriendly atmosphere.

Having only been there twice Sportacus could safety say he'd rather never go back and he knew that Ella would have a better childhood in Lazytown than she would that dreadful place.

It would take time but he hoped she'd be happy here once she had some time to make friends. He also hoped that Robbie would really come to see her. Perhaps she'd be a little surprised when she saw the tricks he played on town, but judging by the state he'd found the pair in while on his airship the day before – she already knew perfectly well. She might even find herself entertained by her uncle's antics like the other kids often were.

"The mayor is also very nice man." Sportacus told Ella, putting as much optimism in his voice as he could. "He has a niece that's just a little bit older than you, she likes dancing. Do you like to dance, Ella?"

"Ballet." Ella murmured without so much as a second passing between the question was asked and an answer being given. "Papa dances beautifully. Robbie sorta dances too, when he moves around a lot."

Well Sportacus could find no fault in that.

As they entered town Ella seemed to be more enthralled by the sights. Taking time to look at each house they passed. Sportacus was somewhat relieved that the kids would still be in class.

It might have been a little too much for Ella to have them all meet her at once. She'd need some time to adjust and hopefully cheer up before being bombarded by the children's well intentions and curious questions.

They were only just entering three in the afternoon and Sportacus wasn't expecting to see any of the kids until another half an hour had passed.

As they neared the mayor's house, Sportacus once again knelt to the ground and helped Ella ease her way down off his shoulders. The girl took her time stretching out her legs and regaining her balance while Sportacus spent a few moments stretching out his arms and loosening his muscles again. He knew better than to vault off without at least doing some basic stretches.

"Um, Sportacus?" Ella mumbled, the nervousness in her voice catching his full attention. Ella stood, bear held tight to her chest with her eyes downcast. "Can I…can I stay out here while you talk to the nice mayor?" She asked him quietly. "I…I don't like…people are scary."

Sportacus's heart nearly leapt straight out of his chest, wanting immediately to reassure her that everything was fine.

Sometimes meeting new people was frightening but everyone here was kind and she had nothing to worry about. A thousand different reassurances flew through his head, but Sportacus stopped and pushed them all back down. Ella was still out of her comfort zone, still in a new unfamiliar territory and was putting her trust in him to introduce her to it. So they did this slowly, as much as it went again his natural urge to just dive straight in, they would do this at her pace. He wasn't going to ruin the trust she'd put him.

"Alright." He agreed gently. "But don't go anywhere, okay Ella? Just stay right here and I'll go in and talk to the mayor, then we'll get you settled in." He explained while pulling his arm across his chest. She hadn't weighed much of anything but Sportacus was nothing if not attentive when it came to healthy exercise. "You'll have to say hello to the mayor eventually, but I'll give you some time to prepare. No need to rush."

Relief flashed across Ella's face before she offered up a grateful smile and set herself purposefully down on the front step to the mayor's house. She looked up at Sportacus with a stern nod that said 'I'll sit right here till you come back'. Sportacus found himself smiling in response, she was a good kid.

"I won't be long." He promised her before letting himself into the mayor's house. He would have knocked as he planned to earlier that day but he knew Milford was expecting him and he didn't want to run the risk of having the mayor answer the door when Ella wasn't ready to talk to strangers just yet.

The blue hero had just stepped through the nice mayor's front doors when Ella felt a wave of uncertainty hit her. The hero was kind and she felt safe when he was around but he'd spoken about other children and people, Ella didn't know if she had it in her – or was indeed even allowed – to trust that many people.

Her papa had been very particular about who she spoke to, if anyone at all. He'd gotten irritated with her habit of going off the talk to strangers in the past, said it wasn't safe until the lesson was all but drilled into her head.

Now Ella wasn't sure what was supposed to come after 'hello', what did people say to one another? Did they ask about the weather or did they smile while robbing them blind immediately after meeting? Perhaps that last one was unique to her father.

Ella tried her hardest to think of what to say to this mayor person. Sportacus promised everyone here was nice, so maybe she should say something nice? Compliment him for something? He was the mayor, so maybe she could tell him he had a nice town? The town was nice after all.

For all her nervousness and homesickness – Ella could at least enjoy the open air and warm breeze. The town was wonderful; she couldn't understand why her father had moved into the city when this place existed. He had lived here before she was born, why would anyone want to leave?

The clock had just rolled over to twenty past three while Ella mulled this all over. Sportacus couldn't have known that on this particular day, Stephanie Meanswell had left the school building early.

Too eager with her new pen pal to be held back for the extra few minutes of class. Stephanie was practically buried in her response letter, jittery with excited energy as she approached her home, or what had been her home for the past two years. She hadn't focused on anything in class that day, all of it going in one ear and out the other as she pondered on what to say back to her new friend.

They'd been friendly and it was exciting to think it was someone who had lived in Lazytown once upon a time. Granted the letter was a touch more adult than what she'd been expecting and she hadn't actually been given the full name of her friend, but that only drove Stephanie to try and sound mature in her response. She'd written it out at least three times before finally being satisfied with the fourth version. Only after she'd pencilled it up, marked down her name and return address and sealed it back up, could Stephanie seem to think of anything else. It just so happened her absolute first thought was about posting it immediately.

She almost didn't see the little purple girl sitting in the doorway of her house.

Didn't notice her until she'd stepped into the front yard, swinging the gate open and scaring the quiet girl nearly out of her skin. Both girls startled at the sight of one another and for a second Stephanie almost thought she was looking at the windup doll Robbie had once brought to the surface. But her skin was too real, the doll like features just soft enough to pass for a real child.

And she was staring at Stephanie like she'd just stepped out into the oncoming headlights. Neither girl spoke, it didn't seem that either of them were breathing for those first few seconds that they spent staring at one another.

Then a name came to Stephanie.

"Ella…?" She tried uncertainly, looking for any recognition on the other child's face.

When she caught the slight shift, the acknowledgment of her name in the way her eyes widened, Stephanie's face broke out into a beaming smile. Then she, as if they were old friends, enveloped the younger girl in an enthusiastic hug. Ella squeaked in alarm but didn't try to wiggle away from the sudden embrace.

Ecstatic to see the girl she'd been told about early that morning, Stephanie briefly squeezed her tight before holding her at arms length, undeterred by Ella's stunned silence. "It's so good that you're here!" She began excitedly. "Sportacus said he was going to make sure you were alright, I didn't doubt him for a second!"

As the stranger began to happily gush about her being there, Ella was still reeling. She had no words, now even a simple hello seemed beyond her. Because the girl standing in front of her was dazzling.

At first when Stephanie had walked through the front gate, Ella had frozen. The moment she saw the girl, decked out from head to toe in pink, she hadn't remembered her own name. It was something like bewilderment that wedged itself into her throat and refused to allow words to surface. This girl was so bright. Like nothing Ella had ever seen.

The city was full of grim faces and equally grim clothes. This little town had already showed her more colour in a week than two years in the city. But her papa had been dazzling, his clothes often bright and flashy and always enough to shine in her eyes. Glanni and those few he surrounded himself with had been her sole source of colour in the city. He'd liked pink as well and perhaps that was why the girl in front of her now seemed to glow.

But her papa hadn't had that smile.

All of his smiles made Ella giggle; they made her happy and frequently made her feel safe. But not a single one had looked like this one. So wholly devoid of any arrogance or wickedness. The smile this stranger was wearing sucked the thoughts right out of Ella's head.

There was no set of words, no smile or expression she could muster up that would be enough. There was nothing she could say that would match this girl's brightness; she'd pale in comparison. She'd fall flat, she'd be pathetic, she'd look pitiful – without even realising it Ella now understood exactly what it felt like for a villain's child to stand next to a hero's girl.

She felt rotten.

Seeming to finally take notice of how silent the new girl was, Stephanie backed off a touch. "Oh sorry." She exclaimed with a clumsy smile. As if to show how thoughtless she'd been, Stephanie tapped her head with a roll of her eyes. "Silly me, I totally forgot, I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Stephanie." She introduced herself with that same stunning smile.

It was a relief she didn't need Ella to introduce herself because she was still working on remembering her own name. "Sportacus told me all about you this morning." A slight exaggeration. "Are you okay? It must have been dreadful, nothing but cake I bet. You don't feel sick do you? Sportscandy will fix it, I promise."

"I…what?" Ella managed, shaking her head as if she could somehow make sense of what she was hearing. "…sorry?"

"Living with Robbie Rotten!" Stepanie exclaimed and it felt like a bucket of icy water had been tipped over Ella.

Suddenly everything came into sharp focus. The tone, the way her pretty face twisted as she spoke her uncle's name – all of it effectively washed away the trance she'd been under. In place of the rush of excitement and nervousness, Ella felt a cold weight settling into her stomach.

"What are you saying?" She asked slowly, a stormy expression falling over her usually soft features.

"It must have been terrible." Stephanie repeated, not at all aware of the shift in mood from the girl she hoped to befriend. "But don't worry. Sportacus is a great hero; he'll sort out that trouble maker Robbie. He's just absolutely rotten; you must have been so bored down there. Don't worry you'll have a much nicer place to stay from now on. We'll introduce you to everyone and maybe there'll be a party and-"

"You take that back."

Stephanie stopped, finally noticing the change in expression. The scowl that twisted up Ella's face was so vicious that Stephanie took a few surprised steps away. Had she done something wrong?

Ella was furious. She was fuming, vehement, absolutely livid, she was more angry than she had the words to describe. Which was quite the achievement considering Glanni had taught her so many with his frequent rants over irritating heroes.

Was this what people thought of her uncle? Was that what people thought of her family?

All at once her memories came back. Thoughts of her uncle and his unusual behaviour that she'd always thought to be entertaining and at times even kind. Memories of her father, telling her all about the dangers of the world along side the wonders of it. The teddy she loved so much that still smelt of lavender in her hands. The cakes Robbie had tried to conjure up for her even though she saw him cringe at the mere notion of carrot cake.

Then moments like this came into her head as well.

Her father explaining to her why people didn't like them. Why people were not worth talking to or trusting. Why people hurt so much. Rotten they'd called him, and rightfully so Glanni had claimed. A criminal without remorse he'd said. But Ella couldn't agree. Her father could be amazing. He was cunning and crafty and resourceful, but he was never cruel. And Robbie was…Robbie was….

Suddenly it was all too much and Ella exploded.

"You're rotten!" She screamed at the pretty girl, the girl who she'd only just met. The one that sparkled like the sun when she smiled and made Ella feel like she was dirt. "I don't want to live in your noisy town and play your exhausting games! I don't want to eat sportscandy or make friends! Who need friends like you anyway?" Ella shrieked, unaware of the door behind the pair of them swinging open.

She didn't know Sportacus and the mayor were there as she shoved Stephanie. Surprised by the outburst Stephanie fell back with a shout of alarm that quickly turned to one of pain as she landed awkwardly on her hand and for a moment Ella felt regret twist up her insides. Ella almost hadn't realised what she was doing until after Stephanie had hit the ground. She looked down at the older girl and noticed she was holding her wrist to her chest now. Cradling it tightly with her other hand and Ella saw a bit of red beginning to leak between Stephanie's fingers.

"I…I didn't mean to…"

Scared and ashamed, Ella backed away from Stephanie only to finally take notice of the two adults standing in the doorway staring at the scene. Neither had properly comprehended what they were seeing and their expressions were matching looks of shock, but it was the wail of a siren that cut through Ella's mind like a knife.

The number on the hero's chest had lit up and it was screaming.

The sound was so familiar that Ella's entire body seemed to shut down for a few seconds. She knew that sound, knew it meant someone was in trouble and her mind urgently told her that if she didn't move now the person in trouble would be her. Criminals hurt people, heroes dealt with criminals – she'd pushed Stephanie.

She'd hurt Stephanie.

Terrified Ella tore out of the mayor's front yard, deaf to the calls of the adults behind her. She knew she'd be chased. That's what heroes did after all and even now as panic seized her by the throat, Ella remembered her father's rules and lessons. One of which he'd always firmly reminded her of – if an hero chased you, you ran.

But she was no great runner and Ella's little feet wouldn't get her far when compared to the long strides of a hero. So she resorted to her own version of that lesson.

She had to hide.

That was fine. Ella was the best hider of her generation her father had said. Even her papa couldn't find her once she'd hidden herself.

Her hands were trembling and her heart flailing wildly against her ribs, but still Ella remembered what she had to do. Her papa had taught her hiding above all else, he'd also been rather insistent she learn it for when she was on the move. If an elf was chasing you and there was no time to lose them in a back alleyway – which there seemed to be a distinct lack of in Lazytown – then a concealment charm was in order.

Even all her trust in Sportacus was rendered null in those few frantic seconds between escaping the yard and fleeing in whatever direction her feet carried her. Sportacus was a hero and she'd been bad. Ella didn't need to remember the expression on her father's face when returning home from a job gone wrong to know that bruises would be the least of her problems if caught.

So she ran. She ran and she hid – never once answering Sportacus's panicked calls for her to come back.

She couldn't trust that.


Barely an hour had passed and Robbie hadn't even managed to uncoil himself from the lounge.

He kept waiting for the metaphorical second shoe to drop. He kept waiting for that four pattern tap to suddenly sound at his door, he even had the complaint he'd answered with memorised down to the extremely loud sigh.

Robbie knew it was probably rather telling that he'd practically scripted how that interaction would go. Ella would appear, much to his irritation, he'd make a few haphazard complaints and demands to know how she got back in and she'd just give him that overly smug look of hers and that would be that. They'd go back to napping and practicing how to be a proper sidekick.

Except he hadn't heard so much as a single tap.

A full hour. Ecluding the first attempt he'd made to mail her back to Glanni, it have never taken Ella that long to reappear. Perhaps she really was gone now, Sportacus did not tend to do things in halves after all.

Growling at himself, Robbie finally kicked out of his seat in a violent flurry of limbs. He was wasting time just waiting for something to happen. If Ella was properly gone then he could go back his normal routine finally, no need to spend so much time waiting on her to come crashing back into his life.

He was glad for it. This was what he'd been trying to get for a solid week now – some peace and quiet without a child pestering him all the time.

Huffing Robbie stalked over to his cake maker, thinking he could use a snack to get his brain going again. Except when he pulled the leaver and the cake that was spate out was not the usual favourite it normally gave him, but vanilla instead, Robbie deflated. He stared miserably at the white cake, wondering if this one had been Ella's favourite or if she would have demanded another flavour the next day.

Come to think of it, he hadn't asked her what her favourite was. That bothered him for some reason.

Realising what he was doing, Robbie jerked backwards as though he could physically remove himself from his moping. Tossing the cake aside with a sneer of disgust, Robbie instead turned his attention to his chest of tools.

Maybe what he needed was a new project, a new machine to test out on Sportacus. What should he make then? Robbie's mind began to light up with wicked little ideas as he knelt in front of the chest and began to dig around. Only what he found instead of a wrench or a screwdriver was the blasted bow Ella had arrived with.

Now this was just getting ridiculous.

"I know what you're doing!" He called to no one in particular. Robbie knew the lair was not technically a sentient creature but there were moments like these where he could have sworn it was working against him. Mocking him even. Pushing him in certain directions or judging him with the way the air pressed in on him alone.

For this particular moment, judgement was definitely the right word.

"I don't miss some snot nosed brat. Certainly not." He crowed, tossing the bow over his shoulder. Robbie slammed the chest shut, no longer trusting it, and began to stalk the length of the lair – ranting all the while.

"I don't need a child cluttering up my lair, leaving bows and nonsense around my work space. Hmpf, ludicrous! I only let her stay here because she wouldn't go away, and because she was noisy if I put her in the tree house, and Glanni said he's liquefy my insides. I mean really, what an obscene threat! I bet he doesn't even have enough magic to liquefy ice now days. And another thing ab-!"

His foot collided with something solid and Robbie yelped out in equal parts pain and surprise. Tripping over the thing, Robbie inelegantly fell flat onto the ground, getting tangled up in his own long limbs. He knew exactly what it was he'd hit before even looking up to confirm the suspicion.

And sure enough, sitting there in a decidedly disapproving way – was Ella's box.

Briefly the thought of kicking it again for good measure crossed Robbie's mind, but he didn't trust it not to retaliate in some way. It had been made by his brother, there was every chance it would somehow shock him if he tried. Instead Robbie scrambled up into a sitting position and scowled down at that box, as if he was seriously trying to challenge and inanimate object.

Still the air around him felt tense and unhappy with him. He knew he'd put too much magic into this lair. At the very least he had not undone enough of the protective wards in the past two years.

"What do you expect?" He asked the open air angrily. "Even if I wanted the kid back here – I don't by the way – she went with Sportaflop!" Robbie had shouted the words and they rung a little too long in the empty cavernous walls. Then gradually they began to sink in, his own thought gradually digging into him.

"She went with Sportacus." He repeated more quietly, no longer having the energy to shout. By his sides his arms sat limp and Robbie stared dejectedly at the box. "The kid was as smart as that blasted brother of mine. Got out while the going was still good." He huffed icily. "I'm not bitter." He added sharply, but even he didn't believe his own lies. "I know why Glanni left, I would have too but…"

But he loved Lazytown.

Robbie felt wretched all over again. He'd spent years trying not to think about Glanni or Busy City, or the past and now here he was going through it all again. He meant what he'd said, Robbie had always understood why Glanni had left Lazytown, he'd been smarter than he had been attached and so he'd left the town behind when things weren't going his way.

But Robbie, having been so much younger at the time, hadn't been able to pry himself away. Sometimes he wondered if it was really by his own choice he stayed, but more frequently he just cursed Glanni for leaving him there on his own regardless.

He was resentful yes, but he also understood. Gabriella was Glanni's girl through and through – she was smart enough to know when to move to a better place and that better place had been away from him.

It made sense….

"I don't miss her." He repeated but this time he wasn't even met with resistance from the lair, just silence.