Hello all!

We are finally up to 'Alone in the Universe'! I love this number, it is just so beautiful, and it has a very real message. This chapter also bring back Horton, moving forwards a week after the speck incident. The next two chapters after this will be fully Nool based, and then I will have a few mixed worlds, but most of the chapters in the 'Act' will be centred in the Jungle of Nool.

I would like to dedicate this chapter to disneydork29175, who has helped me so much, and been a great friend to me. She is such an amazing author and I though the least I could do was dedicate this chapter to her. Thank you so much, Em!

Disclaimer: I do not own Seussical, it characters or its musical numbers. I also don't own any of the Seuss books, characters or the movies based upon them. They belong to their respective owners. I only own Kirsty and 'Ted', who is an important part of the plot.

TTFN and please review!

Sophie


Chapter 8: Not So Alone in the Universe

"Thank goodness. Today's finally over…"

Horton finally collapsed underneath a tree, desperate for some sleep. All day he had to deal with the constant mocking that he had been experiencing for the past week, with an utter humiliation from the Wickersham's to top his day off. And he still hadn't heard about Kirsty, and was starting to believe that maybe he had Thinked her up, as well as the Whos.

Even though he wanted to search more for Kirsty, Horton had bigger problems. Protecting the Whos was much harder than he thought it was going to be. Since their world was so small, a small bump to him could equivalent to a high strength earthquake to them, so it was vital that the clover was placed in just the right position, with not too much wind, not too much sun and no sudden movements.

But being in Nool, where every place you would most likely get feathers up in your face or a tail between your legs, that was an intermittent luxury.

He looked at the small pink clover that held that tiny speck of dust, swaying lightly with the warm breeze that spread across the jungle. He hadn't heard from any of them since he discovered them a week ago, not a whisper or a sound heard. His eyes looked out to the stars, so many unanswered question swirling around his head, including a wish he hadn't expected to be brought up. One part of him that he put on the side for such a long time. To have someone in the world, a Thinker, who could travel through his Thinks with him, and be the friend he had only ever imagined of.

"I've been guarding this clover for over a week, getting laughed at for thinking a dust speck can speak," Horton said to himself, sadly. "Well, let them all laugh I'll try not to mind, for I have found something that they'll never find!"

The music began to soften, as he began to sing. "There are secrets on a leaf, in the water, in the air. Hidden planets, tiny worlds, all invisible! Not a person seems to know. Not a person seems to care. There is no one who believes a thing I say...Well, I'm fairly certain at one time or other, great thinkers all feel this way…" As if by magic, leaves started to gently float around him, a small flourish of his Thinks showing.

"I'm alone in the universe, so alone in the universe. I've found magic but they don't see it. They all call me a lunatic. Ok, call me a lunatic. If I stand on my own, so be it." He smiled as he turned his gaze to the clover. "'Cause I have wings, yes, I can fly. Around the moon and far beyond the sky and one day soon I know there you'll be. One small voice in the universe, one true friend in the universe, who believes in me..."

Meanwhile, on that small speck of dust, Jojo was glancing out the window of his room in the academy, with the same wish as that large elephant; to have someone who could accept him for who he was. He was the only cadet in the quarter, only having just been enrolled into the academy a week ago and not yet conformed to General Schmitz's plan. He was so out of place in this school, not coping at all with the harsh atmosphere that came with it. Cold and worn out, he suddenly had the urge to sing. "I'm alone in the universe, so alone in the universe, my own planets and stars are glowing."

"Alone in the universe," Horton sang, so caught up in it all, he didn't realise that his solo had now turned into a duet.

"No one notices anything. Not one person is listening," Jojo continued, also not hearing Horton. "They don't have any way of knowing." His voice stayed soft, not wanting to be caught still awake by any of the Majors.

"Nobody knows that," Horton sang, looking out at the stars. "I have wings,"

"I have wings."

"Yes, I can fly."

"I can fly."

"Around the moon…"

"And far beyond the sky," they sang together, their voices turning to almost a pleading tone. "Well someday soon you will hear my plea." In both worlds, a shooting star flashed across their skies, giving a flicker of hope to both Thinkers.

"One small voice in the universe," Horton wished

"One true friend in the universe," Jojo pleaded.

"Please believe in me ..."


Unable to sleep, her Thinks making her restless, Kirsty sighed, as she sat outside her balcony in the warm night air. Whoville was only a small collection of lights, sound asleep. But up above, the whole sky was awake, filled with countless stars, burning millions and millions of kilometres away, with not a care in the world.

Why does life have to be so complicated?

Kirsty had loved waking up in the middle of moonlit nights when she was younger, believing that since the sky was awake, she also felt she had to be. Even though things had changed, and she had changed also, her interest of the night stayed with her. Those memories made her feel uncomfortable. It had been many long years since she was like that, always happy and positive…a child, and years since she had been forced to make the choice to abandon that version of herself, to be replaced by the Kirsty she knew today. She had to grow up and to do that, you had to accept reality and the truth for what it was.

Having an imagination and dreams only lead to hurting the ones you loved.

But upon landing in this strange and unfamiliar universe, which challenged her grip on the possible to its limit, she had seen some of that forgotten side try and come out, even slightly escaping her 'cage' on some occasions. Especially when she was with Jojo. For those two and a half precious minutes, it was as it had unleased a completely new persona. She picked up a small bracelet, one that had come from Jojo in the envelope passed to her before he was sent off to the academy, foreign inscriptions covering the stones braided through the fabric. She had tried to forget about him, but something about him refused her to give in. He was important, in some way, and she needed to find out why.

"Are you real, or are you a very large think?"

Her muscled tensed up, upon hearing the unknown voice. Suddenly, her mind clicked. That sounded like Jojo! But that couldn't be possible, she knew that right. Jojo's gone, there's no way this can be real. My Thinks must be playing mind games with me. It wasn't until there was a reply, to when she started to question her theory.

"Oh, I'm real, all right! I would state that in ink."

"Horton!" she exclaimed softly, her wide eyes looking above where Horton would be, still in the Jungle of Nool. His voice was clear as day, the evenness in his voice something only Horton would be able to perform so naturally. "Horton! It's-"

"In my thinks, I imagine a lot of strange things," Jojo's voice filled the sky again, interrupting her cry. "And I go to strange places, as if I had wings! I love a good think!"

Jojo must have found Horton! But why can't they hear me? Instead of trying to get their attention, she stayed silent, listening to both their voices with hope.

"Well, for me that goes double," Horton said, to where Kirsty smiled wide with interest. She didn't know he was a Thinker too!

"Sometime my thinks are what get me in trouble."

"When you think, do you dream?"

"In bright colours!" The joy in Jojo's voice flooded out like colours in a painting, Kirsty noticing that the sky had even begun to flutter in excitement.

"Me too! And I go to strange places like Solla Sollew!" Horton exclaimed, his voice happier than Kirsty had ever heard before.

"When you think, do you think you could fly to the stars?"

"Little friend, no one else could have thinks such as ours!" They both seemed overjoyed with happiness, as strong music filled the air.

"Yes, I have wings," Horton sang, the sky turning into a light show of colour.

"I have wings," Jojo echoed.

"And I can fly."

"I can fly..."

"Around the moon."

"And far beyond the sky..." Kirsty joined in, as they sang together, their voice fitting together so well. She felt so happy, witnessing both her friends finally discovering each other.

"You called my name and you set me free. One small voice in the universe," Horton sang, with Kirsty singing lightly in the background, even though she knew he couldn't hear her.

"One true friend in the universe," Jojo, and Kirsty separately, continued.

"Who believes in me," they all finished, as Jojo and Horton's voice faded out, the sky turning back to normal.

At that, Kirsty went back inside, shut the doors and sat down on her bed, her mind now at ease for the time being. She picked up her bag; feeling now would be a good time to have a better look at that book. She stroked the spine- she had always done this, believing that in order for the book to be a good read, one must be a good reader and respect the book at hand- , before placing the book lightly on her lap. Her fingers slowly traced around the black hole in the cover, its catching her eye most of all.

"What a peculiar book…" she commented out loud, as she turned the book over.

"I would prefer extraordinary if you wouldn't mind."

Kirsty gasped at hearing the gravelly voice, the book falling from her hands. As it landed on the floor, she heard it again. "Ouch! Careful! That hurt, you know!"

Warily, she picked up the book, to where the face of a dark haired man, who seemed to be in his thirties, looking straight at her from inside the circle. She didn't know how or if to react, she had become used to the crazy and impossible happening at unintentional times since landing in this world.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce yourself to me? Or are you just going to stand there and gawp?" his eyes fixed straight on the girl, his American accent having a joking tone.

Kirsty did as she was told, mustering up some courage to talk to them. "Kirsty, just Kirsty."

The face laughed. "Well, just Kirsty, I'm very happy to have met you. I should thank you for getting me off that dusty shelf. No one has done the least as even look at me for years, let alone taking the time to read me. So, thank you."

"I should be thanking you for the pleasure. I've never talked to a book before…it didn't think it was possible?" she told him, placing the book upright against the pillow.

The face smiled. "Well, we are in the world of Seussia. Anything is possible, as you and that other Thinker remarked a few days ago. Isn't that right?"

Kirsty raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Seussia? That's where we are? And you saw Jojo and me?"

"Oh, pardon me. Olden time phrasing. This realm's title is nowadays Seuss. It used to be known as Seussia in its prime," his voice hushed down, a moment of reflection taking the face over. "Anyways, to answer your other question, I rather heard you and Jojo. That musical number was quite spectacular. You have potential, young lady. Much potential."

"What do you mean by that?" Kirsty voice was strong, yet subtle, desperate to riddle out all the questions she had been passed on.

"To make things easier, let me first explain myself," the face grew serious, the room going uncomfortably quiet. "I am Ted, and I am the 'Inventor' of this encyclopaedia, which details all the worlds, characters and magic which makes up the realm of Seuss. Only a select few have been entrusted with me, and you are one of those few. I pass on a vast amount of knowledge and understanding, but not everything is as it is written."

A hand grasped around her necklace, Kirsty took a few moments to process everything. This book seemed to know a lot about this universe, the only one that might be able to get her out of this fantasy. "I can't help feel like myself landing here wasn't out of coincidence. Do you know how I came to come here? How I can get home?"

Ted nodded. "All in good time. You will change and so will this world. I will tell you not what you want to know, but what you need to know, only when the time is right. And when that time comes, you will understand," he simply said, the tone of a wise old man flooding into his still young voice. "But enough about that for the time being. You seemed caught, am I right in saying?"

"You could say that," Kirsty mumbled, putting her head in her hands. "On one side, my friend Horton is in the Jungle of Nool. He needs me, but I'm stuck here in Who. And then there's Jojo. It's because of me he's been enrolled in General Schmitz's military academy, and I can't help him either, because I have no idea how to get to him."

"Who says you can't help them? You're only limit to what you can and can't do is your soul, or in this case, your Thinks." Ted explained, giving her a reassuring smile.

"You mean I can go back to Nool? Or even to see Jojo?"

"If that is what you choose. You can do anything if you use your Thinks in the right way."

"But…how? Isn't it impossible?"

"Everything is impossible here, Kirsty. You just have to believe in them, and more importantly, your true self."

"I-I can't…I-I-"

"You don't have to fear your imagination. Embrace it. Picture yourself where you want to go, as detailed as you can, and just let your Thinks do the rest. But, choose carefully, your Thinks can only last so long, the same as your body."

Kirsty closed her eyes, gripped the necklace tight, before quickly making her mind up of where she wanted to go. "Thank you Ted." she whispered, before promptly disappearing.

Colour swirled around her, rapidly forming around her the Jungle of Nool. Opening her eyes, she saw Horton, who was sound asleep in his hut, the clover right by his side. She had chosen Nool since it would be easier to please both her friends by being in that world, not to mention the possible situation she could land herself in if she had chosen to see Jojo at the academy and not been able to Think herself to Nool before anyone caught her. The best she could do would talk to him via the clover.

But that would have to wait until morning, knowing that both she and Jojo would need enough strength to talk to each other, and the right moment to do it in. Tonight had been a great development, and with the hope that she had gathered, she hoped that for all, this turn would be for the better. Not to mention the fact she now had two completely different lives to control.

"Now I just need to make sure I stay out of trouble. That shouldn't be too hard…should it?"


(EDIT: This chapter was redone on the 17/04/2014. I have gone back to the cannon layout for the song, and redone the ending, and also completed some much needed spelling and grammar fix ups, changed dialogue tags and whatnot. If you have the time, could you please comment on this edited version?)