What happens when you try to get a rather nasty reptile to listen? You'll find out!

Don't own it, lemme alone… Although if you don't recognize it from the movie I'd appreciate it if you left it alone, because that IS mine, I don't want anything from you but reviews. Help me out here, be a friend. I promise it won't kill you.

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Mike was in a bit of a hurry. Rachel had alerted him and Sully that Randall was up and about, but there was something a little off. He had reverted back to his original coloring. Not the purple he was known for, but the one he had used as a kid into his teen years, and a bit beyond, ending in his years working in Monsters Inc, when he had changed to purple, for reasons unknown... This didn't bode well, and Mike was quick to get to Sully and talk to him.

"He's black and red now…"

"I know… you don't think that the secondary let him have control?"

"It's possible… but what does that do to us?" Mike asked pacing in front of him.

"I don't know, it's likely that he is going to be rather…worse than usual…"

"I don't want to even THINK about THAT possibility." Mike paused in his frantic pacing and furrowed his brow slowly. "You know, it's odd, he was purple when he was working on the extractor…you don't think that the secondary was the one in charge there do you?"

Sully paused blinking, "That's a point…I'm not sure Mike. Maybe the color doesn't have anything to do with who's the secondary or who's not, his sister is back now. Maybe he figured he should return to the color that used to be associated with him…"

"Not likely, he could have turned it back when he got here…"

"He did…" Sully paused looking at Mike with wide eyes. "Toby…"

"But the eyes were blue Sul…"

"So, the point remains, he had the black coloration, the red fronds, the red stripe…the only thing missing were the weird rings around his eyes…"

"What do you think those are there for anyway?" Mike asked his eyebrow cocking.

"Who knows… Probably something he added freak people out a little more. It looks like blood…" Sully said shrugging, but something said he knew more about it than he let on, Mike let it go though, if Sully was keeping secrets, there probably was a reason. As such Mike went with it,

"He has a sick sense of humor…" Mike said sighing. He shook his head and dropped into a chair.

"That's one way of putting it…" Sully answered the corner of his mouth twitching. "We should check up on him…"

"So we can be killed? Great idea Sul…"

"He's in a hospital bed for heavens sake Mike… Don't think he will be able to do anything to us lying in one of those…"

"Point made…alright, I'll go, but I won't like it…"

Randall hadn't moved. Rachel was getting worried; she had been standing there with a rather mortified expression on her face as soon as she had entered the room. It wasn't like Randall, or she didn't think so, she only met him when he turned 9, and honestly, she hadn't been a very good sister to him. A fact that she had regretted, ever since she had begun to realize he hadn't tried to steal her parents from her. Ever since she realized exactly what he had been through, ever since that day…

Losing her own parents was enough to make her stretch out, take his hand and help him. It hadn't been enough though. One night she went out with a group of friends to a movie. Randall hadn't wanted to go, nothing too unusual about that, he never did like to socialize, but he did enjoy the movie that was playing. He'd been asking her to take him to it, she had refused for a while but once she got tickets and was able to take him, he didn't want to go.

Dismissing it as teenage whimsy she decided to just go. She had never regretted anything more in her life. She had returned to find Randall with a knife pressed along his wrist. He was 14. Luckily he had needed to argue with his other self in his head before he could do anything, which took a lot longer than one would imagine.

Yet here she was, sitting next to an unresponsive Randall in extremely similar circumstances to that night 15 years ago, only he had managed to do it. She didn't know what to do. She cursed the guide, and blessed the secondary that had held out for so long. As soon as she had seen the color change she had known what had happened, why he was acting so different. His secondary had managed to take over briefly. It had been amazing; she had seen him like he used to be. Dark witted, yet still able to play around and goof off.

She missed that. She missed him. She missed the brother that used to freak her out, yet still manage to make her burst into tears of laughter.

"Hey Rachel…"

She jerked at the sudden voice. So did Randall, but neither her, nor the visitors noticed that.

Turning around she looked at Sully who had somehow managed to get the door open and walk in without her noticing, she looked lower and saw Mike standing there as well.

"How is he?"

"He hasn't moved. I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but it seemed best to just let it go. After all, who would believe he gave up so much?"

"It's okay. I understand. So you met him when he was nine, what age were you?"

"I was 15 when I fist met him." Rachel answered. "It was unusual, having a kid like Randall around. My parents seemed to give their entire attention to him, and ignore me. I know now that it was probably a good thing they did."

"Why?"

"You probably know why, after all, who wouldn't have issues like that…"

"Wait…you're not saying that he IS suicidal are you?!"

"Funny, you almost say that as though you actually CARED Sullivan…" They jumped turning to face the bed where Randall had seemed to have just woken up out of a stupor. His eyes were narrowed darkly, the red rings around them enhancing the shape and making the green that much brighter. They appeared to almost glow, but it wasn't a happy glow, it was a piercing, deadly sort of glow, the light at the end of the tunnel.

"I do…"

"You care? Hmm, interesting, you care." His voice was spitting, the forked tongue seeming to get a little more trouble with the s's causing a hiss. "Alright Sullivan, you care so much, tell me one thing, why? Why throw me into that world? What did that get ya'? Did it get ya' recognition for being the one who finally got rid of the freak? What's the matter?" He asked softly noticing the slight shake of his head. "You should have seen this comin' Sullivan. Should have known that what you were seeing was too good to be true. The jerk was actually being nice and you let it be."

"Randall that's not true, it didn't get me anything, just guilt…"

"You let me ROT there for nine years Sullivan; NINE doesn't sound like guilt to me, sounds more like a convenient way to kill someone. Just chuck em in and be done…"

"That's not true, it's not true…"

"Oh yeah? Then I suppose you would be grieved to know that you almost did kill me?"

Mike couldn't take it anymore. "Oh yeah, boo hoo, you got a big scar on your head, so what?"

Randall's eyes flared, his coloring only enhanced the feeling that they should run and hide somewhere. "Sure, that's it Wazowski, I have a big scar on my head, is that what ya' think?" Rachel had her mouth hanging open slowly realizing something. She had never seen any scars. He had had stitches a while ago, fixing his tail, the tip had been badly broken, he never would tell how. That's why it was bent. But there were no scars to speak of, even on scales that was impossible.

Randall laughed insanely, "Figured it out finally? Took ya long enough. I suppose I don't blame you, after all who wants to remember the time that a family member almost succeeded in killing themselves?"

"You tried to…"

"Yes Sullivan, I was 14 figured I had had enough. My parents hated me, didn't want me, I'm sure you figured that out by now… Probably did some digging, met that old bat Elizabeth didn't you? Interesting woman isn't she? Never could leave well enough alone."

"She cared about you…"

"Sullivan, if she had cared about me she would have tried. She didn't even try; she just…let it go. Quit, figured I was a hopeless case, heck I AM a hopeless case. Do you know what that's like? Having someone dismiss you because they begin to realize there's no point in trying?" Randall shook his head in mock sadness. "And back to you Wazowski, you really think a scar on my head is all I have to show for nine years in that pit?" He snickered. "Not even close."

He pushed himself up, removing some of the wires that displayed his vitals and snaked to his veins, providing him nutrients and other things. Sliding out of bed he stood upright to his full height and changed his coloring to a white and let the coloring on the scars and bruises vanish.

There was a moment of shocked silence, until finally, with a gasp of something like horror from Rachel who had sunk to the ground, it was broken. Sully stared, his eyes wide, fearful, shocked.

"Not pleasant is it? But I suppose that's what you get for being a human Guinea pig…" Randall glanced at himself in boredom and shifted back to his black coloring. "So you care do you? Did you care then? Do you care now? Is this just something you'll notice now and forget a few days later?"

"Randall…if I had known…"

"Well you didn't, I'm curious Sullivan, back then, would you have given a shit? If you had known that this is what I'd come back looking like would you have even cared?"

Sully paused. He couldn't say. In the heat of the moment, he had thought of nothing else except for the safety of the little girl in his arms, for that matter, what had Randall been to him? A freak, a jerk, someone to make fun of, he hadn't done it often, but he couldn't deny the fact that that had been what he had thought of him. He tried to be better, give him the benefit of a doubt, trying to at least treat him with some respect. But it was difficult. When the person you were trying to give respect to was so sick and twisted, it was hard. But he knew that he would have never wished that sort of thing on anyone. Never.

"Yes, I would have cared. No one deserves to go through what you did, what you had to. It's not right, no one needs to be abandoned, no one needs to know that their parents hated them, no one needs to have the world be against them, and I'm sorry. I'm truly deeply sorry," Sully said softly, Mike made a small celebratory movement as he realized exactly what he had said. Randall blinked, the eyes reflecting something like an internal struggle, then, just when they thought they had managed to get through to him the door swung open.

"YOU SHOULDN'T BE OUT OF BED!" The nurse shouted, Randall simply rolled his eyes at her. But before he could even open his mouth, his sister pounced on the opportunity, and quickly walked forward grabbing him tightly by his wrist.

"He's fine; I'm taking him home…"

There should have been a protest, a last minute check up to make sure all was really well with the terrifying looking reptile, but there wasn't. There was a signing of forms and a permission to leave, and with that, they were gone. Leaving Mike and Sully oddly shaken, and horribly peeved, if only that nurse had opened the door a little later, they might have gotten through to him… Now the progress had been made and most likely lost.

What were they going to do?

"I suppose Mikey Buddy…that the only thing we can really do now, is wait…"

"Wait for a psycho reptile to kill us? Oh why can't he do it now?!"

"Mike…"

"I mean why don't we go after him, hand him something and let him kill us?" He continued on, blabbering away frantically.

"Mikey…"

"I mean, wouldn't it be better…"

"MIKE!" Sully finally shouted out, halting Mike's babblings mid sentence. "Listen to me Mike, what about Kyle?"

"Kyle… What about him?"

Sully silently cursed the fact that when Mike was nervous his mind clicked out and he didn't focus properly. But, he was his friend, scatterbrained or no, he was his friend. "Kyle, he can get through to him, he enjoys being around him, he likes that kid as a student, and possibly as something like a friend. Kyle looks up to him, Randall enjoys that, he won't do anything to hurt that fact I think… Meaning…it's unlikely he will actually hurt you…"

"But, why?"

"He knows what it's like, not having parents that are there for him. Celia will have to work longer hours if you're dead, probably not spend enough time with him, and that will almost be the same as not having a mother. Do you think he'd honestly wish that life on anyone?"

Mike thought for a minute his eye slowly widening in comprehension. "He wouldn't…would he? You're right…he wouldn't, but what about you? You don't exactly have ties that will keep him from making mincemeat out of you…"

"Don't worry, I don't think he will. I reached him once; I can probably do it again. He's emotionally traumatized. Has been for years, if I can reach that bit, then maybe I'll be able to help him."

"How?"

"Tear some wounds open. I don't know how else to do it Mike…"

"What, like, rip his scar or something?!"

"There are more than physical wounds Mike… Much more…" Sully said softly his eyes narrowed in consideration.

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Oh boy, things are heating up… Alright then, concerning Randall's color scheme, yes I know he's purple, yes I know it's slightly emo, although I prefer Goth, and yes I am aware that it's unlikely. However, I never did think that his original color scheme matched his attitude, or personality, or job. I never pictured him as the purple and blue type. Why he WAS purple and blue in my story will be answered eventually, but for now, he's black and red. I might draw it sometime…show you. Anyway, in case you haven't noticed, this story IS in some ways very much an A.U. but it mainly sticks to the story that you're told in the movie so I don't think it should be fully classified as such. Alright, won't bore you with meaningless drivel anymore. Next chapter soon…