"Fear?" was the muffled question from behind the purple emotions back.
All the other emotions soon followed his actions as they all snapped their heads around before frantically rushing over to Courage, who eyes were fluttering open which meant she struggled to get herself up onto her feet.
The pale emotions suffering was soon cut short as the grey particles that had previously invaded her body were now sliding down from her, revealing her natural creamy colour which sent a warm feeling down each emotions spine.
Courage gave the each and every emotion a look of confusion as she staggered to her feet with the help of Joy and Sadness.
"Wh-what's going on?" Courage slurred as she slowly regained the strength to walk and talk unassisted.
The whole of headquarters went painfully silent until Joy decided it was time she stepped up and took on the leading role.
Joy hesitated as she tried to retrieve her positive vibes before answering the pale emotions question.
"Well, we have just made up with Katrina…" Joy trailed off as she came to a halt before quickly adding, "which is a good thing because now she can support us during the hockey match next week!"
The yellow emotion finished off her sentence in her usually cheery tone, as she happily pressed a button that made Riley blurt out a similar sentence the star had a few seconds ago.
However, during the first happy sentence, Riley had heard herself say in a while, Katrina awkwardly cleared her throat which created a queasy feeling inside the purple emotions stomach.
"Uh, guys…" Fear said anxiously at the same time as Katrina nervously added, "Riley I hate to tell you but the match is tomorrow."
Having not been expected to be exposed to such a huge shock, Riley coughed and spluttered as the sudden news nearly made her choke on the cookie she had been nibbling since her arrival.
In headquarters, all the emotions gasped, except Sadness who hid behind her jumper.
"This isn't good, this can't be happening!" Was the trembled murmur that came from the back of headquarters, soon revealing that the murmur belonged to no other than Fear who trembled himself.
Before any of the others got a chance to have their say Katrina beat them to it by saying, "I only found out because Sam wrote a status about it on her facebook page… Besides, she wasn't that particularly nice about it when mentioning you."
"I know…. BUT you know what? I'm going to show them just what they have got themselves in for!" Riley exclaimed with confidence, a feeling that until now had been erased from existence.
However back in headquarters, the emotions were all stood near each other, except Courage who had found her way to the console, frantically pressing buttons as if to prove she was still able to help when necessary.
All eyes were on Courage as they watched her happily cheer and dance around the whole of headquarters, while trying to figure out what could have caused this sudden and quite frankly odd mood swing.
Joy, in particular, had witnessed most of the pale emotions strange explosion of words. However, she was soon to be snapped out of her thoughts when Courage cheerfully slapped Joys shoulders as she blurted out her rambled sentence of,
"Come on you lot, don't be scared! This is our chance to prove to the world what Riley Anderson is truly made of!"
Once letting go of the yellow emotions shoulder which ached from the tight grasp of her pale hands, Courage's already beady eyes went wider as an instant thought whizzed through her head.
Then within seconds Courage yelled out a high-pitched "Oh wow, I can really feel that rush of confidence running down my veins. And just think of how jealous Shelly and the others will be when Riley scores the winning goal for the team!"
Growing concerned for her creamy coloured friend, Joy stepped beside her and calmly explained that she had made her point. But despite this Courage carried on, having taken no apparent notice of the stars attempt to bring her back to her normal self.
Instead, Joy and the others were treated to another rambled sentence when Courage spun herself around to face the others, leaning her shoulder on Sadness to keep her balance as she excitedly exclaimed,
"In fact, I think it may even be safe to say Riley is now so positive about winning that-" Then without warning Courage cut herself off from her own sentence, a wide grin promptly making it's way onto her lips as she blurted out a rather loud, "hang on, I've totally forgotten about something!"
All the emotions hesitated for a moment , wondering while at the same time anxious of what Courage may have forgotten. However, it wasn't long before their question was given an answer, even if it did consist of a jumble of words.
Twirling around the other emotions like an out of control roundabout, Courage shrieked when practically screaming out, "seeing as Riley had her unlimited confidence back, confidence island should be back too!"
"Let's go check it out!" was the last of her speech as in no time at all Courage had rather quickly made her way towards the huge window, that displayed each and every island.
"No!" all the emotions called out at the same time just before realising that they were too late, as Courage already had her hands and face pressed against the window in search for Confidence island.
"Guys, where is it?" The pale emotion asked in a more disappointed, quieter volume, despite the fact she was still smiling.
An awkward silence invaded the atmosphere for a couple of minutes before one of them had to tactfully but at the same time, gently break the news to the currently eager pale emotion.
"Uh Courage" Disgust began, who soon found herself unable to finish off the rest of her much-required sentence.
Noticing that the green emotion was struggling, Anger and Joy both decided to step in and help out. But as it turned out, they too found it intensely difficult to find the right words for the job.
In the end, it was Sadness who came up with the words as she softly informed the pale emotion that Confidence island hadn't come back yet.
Managing to keep her smile visible, Courage who had calmed down a tiny bit asked in more or less the same tone as before, "what- what do you mean?"
Joy sighed as she for the second time tried to step in to help, this time, she was able to make her contribution useful as she also used a gentle voice when saying, "look Courage there is something about confidence island we need to tell you."
The pale emotion just stood lifelessly as if she already knew what Joy had to say.
Joy sighed as the unnecessary awkwardness of the whole situation started to eat at her. However, after forcing herself to swallow down her worries, the yellow emotion did eventually tell Courage that Confidence island wouldn't be making an appearance.
But having to explain why was something else entirely, which the yellow emotion just couldn't bring herself to say, as she was still in the process of understanding it herself.
Suddenly at that very moment was when the dreaded one worded question made it's way in the out and open.
"Why?" was the very question Courage asked that each emotion was desperate not to hear.
All the emotions sighed just as Disgust simply said, "the only way that we will ever gain confidence island back will be up to you and…"
The yellow emotion was interrupted yet again as Courage eagerly replied with,
"Of course, that's my job." Her grin from earlier returning at a slightly inappropriate time.
"But you're not going to be doing it alone," Anger bluntly said, showing no emotion in his voice.
Courage tilted her head in confusion. "What? What do you mean I'm not going to do it alone?" She then focused her gaze onto Joy before adding in a happier voice, "oh Joy why didn't you tell me you were in on this? After all, you're a brilliant role model towards the group!"
Joy let out a small smile of appreciation at the fact that Courage respected her enough to consider letting herself be guided by her just as the other emotions did. But this time, it wasn't going to be the case.
The star took a couple of steps towards Courage so she was stood right beside her as she gently told her , "I'm very flattered that you consider me as a good role model, but I have to tell you that I'm not the one for this job.
Courage's huge grin from earlier dramatically disappeared as the yellow emotions words sunk in. "Okay, Joy since it's not you, who is it?"
Since the beginning of the pale emotions mad moment, Fear had kept himself out of the whole conversation, until at that very moment when Disgust and Anger both dragged him towards Courage, silently pointing at him as if he was a criminal.
"Fear?" Courage mentally repeated to herself a couple of time before saying his name out loud.
"Yes" was all the green and red emotion could say. At this point, it was all up to Joy and Sadness to finish what they had started.
Clearing her throat Joy then said, "you need Fear in order for Riley to experience the true feeling of confidence."
"But were the opposite of each other, how can that possibly work?" Courage questioned suspiciously, causing Fear to quietly whimper even though he wasn't actively involved in the conversation.
All of a sudden, Courage found herself being shown the core memory that had Fear's purple streak placed on one-half of the ball. As all the emotions watched the memory play through the ball till the very end Joy took it as her opportunity to say,
"So you see, without Fear Riley can't be confident in herself or anything at all, so you and Fear have to put your differences aside and work…" The yellow emotion trailed off as she found herself stopping for no apparent reason.
"Together!" Sadness finished off, sending a warm feeling of relief down the other emotions veins.
The sudden realisation of what they needed to do in order to accomplish getting Confidence island back hit her like a runaway train. Opening and closing her mouth like a fish, she was unable to speak from the impact of the massive shock she had been the victim of.
As for Fear, circumstances weren't that much different.
Well talk about being in the heat of the moment, was all that came to mind when all eyes were suddenly on him. Amongst their stares most gave off genuine concern, while one or two were more along the lines of petrified. Fear gulped as the pressure soon grabbed its opportunity to get the better of him. The purple emotion then faced the floor in an attempt to hide his painfully obvious feeling of fear.
Meanwhile, Courage had been brave enough to take a look at Fear before she too copied his tactic of hiding the pain. On the other hand, she wanted to sort this out just as much as she knew Fear did, so, therefore, she had to be the one to put it right.
"Fear?" Was all she needed to say to grab the purple emotions attention, needless to say, it worked.
Courage remained silent for a minute before letting herself say what she needed to say.
"Ok, so I know this past couple of weeks haven't exactly been our greatest moments and I'm sure you feel the same way right?"
Fear nodded weakly, now slightly glancing up at the pale emotion.
"I know as well as you do that this needs to be sorted out, not just for our sakes but for Riley's too."
Courage didn't wait for an answer so instead she added, "so we need to leave the past in the past and get on with making sure that tomorrow's hockey match is a successful one."
Fear made himself look fully into Courage's yellow eyes as he sternly agreed to the pale emotions statement.
Courage then held out one of her pale hands signalling her wish to call a truce.
"For Riley." Was all she needed to say.
Fear reached his purple hand out to shake Courage's pale one, both emotions looking into each other's eyes as they shook hands in silence.
For Riley.
A/N- Thank you for all the support I have had throughout this story so far, you lot have been amazing! I am so sorry I have been updating my stories regularly as I have been asked to work more days now. However, I am now going to be trying my hardest to update Little miracles so please be patient with me.