In The Long Run Chapter 14: Heartache Tonight, a lazytown fanfic

Chapter 14

Clyde sat down before Demetrius inside Tower One. Their eyes were closed as Demetrius held his hands against Clyde's face and studied his mind. The monk concentrated hard on finding the events of the previous day that Clyde had forgotten about as Stephanie, Amelie and Salazar stood by, watching.

"I sense… tension within you, son." Demetrius said in a low voice. "…Something is troubling you…"

"…Yes." Clyde admitted.

"…I see the café."

"The Lazy Rock."

"I see a girl."

"…Yes."

"A girl?" Stephanie gulped.

"Yes, a young woman." Demetrius continued. "…It's you, Stephanie."

"Oh." She sighed with relief.

"…But why are you…"

"Why am I what?"

Images began to flash in both Clyde's and Demetrius' minds. Images of Clyde being seduced by Remus' creation and trails of the mysterious red mist trailing in the air. A sudden flash of red light then showed Catalina shrouding herself over Clyde and whispering into his ear.

"You and I belong to each other, Clyde…" Her voice echoed. "No one can tear us apart."

"…But Stephanie…" Clyde muttered in a trance coinciding with his flashback. "…I love Stephanie…"

"I'm everything she is and more, Clyde… Don't defy me…"

Then another flashing red image of Remus cackling like a maniac and slitting his hand with a blade came into view, breaking Demetrius' connection with the young man. When they opened their eyes, sweating and breathing heavily, Amelie and Salazar gave each other concerned looks.

"What was it, Demetrius?" Amelie asked. "What happened?"

"I… I don't know…" The monk took a moment to catch his breath. "… But I have reason to believe Remus is behind this."

"…But what about Catalina?" Clyde stood up.

"Oh her again…" Stephanie rolled her eyes.

"No, I think she might be connected to him somehow."

"But you mentioned Stephanie's name as well." Salazar pointed out.

"Oh mon dieu." Amelie put her hand to her mouth. "Demetrius, Ça ne pas être sage! This cannot be good! What if Remus has somehow found a way to control people's minds and force them to do his bidding?"

"Remain calm, Amelie." Demetrius put his hand up.

"I've got to talk to Catalina." Clyde said as he headed for the door.

"Clyde, wait!" Stephanie ran after him.

As they hurried down the flight of steps to the base of the tower, Stephanie finally managed to Stop Clyde in his tracks. She put her hands on his and looked deep into his green eyes.

"Clyde, I don't want you to go to her again." She said worriedly. "I have a feeling something bad will happen this time."

"Stephanie, I've got to get to the bottom of this." He told her. "After everything weird that's happened, I think we can finally find out what Remus is up to."

"But I don't understand what this Catalina girl has to do with any of it. Why did Demetrius see me in those images? Why does she suddenly pop up when my name is mentioned?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out. Just stay here until I come back."

With that said, Clyde planted a kiss on the girl's lips and hurried off as Stingy, Trixie, Pixel and Ziggy approached her from behind.

"Is everything okay, Stephanie?" Ziggy asked.

"Oh…" Stephanie said as she tried to hide the tears from her eyes. "…Hi, guys. What's up?"

Pixel could see the fake smile on his friend's face and sighed. "Look, we heard everything."

"You did?"

"Yeah, Pinky." Trixie nodded. "I don't know what Clyde is planning to do with this Catalina chick but I know it's for the well-being of you, us and all of LazyTown."

"I hope you're right." Stephanie sniffled as she turned and headed back to the tower.

Trixie waited until her best friend was out of sight then sighed heavily with grief. She leaned against Stingy and rubbed her fingers against her forehead.

"Oh these two are headed for Heartbreak Ridge for sure." She groaned.

"What do you mean?" Ziggy asked with a pure look of innocence in his eye. "Stephanie and Clyde love each other!"

"Yeah but things change, Ziggy." Pixel shook his head. "The way Clyde's been spending time with Catalina lately, it looks like Stephanie's a thing of the past."

"What!?" Stingy suddenly burst. "We can't let them win! Remus is behind this! I know it! You know it!"

"But they don't know it." Trixie interrupted. "Not yet anyway. Not for sure. We have to let Clyde figure this all out first."

"So what do we do?" Ziggy impatiently stood around.

"I don't know. But what I do know is that someone is bound to get their heart broken."

Trixie glumly looked down on the ground and put her hands in her pockets as she walked over to the soccer field. Ziggy, Stingy and Pixel did the same thing and followed Trixie as they voiced their prediction:

Somebody's gonna hurt someone. Before the night is through.

Somebody's gonna come undone. There's nothing we can do.

Everybody wants to touch somebody. If it takes all night.

Everybody wants to take a little chance. Make it come out right.

There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!

Lord, I know!

Trixie looked up and noticed the sun starting to set. She shook her head and explained to her friends:

Now some people like to stay out late.

Some folks can't hold out that long.

But nobody wants to go home now.

There's too much going on.

Stingy nodded in agreement and shared his own thoughts:

This night is gonna last forever.

Last all, last all summer long.

Some time before the sun comes up,

The radio's gonna play that song.

The four friends covered their ears, fell to the floor then looked up to the heavens and shouted:

There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!

Lord, I know!

There's gonna be a heartache tonight! The moon's shining bright!

So turn out the light and we'll get it right!

There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!

Soon they all got back up on their feet and joined arms, skipping around town singing their hip and upbeat yet mildly depressing song to the people of LazyTown:

Somebody's gonna hurt someone. Before the night is through.

Somebody's gonna come undone. There's nothing we can do.

Everybody wants to touch somebody. If it takes all night.

Everybody wants to take a little chance. Make it come out right.

There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!

We can beat around the bushes, we can get down to the bone!

We can leave it in the parking lot! But either way,

There's gonna be a heartache tonight! A heartache tonight, I know!

There's gonna be a--

Suddenly, the four stopped in their tracks as Trixie came to a realization:

"Wait a minute, why are we singing about this!? This sucks!"

"I want to speak to a lawyer!" Bob demanded as he held onto the steel bars before him.

He and his companions were taken in by the Mutari guardsmen and locked away in a dark cell hidden behind the golden walls of the ancient city. After much protest, the guards decided it best to remind them who was in charge. They decided Dramatik would be made an example of and beat the living crap out of him some more. However, When Astral, Bob and the Professor continued to lack discipline and order, Dramatik felt the iron hand of the law once again. After several cycles of rinse and repeat, and when Dramatik finally passed out, Astral and the gang were placed in a holding cell beneath their superiors until judgment could be passed on them.

"This ain't fair!" Bob spat on the ground. "Those jerks are makin' a big mistake! How do they expect us to save the world when we's down here rottin' like a couple of eggs!?"

"Be patient, Bob." Astral said calmly as he sat on the stone bench. "We will wait until they send one of the centurions to take us up. The council will have to hear our story first before they can pass judgment."

"Well I hope yer right."

"Oh the thuthpenth ith killing me!" The Professor gleamed like a fool. "I can't wait to thee what the thity lookth like!"

"Oh, the pain…" Dramatik's barely audible voice droned on as he laid on his back on another stone slab. "…The pain… never before have I experienced such a thrashing. Such magnificent precision in preserving the sheer agony that is now running down my backside… And now my front and my sides are splitting. Burning! Bruising! Bleeding!"

"Hey, thith guyth creeping me out. Athtral, I thay we finith the job!"

"No one's laying a finger on Dramatik." Astral shook his head. "He's been through enough."

The Professor nodded. "Fine. You know, what got me all confuthed ith who in the heck beat the crap out of uth?"

"Oh you mean when we was standin' outside them gates!?" Bob hopped on the man's shoulder.

"Yeth, exactly! Athtral, you remember! It looked like thumone kicked you in the chetht and--"

"His name is Chameleon." Astral answered. "I should have known he would be here."

"Chameleon?"

"He is the personal assassin of one of the most powerful dark magicians ever to have set foot in this sacred city."

"Dark magician?" Bob scoffed. "Are you kiddin' me? Worse than Remus?"

"Much worse. His name was Reiko Jynn-Khan. He taught me all about the dark arts."

"What do you mean he taught ya?"

"I was his apprentice. He was the one who created the magic amulets and intended to use them for his own evil deeds. But when the council forced him out of power, he bestowed them onto me until I too was defeated. They took 3 of the 4 and scattered them throughout the land. I kept the Earth amulet until Remus took it from me and Stephanie now has the Fire amulet in her possession."

"So I'm guessin' yer hopin' that maybe they know where the other two amulets are?"

"Yes."

"So that would be, uhh… let's see… Water?"

"Yes."

"Water and, uhh…"

"Chocolate!" The Professor blurted out.

Bob just gave him a dirty look. "Chocolate!? What, are you on medication or something!?

"Thorry. I got ecthited."

"So where is this Chameleon now?" Dramatik asked as he remained flat on his back.

"He's not in this room, I can tell you." Astral said with his eyes closed, as if he could actually sense the man's presence.

"What duth he want?" The Professor lisped. "If hith matter ith dead then--"

"He is not dead." Astral said as he opened his eyes. "He's here. Alive and… well, he's alive. So it would seem. And if I'm right, Chameleon has followed us here to release him from his cell."

"Aah!" Bob hopped off the Professor's shoulder in a frenzy. "He's in here wit us!? Why didn't you warn us, ya big palooka!?"

"Not this type of cell, Bob."

"Huh?"

Elsewhere, in an even darker part of the great city of gold, the assassin now known as Chameleon wandered through the rocky edges of a hidden temple. As he camouflaged himself with the grayscale of the dark walls, he managed to get past the Mutari guards and approach a mounted statue of gold. The figure stood tall in a casual pose as if to say to his captors that he does not fear death nor will he ever. The Chameleon neutralized his camouflage abilities and revealed his skintight suit of black. He then kneeled before the figure before him.

"Master Reiko." He said softly. "I have returned for you."