I Love You, Handy.
Chapter 36. ...I'm so sorry...
Meanwhile back at Smurf Village, it was already late in the afternoon. Everysmurf had already prepared for the other Smurfs' return along with Hefty and Handy. The entire village was decorated with multi-colorful streamers, balloons, and flowers on every mushroom house, including Hefty and Handy's. There were tables put out smurfily all over with white table cloths and chairs nicely decorated. There also were two really long tables for the food catered by both Chef and Baker. They've put so much hard work to get the banquet good and smurf; they were already starting to grow irritated having to wait for the others' return. Not only were they the ones waiting, but the rest of Smurf Village as well.
Crazy Smurf was on the lookout to spot them heading back while he kept looking up to the clear, blue sky. Ashli Smurf had been standing in the middle of the village along with Vanity, Jokey, Smurfette, Shini, and Brainy who have all been waiting long and patiently for the Smurfs's safe return. And as they did, the black-haired Smurfette couldn't take much more and started to worry.
"God, where in smurfs are they? They should've been here by now!"
"I'll say," the Smurf with the yellow flower in his hat replied, "It's already late in the afternoon; and I'm starting to discover a worry line on me!" He then looked into his hand mirror and said, "And if that keeps happening; my beautiful face will be ruined!"
"Ahh, your face is already as worried as it is!" Jokey said, turning to him. "In fact, I think I'm starting to see some wrinkles on you!"
"What?!" Vanity quickly then looked back in his hand mirror in shock and began to wail endlessly.
"Ahahahahaha!"
"I just hope nothing happened..." Smurfette worried.
"Maybe they decided to stay there a little longer to give the storks some rest," Shini implied.
"Well, if you ask me, I don't see why Papa didn't let me smurf along..." Brainy spoke as he walked up to them. "I mean yeah, I am his assistant and all... But if I had smurfed along; we would've gotten both Hefty and Handy back here sooner."
"That maybe..." Ashli stuttered a little when she turned t him. "But uh, I think Papa was in a hurry, so he didn't have the time to find ya and stuff..."
"What'd you mean, 'didn't have the time'?" the bespectacled Smurf spoke harshly. "He had all the time in the world he needed and he didn't bother to ask me if I can join him? He let Clumsy go with him for smurfs sake, but did he bother to ask me? Noooo... I think Papa Smurf would've smurfed me along because I know so much more there is around outside the village. We've been on so many quests; I already know every single place we've gone to! And if you ask me, I-"
And before Brainy could continue, Jokey suddenly whacked him in the face with a smurfberry cream pie he had smurfed off the catering table. Brainy's face was now covered with cream as some of it started to fall to the ground. "That'll smurf ya until they come back!" Jokey cried out. "Ahahahahaha!"
"Well, now I know why he didn't smurf you along after all!" Ashli couldn't help but laugh, "Hahahaha!"
The bespectacled brunette too began to laugh as well with them. Afterwards, she then looked up to the sky and sighed, saying, "Maybe I should let Wolke look if he can spot them somewhere."
"Good idea," Ashli turned to her. "He sure can use a little exercise for his little wings. He should be around right?"
Shini nodded in response and then called out for him. "Wolke, come here!" Soon the little blue smurfberry bird quickly made his way to them as he landed in Shini's hands and chirped. "Hey there, could you maybe fly towards Smurf Paradise and look if you can see Papa and the others are close by?" In response, Wolke nodded and flapped his wings. "Alright. Thank you!" she said as she then let him fly to go look for them.
"Your bird is just so cute..." Ashli said looking up to the sky as Wolke flew. "I'm glad you and Gutsy kept him."
"If it weren't for him; we wouldn't have ever smurfed another way to communicate with our friends," Jokey agreed as he walked up to them. "I just can't wait for them to come back soon so they'll see what surprise I got in store for them!" He then held onto one of his surprises he normally had in his grasp laced with red ribbon around a bright, colored, yellow box.
"Please... Don't tell me it will go 'boom', will it...?" Ashli said to him.
"Hmmm... Maybe..." the jokester began to snicker.
"Oh boy..." the dark-haired Smurfette rolled her eyes and laughed a little.
"You really want to welcome them with an explosion?" Shini asked, turning to Jokey with a smile.
"Don't you have anything nicer than this?" Smurfette giggled.
"Hahaha! Don't worry... I would never actually do that to them after not seeing them for so long. But I do have something even better in here that you all cannot smurf until they come back!" Jokey afterwards pat his present lightly and couldn't wait to smurf them his 'surprise' real soon.
"Well, it better not be another smurfberry cream pie 'cuz if it is; I'll tell Papa Smurf what you did to me!" Brainy cried, who was still covered with pie on his face as he wiped the cream off his glasses with a cloth.
"Oh, smurf it up already..." Ashli giggled.
"Well, Brainy, I think you should take a shower," Shini suggested. "Or do you want to look like a pie once they're back?"
"Hmph... Very funny..." Brainy mumbled as he adjusted his glasses.
Not too far from where they were all standing, Crazy suddenly sounded the alarm with his famous cry. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"You hear that?" Vanity listened as Crazy kept repeating his alarm. "That must be Crazy's signal!"
Ashli then looked back up to the sky and saw Wolke who was already coming back to them. He flew down again and started to flap his wings excitedly. The little German Smurfette smiled at him and said to her bird, "Did you see them? Are they here?" The smurfberry bird chirped happily and nodded in a 'yes'.
"Ohh, finally!" the golden-haired Smurfette cried happily.
"Oh!" Ashli gasped happily, "I can't wait to see the look on their faces! I'm so going to hug them both when they smurf down here! It's been too long since we last saw them!"
"Yes, me too!" Shini replied with a bright smile. "We should all give them a smurfy group hug!"
"I know they accepted my apology, but I'm still a little nervous. But mostly excited...!"
"Don't worry..." Ashli turned to Smurfette with a smile, "I think they'll be happy to see that everything between you and them is way past behind now!"
"Here they come!" Some Smurf cried.
Everyone all soon looked up as they saw four storks coming into the village. Papa and the Smurfs were still high up, but they were coming in closer for a quick landing. All the other Smurfs cheered and shouted with glee now that they were all happy to finally welcome them all back home.
"I can see Greedy and Farmer! Hey, Farmer!" Ashli cried when she looked to the sky and waved up to him.
"And I can see my Gutsy!" Shini cried as she began to jump around.
Before Papa and the others were ready to land, Handy looked down sadly as he saw all the Smurfs cheering for them. He still held Hefty's hand all this time and looked back to him. Papa soon turned to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Everything will be alright..." he spoke softly to him. His face was calm and kept a straight look to him. He didn't shed one tear along the way back, but he made sure everything would be clear once they'd got Hefty down safely so they can heal his wound. Handy looked up to his father and didn't say anything. All he could do was nod a little.
And so, while all the Smurfs still cheered on, Feathers and the other three storks finally made their way down and landed safely right in the middle of the village. Gutsy had been the first to get off his stork as he hurriedly smurfed over to Feathers. Shini suddenly stopped cheering as her face suddenly turned from happy to shock when she seen Gutsy had been flying by himself the whole time. Ashli's smile too started to fade when both Farmer and Greedy gotten off their stork, but with sadness in their eyes. Soon, the rest of the Smurfs cheers and smiles began to fade as they all saw what had happened next.
Gutsy quickly helped Papa bring Hefty down while he was still unconscious as Handy followed them. They both held onto Hefty from one arm on each end and slowly made their way through the crowd to smurf him to his house. The Smurfs all gasped in shock and couldn't believe their fragile eyes for what they had seen.
"Wh-wh-what's going on?" One Smurf called out.
As Smurfette saw Hefty in the condition he was in, she suddenly gasped in horror and covered her mouth with both hands. Shini looked to Gutsy as they walked by, carrying Hefty and cried, "Gutsy! What happened?"However, the Scotsman didn't respond. All he could do was look to her and then focused on bringing Hefty to his home to mend his bloody wound. Handy was close by and didn't look at anybody while he followed both Papa and Gutsy.
Clumsy had already gotten off his stork as Grouchy got off with him as well. Although the young Smurf was deeply and truly saddened, Grouchy also had a deep sad look on his face with his brow burrowed. Brainy was able to wipe off the rest of the cream off his face from earlier and soon saw Papa and Gutsy with Hefty. His eyes were completely shocked as he adjusted his glasses just to be sure what he was seeing wasn't real. Ashli on the other hand stood quiet, not knowing what was going on until her body suddenly started to tremble when she seen Hefty.
"We have to smurf him to his home immediately before he gets worse," Papa said to Gutsy.
"Aye, Papa."
And as they both smurfed from the crowd along with Handy by their side, the other Smurfs were puzzled and shocked, wondering what had happened. Shini had then turned back to the others worriedly when she still didn't get an answer from anybody. Soon, both Grouchy and Clumsy slowly walked up to Brainy and the others. The bespectacled Smurf with the freckles on his cheeks couldn't help but ask his friend about the situation as he walked up a little closer to him.
"Clumsy... What happened...?"
Ashli had looked to Clumsy and Grouchy worriedly and then saw Farmer and Greedy heading towards them. Seeing they were smurfing closer, she suddenly ran up to them with tears beginning to form in her eyes crying out, "Farmer! What happened?! What's wrong with Hefty?!"
When Farmer saw his girl in distress, he looked to her and then turned to Greedy for a short minute. Then he looked back at her as he placed his head down sadly. Ashli waited for his response, but all was quiet while the other Smurfs all around muttered about the issue. Until then, the country farm boy began to stutter as he tried to find his words. "I-i-it was..."
"It was what?" her voice broke, "Please, somesmurf tell me what's going on!"
"It was... It was my fault..." Greedy said.
"Your fault...?" she asked, turning to him. "What do you mean...?"
"Greedy, please... It wasn't your fault..." Farmer said worriedly to him.
"It was! Handy was right... If we wouldn't have taken that break, all this would've never happened...!"
"What would've never happened...?"
And before Farmer said anything, he turned his head back to her and took a deep breath. "...Gargamel..."
"What?!"
Back where the others were, Brainy was talking to Clumsy when he heard the news about the wizard from him. "You mean he almost smurfed you?!"
"Well, h-he first smurfnapped Handy," Clumsy replied. "And after we got him back and wanted to smurf back home, Gargamel chased us with some gigantic flying machine...!"
"A giant flying machine?!" the comedic Smurf called out. "Now how was he able to smurf such a thing like that?"
"But you all managed to escape afterwards, right?" Vanity said.
"Papa was able to manipulate that machine while we were high up in the sky...! But then..." Before the little young Smurf could finish, he began to feel tears filling his eyes. "But then..."
"Then what, Clumsy...?" Brainy said looking to him and grasped his shoulders.
Back with Farmer, he replied to Ashli with a heavy heart about what had happened next. "...Parts of the machine when it smurfed headed straight towards Hefty, smurfin' him right in his side..."
After Ashli heard the news of how Hefty got hurt, her voice started to crack even more as tears began to stream down her face. Her whole body trembled and quickly turned to the others, listening to them gasp from what they heard from Clumsy. Then she turned back to Farmer shaking her head and couldn't believe what she had heard.
"No... no... H-h-he is going to make it... right...?"
Farmer had then closed his eyes and put his head down once more and replied softly, "All we can do now is hope that he'll smurf through... Papa is gonna do all that he can to revive 'im..."
The young Smurfette looked up to him and placed a hand close to her heart. She then turned to Greedy who had been looking to the ground and didn't say anything. Ashli began to grow very worried for him when he had mentioned to her about what happened earlier in the day between him and Handy.
"Greedy..." she spoke, reaching out for him. "You didn't know... Nobody else knew this would've happen..."
Soon Farmer turned his head over to Greedy once more and placed a hand on his buddy's shoulder. But with everything that happened today with almost getting smurfed by the Smurfs' greatest foe, Greedy just couldn't take it. He now somehow felt unease and didn't even feel hungry anymore. Not after what Handy said to him... And with that, the heavy-set Smurf slowly turned and walked away as he headed toward his house. Ashli tried to stop him; however, Farmer stopped her from doing so, letting her know that they'll smurf him later.
From where the others were, Shini looked after Greedy walking off and then turned her head to Ashli and Farmer. She began to walk up to them as Ashli soon noticed her coming up. Ashli then turned over to her closest friend as more tears ran down her face. Farmer had been watching Greedy walk away until he turned over to the girls and listened to Ashli sob a little. Shini also began to feel tears running down her face as she quickly embraced Ashli tightly.
"God, this is horrible...!" she cried.
"Poor Hefty...!" Ashli too began to cry.
And as Farmer looked to the girls, tears begin to fill his eyes as he took his corn-straw hat off and placed it close to his chest. He placed his head down once more as his tears streamed down pass his cheeks and landed to the ground.
Brainy was comforting Clumsy who had already been crying when he too shed some tears from the heart-breaking news.
Grouchy too began to cry as well. He tried to fight it back and wiped some of the tears from his face. But he just couldn't... "I hate how Hefty is..." his voice broke.
"But... But Papa can make Hefty feel better again... right, Brainy...?" Clumsy asked looking at him with tears still falling.
"I'm not so sure..." Brainy said as he rubbed his eyes between his glasses. "He looked real bad when we all saw him. I'm sure Papa will smurf up some kind of remedy to heal that wound..."
While everyone else was saddened from all this, Smurfette just stood there as she too also began to cry and shivered. Vanity noticed until he walked up to Smurfette and let her cry on his shoulder while he embraced her tightly.
Jokey had also begun to cry with tears landing on his present he had smurfed for Hefty and Handy. "And we smurfed all this for nothing...!" he yelled. "This is the second time this year we didn't do anything special here for once!" And while Smurfette held onto Vanity tight crying more, she saw Jokey slam his present to the ground angrily with more tears streaming down his face.
Shini soon let go of Ashli and looked around, seeing all the smurfy decorations they all had done just for the special occasion. She then wiped some of her tears out of her face and began to turn to walk towards Hefty's house. "I want to see them now...!"
"Me too!" Ashli agreed. "I have to see what's happening now!" She soon goes to follow her, but then was halted by Farmer when he grabbed her by the arm. She turned and looked back at him, wondering why he stopped her all of a sudden.
"It's better that we give them some time to settle before y'all wanna see him," he said to her. "Handy right now is not taking this very well..."
"But it's been so long since we've ever saw them...!" Ashli cried. "We've all missed them terribly!"
"I know... We all missed them... But I reckon it's best to give them some time alone while Papa smurfs up somethin' to heal Hefty..."
Ashli didn't know what else to say. She really wanted to smurf over to the boys so badly to see if everything would be alright. Her eyes started to tear more while Farmer still held her firm by the arm. "But... but...!" And then, she suddenly burst out crying loudly into his chest and felt her body shake. Her face was buried deep within as the southern Smurf embraced her tightly. He then closed his eyes as he let out a deep sigh and caressed her back softly.
The brunette Smurfette had listened to Farmer when she turned to him and saw Ashli cry more. "Well, then I at least want to see Gutsy!" Then Shini turned back once more and continued heading towards Hefty's house, knowing Gutsy was also there helping Papa with Hefty's time of need.
Both Gutsy and Papa Smurf were finally able to smurf Hefty into his house safely as they placed him in his bed. His house, unlike Handy's, was almost half empty without any of his weights or other working equipment around. Handy had not once left his side while Gutsy went to go undo the towel around the muscleman's waist. Once he undid the towel, the blood had already begun to seep through like the last one, causing him to spill more. Hefty started to moan a little from the pain as beads of sweat formed from his head. The mechanic began to worry more while he held his hand from one side of the bed. Once Papa noticed the bleeding starting up again, he quickly turned to Gutsy.
"Go see if there are any towels in his bathroom. And if you smurf any small cloths, damp them with some cold water so we can cool his face down."
As told, Gutsy nodded and dashed straight into the bathroom to search for what they needed. Then the elder turned back to Hefty lying peacefully with his broad, muscled chest heaving heavily from the wound, causing him to hurt more.
Handy soon sat down in a chair close by while he still held Hefty's hand and wiped some of his sweat off his head. Papa had taken a deep sigh as he looked directly to both his sons. He kept a stiff bottom lip while Hefty continued to groan from the pain.
"...Can you smurf anything up to help him...?" Handy spoke to Papa while he looked at Hefty.
The red leader took another sigh and responded, "I'll see what I can come up with for a cure... Once Gutsy comes back in, I'll be heading back to my lab to get on with the healing potion. I can use some assistance from Brainy since we have all the ingredients we need. Let's just hope we won't be too late once I've smurfed it..."
The little mechanic began to hold the strongman's hand a little more tightly and looked up to Papa worriedly. Papa had looked to him and said nothing else until the Scotsman finally returned with some towels and a wet towelette. Gutsy placed the towels to the side of the bed and began to help him remove the old stained towel. He then replaced it with a clean one under Hefty and placed another over his wound to keep it from seeping more blood.
Afterwards, he handed over the wet towelette over to Papa. It was cold just like he asked until he placed it over Hefty's head and began to wipe off the sweat from above his brow. And as he finished, Papa place the used towelette over on the side of Hefty's nightstand and turned over to Gutsy.
"Gutsy, I need you to stay here and look after him," he said to him. "I'll be smurfing up a healing potion as fast as I can. In the meantime, do not let anysmurf come in this house for any reason. We can't have any of the Smurfs toppling over here while Hefty's in this state."
"Alright, Papa." Gutsy nodded slightly.
Papa then turned over to Handy when he too looked to him and said nothing. Their father looked to him for a minute with determination in his eyes. Oh, how he worried for both his children and saw how much Handy truly loved Hefty. Soon after, he turned around and headed straight to the front door. Papa Smurf finally left the house as Gutsy watched him leave to go smurf the potion and then turned over to Handy. He took a deep sigh while the handyman had his head turned over back to Hefty. The muscled Smurf was breathing heavily and moaned a little while Handy gazed at his relaxed face.
"...Do you think he can hear me... or feel my touches...?" he asked as he begins to stroke Hefty's cheek softly.
"Hahh, I'm not quite sure, lad... He may be trapped in that coma he's in, but he has been able to communicate on and off, wonderin' where you are. Let's just hope he doesn't strain himself too much..."
Handy then sighed deeply and said, "He knows that I'm always there for him... And I won't go anywhere as long as he doesn't feel better..."
"It must've been real hard for him when he never left your side when ya got hurt that one time, eh?"
"He never left the house... He was near me all day and night... He even cooked for me." Handy had then smiled a little as Gutsy did the same.
"Hmm, he sure knew how to treat ya well. Hefty is a fine, strappin' lad to smurf everything he can for ya."
"He's just the smurfiest... I don't know what I'd do without him..."
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Gutsy heard it as he walked up over to it, wondering who it was. "Who's there?"
"Ich bin's...!"
"Shini...!" he gasped. He turned his head to Handy and then back to the door and opened it. His girl had been standing on top of Hefty's doorstep when he soon looked straight to her. "Lass... ya really shouldn't be here," he warned. "Papa told me to make sure no one disturbs the boys while he smurfs up a potion for Hefty."
"I didn't want to disturb them. I just wanted to see you...!" she said looking at him worriedly. "And ask if you're okay..."
"I'm fine, I'm not hurt, he replied softly and took a hold of her hands in his.
"...Clumsy and Farmer told us what happened..." Shini replied as she felt her eyes filling with tears again. "Will Hefty be alright...?"
Gutsy turned over back to Handy again who had been watching the two of them at the door. Then he turned back to Shini and sighed deeply and responded, "We don't know for sure. All he does is react to the wound and smurf Handy's name every often... It's almost as if he's lost in his own mind, tryin' to escape to come back to reality..."
"This sounds horrible...!" The German Smurfette then placed her head on his chest and began to cry softly. "I feel so bad for him..."
"We all do, Shini," he said as he held her close. "There's not much we can do until Papa and Brainy come back with the remedy."
"... And we put so much effort in all the decorations and stuff..." she sighed and held him tight.
"I know... We were all hopin' this day would bring everyone together as a family again and happy..."
"And now everysmurf is as sad as ever before..."
"I wonder how Smurfette is taking this...?" Gutsy wondered, holding her closer.
"Well, I saw her crying like everyone else. And she was of course shocked too..."
"Poor lass... And she really wanted to let them know that she was happy that they accepted her apology..."
"I hope she can still tell them later..." Shini nodded slightly.
"Maybe later," he nodded back to her. "When night falls around and everyone is smurfin' to bed."
"Yeah... Umm... Could I maybe sleep at your house tonight...?"
Before Gutsy answered her, he gave her a small smile and cupped her cheek. "Of course it is... When I'm done later, I'll smurf over to you. My house should be unlocked, so you're more than welcome to smurf there anytime ya like."
And with that, Shini smiled back at him and gave him a soft kiss on his lips. "Alright, I'll see you later then."
"I love you... with all my heart..." Gutsy said when he had placed a hand on his chest.
"I love you too..."
Afterwards, Shini let go of him and soon walked back to the others. Gutsy had then closed the door again behind him and took a deep long sigh. He soon turned back to Handy and walked back over to him. And as he walked over, he sat at the very end of the bed and looked over to the mechanic.
"...I didn't look into anyone's face after we landed..." Handy said sadly.
"It's alright..." the Scotsman replied. "I know the feelin', so you don't have to be worried."
"I just wish I would've dreamed of something else last night..."
"Huh? What do you mean by that...?" Gutsy asked feeling confused.
"...Well... Last night I actually dreamed about Gargamel chasing us with that flying machine... And also that Hefty fell off Feathers' back... I thought it was just a stupid nightmare, but Hefty somehow knew that this would happen... He even was afraid to smurf back home because of my dream..." Handy then sighed sadly as he continued, "I should've listened to him..."
Gutsy didn't know what else to say but look to him sadly. He had then gotten up from the bed and walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault..." he spoke quietly. "You just didn't know..."
"But he knew it!" Handy yelled. "He knew it all the time...!" Then he suddenly began to cry as he stroked Hefty's hand.
The Scottish Smurf sighed lowly and began to rub Handy's shoulder softly while he still cried. He soon looked over to Hefty as he slept peacefully in his bed. He couldn't help but wonder as he thought to himself, 'How is it possible... that he knew this was goin' to happen...? Could it be that...? Nah, it couldn't... Can it...?'
And while Handy continued to stroke the strong Smurf's hand, he placed his head slowly and carefully on Hefty's heart, still crying. He listened to his heart beating irregularly for a short while until Hefty began to moan again. Gutsy suddenly noticed when he gave out a quick gasp.
"Nnn... Handy..." he shifted his head a little.
"I'm here, Hefty...!" Handy cried when he quickly looked up and stroked his cheek softly.
"...Handy... Ahhnn..." he continued to moan as he squinted his eyes a bit and panted a little.
"Shh, shhh..." the engineer whispered into his ear. "Don't worry... I'm here for you..."
Handy then kissed his cheek as Hefty started to calm down a little and slowed down his breathing. "Help me... I need you..."
"Hefty..." Handy looked at him as more tears fell down and landed onto Hefty's chest.
"Help me..." Hefty whispered, exhaling as he then turned his head to the other side, facing Handy.
"Hefty, if you can hear us, Papa is already smurfing up a potion to make you better," Gutsy said. "Please, try to stay with us for a while longer? Be strong for us, lad... Please..."
Soon Handy placed both his hands on Hefty's cheeks and gave him a kiss on his lips. Hefty could feel the warmness of his hands pressed gently on his face and his lips planted against his. Then, without Handy knowing at first, the weakened Smurf started to bring one hand up slowly and placed it close to his cheek. Handy suddenly breaks off the kiss and placed his hand on his, with which he held his cheek. He looked to him as his eyes opened widely from the sudden feeling.
"Hefty...?" Gutsy spoke surprisingly with his eyes shocked.
Hefty groaned a little and squinted his eyes tighter, feeling his body staring to shake a little. Then he used whatever strength he had left in him to keep his hand closest to Handy, not letting him go. Handy held his hand a little tighter and began to shiver a bit while he looked hopelessly down at him.
"H-Hefty..." he whispered to him.
Hefty then began to moan a little more until tears suddenly started to escape from his closed eyes, streaming down his cheeks. And as Handy seen this, he too began to cry once more.
"Please don't cry...!" he said, wiping Hefty's tears away. "Don't cry...!"
The little Smurf then snuggled up to his cheek while a few more tears escaped from Hefty. Soon after, he let his hand slide down slowly from Handy's cheek as his arm dropped dead to his chest. And while Gutsy was witnessing all this, he too felt a couple of tear droplets run pass his face and wiped some of them away with his knuckles. Handy cried into the pillow as he held Hefty's head close to his.
"...I'm so sorry..." Hefty breathed out close to his face.
"No... There's no need for you to be sorry..." Handy spoke when had looked up again. He then kissed his cheek once again as more tears fell. "Just promise me to stay strong...!"
However, Hefty didn't respond, but he did hear him smurf and clear. Afterwards, he fell back to his unconscious state as he rested his head close to his; knowing Handy was still here for him.
"Papa had better smurf the potion soon..." Gutsy sighed sadly with a heavy heart. "Hefty's already worse than before..."
Handy didn't bother to respond to him, not knowing what else to say. He cried a little longer until he took off his necklace and put it around Hefty's neck. The heart-diamond sapphire sparkled and shined as beautiful as Hefty's eyes. Sadly, Handy wasn't able to gaze into his eyes while he still remained the way he was after the incident earlier today.
He then wiped his tears away and placed his hand on Hefty's heart and finally spoke. "...He once told me that I'm the reason his heart is still smurfing..."
"Then... ya shouldn't give up on that," the Scotsman turned to him. "If that's what Hefty said to you, then he's likely to pull through until Papa gets back."
"I won't leave his side..." Handy said as he laid his head back down close to Hefty's.
"I know you won't, Handy," Gutsy replied. "Your love for each other is as pure as Mother Nature herself. Your hearts are strong, and they shall always remain that way for as long as you both shall smurf."
Even though Handy did listen, he remained speechless and focused more on Hefty smurfing through. While his head lay close to his side, Gutsy turned around and walked over to the window at the front of the house. He slowly moved the curtain a little to take a quick peek at what was happening from outside. There were a few Smurfs standing close by and wondered how Hefty's condition was. Some of them cried and some of them consoled one another. Then Gutsy smurfed away from the window and drew out another deep sigh.
"Please hurry, Papa..."