Please be sure to leave a review on the previous chapter before reading this one. The reviews are my main inspiration to write. Thank you so very much.

And now, it's FINALLY time. No more fooling around, you are about to get the whole story of how this all started! Several parts have been hinted at, but this will clear up any questions you may have.

As I suspected (and posted on tumblr) my writing speed did dramatically increase. While this part is a little more action packed, the chapters following the ejection story are gonna be slower. But I am keeping myself confident, thanks to the support and feedback from my readers.

And, of course, I ask that you leave a review on this chapter as well, so that I may continue to write at this increased speed. Now, let's jump in!

Chapter 38: The Fire that Burned

'876: Permanently banned from team and all future teams in league'

Fear continued to grumble furiously to himself as he filled yet another page. Without missing a beat, he placed the ink covered paper onto the ever growing stack beside him and pulled a clean, blank sheet from the ream by his feet. He slipped this one onto the clipboard and immediately resumed writing.

'877: Grounded by parents due to misconduct and banishment from team'

The frustrated lavender emotion was alone in the living quarters, seated atop his mattress. His bed, which was marked by a deep purple comforter decorated in little swirl patterns, was surrounded by stacks upon stacks of papers brimming with negativity. Nestled in his lap was a tattered old stuffed bear, once pure white in color, now a dingy grey from years of handling. It's heavy head was slumped forward, it's one intact eye casting a downward gaze, posed as if it, too, was appalled at the behavior that triggered this writing frenzy.

"You did that on purpose!" The screen above boomed, displaying the furious form of the kid ahead. He struggled to his feet, re balancing on his thin metal blades, his uniform of the opposing team covered in icy frost. The boorish brute hurled his hockey stick to the ice, puffing out his chest, trying his best to intimidate the young girl before him.

Watching the screen, the five emotions within the young girls mind winced. It was time to respond, the question was how?

It was Fear who leaned forward first, reaching trembling hands out over his station at the large console. "Let's just apologize!" He cringed. "Maybe he'll leave us alone."

"No way!" Anger retorted, slamming his blocky fist on several buttons before Fear could touch a single control. "We didn't do it on purpose! It's not our fault the kid can't stay on his feet! We're fighting this!"

In response to the button mashing, Riley threw her stick to the ice below as well, matching the fury that was presented to her. "I did not!" She shouted. "Maybe if you learned how to skate, you wouldn't fall over so much!"

The ogre on the screen twisted his face even further, bearing his uneven teeth, 2 or so missing no doubt from previous encounters on the rinks cold floor. He wasn't about to back down. Certainly not to a girl.

Fear gasped, raking his fingers down the sides of his face. "Are you nuts?" He shouted, startling Anger off the controls. "This guy is at least twice our size! We don't stand a chance!" Moving much faster this time, he fumbled with the colored knobs at his disposal, emitting a high pitched whimper as he did so.

Realizing the bully was indeed far larger than herself, Riley lowered her head and shoulders, shrinking down into a submissive stance beneath the shadow of the other player.

Anger watched as the screens view lowered, the console and soft edges of the monitor changing to a purple hue. His heavy brow lifted in shock. Riley was about to give in and apologize for something she didn't do. The crimson creature couldn't let this injustice continue. After all, it was his job to ensure him and his host equal and fair treatment.

With his face returning to its standard tight sneer, the blocky figure, avoiding the leader standing dead center, charged at the slim, lanky emotion huddled over the console. With a solid blow from his thick, muscular shoulder, he slammed Fear aside, knocking his slender form to the floor. The other three emotions; Joy, Sadness, and Disgust; took a startled step back as their coworker hit the ground with a heavy thud.

"We are NOT backing down!" Anger roared, his fed face glowing a bright orange. "Someone needs to teach this oaf a lesson!"

With a hearty howl, Anger slammed the controls. His flat head ignited, a plume of fire nearly scorching the ceiling. Fear could only watch helplessly from the floor as the console burned a blazing red.

Riley's eyebrows lowered. From her hunched position, she pounced onto the kid in front of her, knocking them both to the ice. The other player, taken aback by the young girls sudden tackle, struggled to break free. But Riley had his arms pinned to his sides, so all he could do was thrash his legs in the hope of shaking her off.

A ref appeared in seconds, as well as a crowd of cheering kids from either team. "Hey!" The ref shouted. "Knock it off!"

But as the crimson creature within her mind continued to manipulate the complex device, Riley in turn continued to fight against the kids attempt to free himself. Ignoring the ref, she leaned close to his face with a snarl.

"You're a liar!" She hissed. "A liar who can't even skate to save his life!"

The ref grabbed the girl from behind, prying her off of the boy and separating the two. A stinging pain surged through Riley's calf, which she had failed to notice had been lacerated by the boy's skate in the struggle.

Immediately, both children began to scream at each other. An endless stream of insults flowing from their mouths. The boy quickly leapt back to his feet, and both attempted to approach the other and resume the physical fight. But the ref held them at bay with two surprisingly strong arms.

"Alright! That's enough!" He shouted, a commanding tone in his voice that silenced either side of the confrontation. "I don't tolerate this kind of behavior! You two; go ahead and exit the rink! You're done with this game!"

Fear scowled just thinking about the incident again. If only Anger had heeded his warning, they wouldn't have had to leave early. And on the day their parents left for Arizona, no less. But it felt like Anger never took Fear seriously. And the others, they hadn't even defended him after he had been forcefully moved from the controls. Their parents eventually forgave Riley after she apologized for the outburst, but it had been clear that they were still disappointed. And that was the note they had left for their two week trip on.

Ever since that incident yesterday afternoon, Fear had holed himself in the living quarters. He sat upon his bed, compiling a thorough list of all the negative things that Anger's behavior at the rink could have caused, as well as the things it had caused. He had been doing this for several months now, retreating to his bed whenever the others ignored Fear's advice. But this had been the first time he had been physically prevented from doing his job, and that was the final straw.

All around him were the stacks of papers from previous outbursts, each one coated from top to bottom in what horrible things could have happened. This incident, he decided, would be the last.

After he could no longer think of any more consequences, Fear removed the final paper from his clipboard and carefully stacked it with the others. From underneath one of his thighs, he produced his miniature notebook and flipped to the first clean page. There, he wrote a brief description of the incident, as well as the number of outcomes he had listed and why this decision had been incorrect.

With the list finished and the occurrence documented, Fear was ready to confront the others on the matter. He stood up, gently re positioning his bear on his pillow, and picked up the newest stack of papers.

Down in the main room, the other four emotions meandered about. Riley's parents had left the night before, and her cousin was away at work until the evening, so the young girl laid on the couch trying to decide what to do to pass the time.

Anger was on one of headquarter's sofas, his focus buried in his newspaper. But the tales within were as boring as life beyond the monitor. Beside him was Sadness. She was leaned deep into the plushness of the sofa, struggling to keep her eyes open. Joy was the only one standing at the console, though her back was turned. She was wearing her usual smile, chatting with Disgust about possible activities to do. Disgust, who was seated on the other couch examining her face in her compact mirror, offered a few of her own ideas as she attempted to blend her makeup flawlessly with her light-bead skin.

Full of purpose and without hesitation, Fear descended the ramp down to the center of headquarters, the giant stack of papers in his straining arms. As he approached the console, the click of his black shoes against the smooth floor alerted the others to his presence, and they all turned to glance at him.

"Hey, Fear!" Joy smiled with an excited wave of her golden hand. "Glad to see you back!"

But the lavender emotion didn't respond or even meet her gaze. He simply walked to the edge of the console, placed the paper stack on the floor, then turned and headed back to the living quarters to grab another.

The others watched, perplexed, as he left without a word.

"What is it..?" Sadness mumbled, Fear's random intrusion keeping her more awake.

"I don't know." Joy's chipper tone lowered slightly. Curious, she tiptoed over and lifted the top most paper. "It's a list of some sort." She adjusted the paper and struggled to read Fear's messy handwriting. When he was upset about something, he tended to write at speeds where his hands struggled to keep up, leaving barely legible scribbles. Eventually, though, she managed to read the thoughts scratched on the paper.

"Oh... It's about the fight yesterday." Joy sighed, her smile fading.

Behind her on the couch, Anger growled, tightening his grip on the paper.

"I think you really upset him yesterday..." Sadness breathed in a mournful tone.

By this point, Fear had reappeared. Just as before, he wordlessly entered the room with more paper, placed the stack next to the first, then left just as quickly.

Anger threw his crumpled paper to the floor in a huff. "Are you kidding me?" He shouted, leaping to his stubby legs. He stormed up to one of the stacks and snatched a fistful of paper, growling at the words scrawled across them.

It wasn't long before Fear had formed a full semi circle around the console of large paper stacks. Each time he came in to place another, the emotions tried to say something, to ask him what he was doing. But he ignored them all, even Anger's furious shouting. Finally, when all the paper stacks were on the floor, he brought down his notebook and positioned himself in front of the console surrounded by his lists.

"These stacks..." Fear began in a voice like a professor giving a lecture. "Each represent a time where I attempted to protect Riley from danger, but was ultimately ignored. All four of you have been the cause at one point. But the majority of these stacks..." Fear shot a glare at Anger, who was standing beside the console with his arms crossed and his teeth bared. "Most of these were ultimately caused by Anger, and his refusal to let me use the console when it is necessary."

"What is this?" The crimson emotions face brightened with rage. "Are you honestly lecturing me?"

The slender figure gestured at his short colleague with his notebook. "This journal!" He shouted, attempting to match Anger's fury and opening his notebook to a random page. "Is filled with each and every time you have caused Riley harm by keeping me away! You NEVER listen!" He leapt around to face Disgust, who had been standing behind him, and thrust the book into her face. "Look! Everything has been documented! See for yourself!"

Disgust, fed up with the yelling, ripped the journal out of Fear's unsuspecting hands."Get that OUT of my face!" She hissed, hurling the book above her head. The object struck something metal protruding from the ceiling, and the notebook exploded in a shower of paper. She stormed away from the two male emotions, joining her female colleagues outside of the ring of paper.

"You guys need to calm down." Joy attempted to bring control back to the situation. "Maybe Anger did harm Riley, but he didn't mean it. And Fear, we've told you about starting fights with him..."

Joy's efforts were in vain. The glow in Anger's face burned a bright white. "I was NOT harming Riley!" He screamed "I was keeping YOU, Fear, from making Riley's life the HORRIBLE, MISERABLE life of a COWARD. I was keeping Riley from being YOU."

Fear whipped back around to face Anger as papers continued to flutter around them. "How? By risking her safety? You really don't care about Riley at all, do you?"

With the force of a land mine detonation, Anger's rage exploded. He screeched a furious scream as the flames burst from his head in a shock wave of light and heat.

Several of the papers still drifting through the air were suddenly engulfed in the pillar of flame and instantly caught fire. And as they landed all around, they ignited the old paper stacks that Fear had kept in his room, allowed to dry for days and making them the perfect fuel in the disaster. In a matter of a second, the room had filled with the fire, flames replacing any place where paper had sat moments before. A ring of fire surrounded Fear and Anger, pinning them with their backs to the console.

The eruption cooled the emotions fury, replacing it with terror. Fear began to scream in horror, watching as the flames suddenly grew all around them. Joy, Sadness, and Disgust cried out as well, backing away from the burning heat. Anger, thinking quickly, noticed one of the stacks had only just ignited. The fire was low, and the crimson creature was willing to take the risk.

Anger clumsily leapt over the lowest part of the flame, escaping the burning trap. As his foot grazed the side of one of the stacks in mid jump, a bunch of the fiery papers that hadn't fused to the others in the intense heat were flung into the air, quickly spreading the inferno to the couches and ottomans. The emotions screams continued, watching as the situation quickly became more dire. As more stuff in Headquarters began to burn, Anger struggled to his feet, and he and the others attempted to flee, running to the window farthest from the fire.

But Fear was trapped, too terrified to attempt Anger's stunt. The flames only got worse, burning brighter, crackling a mocking laughter all around him.

"Fear!" Sadness shouted over the roar of the blaze, her back pressed against the window like the others. "Get outta there!"

"I CAN'T!" Fear shoved himself beneath the console, trying desperately to escape the smoke and flame. "I CAN'T GET OUT! THE FIRE IS BURNING!"