Growing Up

The Barbics, Glens and any other Disney characters are copyrighted to Disney and we claim no ownership. However, any new characters are copyrighted to Ulisa, Silver Fox and Cheetah the Furry. This plot is a collaboration of Ulisa, Silver Fox, and Cheetah the Furry.

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"Grubbi..." After cleaning the cub's face off and cradling him again, Ursa turned pleading eyes up to the elder Barbic.

Grubbi clenched his jaws and strode forward. "No. Ursa, you're mothering him. If you don't feel like pressing on, that's your choice, but Buddi's coming with me."

"How could you even think of doing such a thing? LOOK at him!"

Grubbi's expression turned stern, unmoving. "If you're not willing to snap him out of it..." The dark orange Barbic placed a warning hand on his spear.

Ursa's eyes grew round, then equally fierce. She set Buddi down and stood, a hand on her sword. "I won't let you countermand my decision, Grubbi." She drew her weapon.

It didn't seem real at first. The contact of wood on metal at first didn't register in Buddi's brain. His eyes focused on the present and the previous conversation that started the scene before him equally came into perspective. Grubbi and Ursa were fighting. They were fighting!?! He scrabbled up and ran straight at the two, locked in combat.

"No! Don't! Please, stop it!" How could he get them to stop? It was all his fault, again...

Actually, the two bears stopped as soon as he asked. They turned to him, glanced at each other. Grubbi hid his grin. No matter how good the trick worked, he didn't want Buddi knowing it was one just yet. Ursa was as quick as ever to pick it up so fast. Realistically, her sword would have all but cut him down by now.

"What's wrong with you two? Are you both insane?"

"We both want what's best for you." Ursa said calmly, her breath already back to normal speed.

"And fighting over me is the best thing?" The cub was at a loss, his fluctuating temper and changing hormones forcing irrational interpretations yet again.

"What would you like to do, Buddi?" Grubbi looked on the teen, having realized the same as Ursa. They'd neglected to ask him what he wanted. It was his haiana, too. Technically, Ursa should never have forced him to go. Now, he was given the option. "What do _you_ want to do?"

"Me?" Buddi looked agoggle at the two adults. "I..."

"You do have control over your destiny, your actions, do you not?"

Ursa's question stung, because she was berating him for either not realizing it or for his pause in answering. He didn't know which for sure. But he had stopped them. "I... I guess."

"There is no guessing Buddi Barbic. You know or you don't. What did you do to those Troggels?"

He swallowed hard, trying to keep himself from feeling sick again, though the sensation wasn't as bad. Not after the shock of his life at seeing those two fighting! "I ... killed them." He hid his hands behind his back, as if ashamed by the sight of them.

Grubbi responded to his answer. "You stopped them from killing _you_. Nothing more. You acted out of instinct and self-defense. Do you understand?"

"No.." Tears welled up.

"You don't _want_ to understand, because it's easier to blame yourself." Ursa stepped forward and shook him once to stop the tears. "Oh, Buddi, why would you hate yourself for protecting the future of everything that we hold dear? For protecting you?"

"We have to kill to eat, and we have to kill to protect ourselves sometimes. That's the way life is." Grubbi added, placing a hand on the cub's shoulder.

"B-but I didn't wanna kill 'em."

"I know, but sometimes we can't make those choices for others. They attacked you, they suffered the consequences."

"So what's it gonna be, Buddi? Stay or go back? This is your decision only, your first adult move."

"I'll go on. I... I can't believe that all this was for nothing. I've been trying so hard." The tears threatened again to spring from his eyes. "I can't go back." No. He couldn't. Not with so much guilt. He could stomach it as long as he could stay away from having to tell Sunni what he'd done. Please, Gum, don't make me tell her _ever_.

Another force drove the cub to respond so. One he could not quite see or hear or smell. It was somewhere in the forest around him. The dead Barbic Woods...

Buddi looked up into what was once the canopy of his childhood home. No more home, no more childhood. He felt cold all over. Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, he let the heat from a sudden temper flare warm him. Lady Bane. She would be a threat just like the Troggels were, just like the humans were to Barbic Woods. He'd stop her himself if he had to... Gum, what was he saying? Would his mood never settle? He didn't want to kill again. Never again...

The adults were looking at him.

"Buddi? Where do you want to go?" Grubbi spoke up.

"Huh?"

"Where to now, here? You choose."

He pointed without even thinking, or looking.

Grubbi gave a nod. He led, Buddi followed, Ursa in the rear, though the cub wasn't quite sure what made him point out that direction.

Cubbi spotted it first, realized where Gritty had led them.

They crested the summit close to sundown and looked upon the ruins of what was once Gummi Glen. Sunni fell to her knees, sobbing at the sight. Gritty hadn't actually seen it. His heart felt heavy and he leaned slightly against his spear, remembering the fall of Barbic Woods, the pain of those days.

Cubbi just stood there. He tried really hard not to cry, not to be affected. Knights don't cry. They move on, see past the need for tears. They... they just...

The youngest of the Glens broke down as well, running to embrace the sobbing Sunni, wanting to shut out the sight and bury his head in her shoulder. He didn't want to see the decaying great oak tilted nearly to he ground, the odd patchwork now filled with rainwater or partly flooded. All their things, their history, their laughter and joy. All gone. Tradition, home, haven, heart. Gone. All of it. Ursalia could never be Gummi Glen. The darkness of night crept up on their mourning vigil.

Far Past:

Tummi was being entertained by a pretty dancer showing off her talent when Magistrate Corali approached again.

She smiled on the entranced blue bear but had her attention focused on Grammi, Gruffi, and Zummi. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

They stood, knowing Tummi would be preoccupied with her and the dish of food still in front of him for a long time to come.

Corali nodded to the rest of the crowd and five like-dressed bears broke away from the entertainment to join them in one of the smaller huts.

"What's goin' on?" Gruffi all but demanded as the door was shut solidly behind them. Not locked but the lime green Gummi guarding the door sure looked like they were all in shady dealings.

"Ah, yes, well... You see..." the deep brown male started.

"Manthi..." Corali started, relieving him of the necessity to continue. She turned a smile on the Glen gummies. "Forgive the abruptness, again but we must ask you for a little time. I realize that we are not fully functional yet. We have asked for a trade route from east to west and have been supplementing our resources thus but, truly, in under a year, with Ursalia going, there won't be any need. Really."

What the heck were they talking about?? Gruffi passed a look Grammi and Zummi's way but kept silent.

"Well, we aren't here to judge on that specifically." Gruffi tried, scratching at the back of his head.

"Ah! Then you are hear for the new gummiberry bushes we've developed! Shipping some out to the town of South Gumpton tomorrow! You will be pleased." The deep indigo Gummi lady with an exotic face smiled on the trio.

"No. Not that, either." Zummi answered.

"Oh dear... You are with the High Council of Gummi, traveling in disguise. I knew it." the sky blue female with white hair hung her head, wavy locks hiding her face.

"Er.. Yes. Yes we are." Gruffi spoke up. They couldn't very well tell 'em the truth! "We haven't seen anything so far that might get the council steamed so you're doing fine."

Corali blinked, looked at the others. "Really? I thought you were displeased with our continued vote to remain above. That we are a danger to all that is Gummi. That we shouldn't be allowed to continue."

"Yeah, we said that a while back, but look at yer captain of the guard? As long as she's in command and ya be careful, I don't think we'll be buggin' ya too much." Gruffi didn't believe a word he was saying. If he really WAS on this High Council of Gummi, he'd be against this plan so fast it'd make their heads spin, but he couldn't be a nay-sayer when he didn't know what was up. And he couldn't tell them this place and all gummies would be subject to the follies of man, and their own short-sightedness. He _couldn't_, no matter how much he wanted to. They couldn't disrupt history. "Say, you could do us a favor, though."

"Yes?" the sixth member of their group spoke up. He appeared to be the oldest of them all, even beyond Zummi's years. With a light goatee like Councilor Berrybottom's, he looked a bit familiar, too. Maybe Gummadoon had relatives here, too.

"We have a few questions to ask regarding your guards." Gruffi started.

By the time the eager bunch of Magistrates got through introductions: brown Manthi, sky blue Anri, indigo Indi, lime Chloei, and yellow Zeersi, the trio could finally get to questions pertaining to the origins of the Barbics. They learned of Kuriani's family, killed while guarding the city by a roaming band of humans, dealt with in the same battle. They learned that the code speak, which would one day would be the Barbic language, was developed to talk in secret among enemies and was known to all in the town. They were planning a vote of making it Ursalia's unofficial language-- a secondary tongue, Corali offered hastily, not about to get the Council angry over altering the Gummi's speaking. It was developed by Kuriani's parents and

spoke mostly by the guards as it shortened many phrases and necessary words to quick syllables that could be easily spoken. The guards themselves originated from a previous elite class and the current guards' ancestors had been selected from the highly trained Council guard. The town, called Gummeria in the hopes of being a new future, was 2 generations old and growing.

These gummies held such hopes of a bright future. It pained Zummi and Grammi as much if not more than Gruffi to know that it would all come to ruin shortly. Grammi's heart froze at the thought. How soon would such ruin come?....

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