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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Sir Plucki let the cub sleep as he got dressed. But once he got his boots on, he knelt by the cub's side and shook his shoulder gently. The cub groaned and covered his eyes as he rolled over face up. He grunted,

"Don't wanna get up."

Plucki chuckled as that was very much how Aldi had responded. The small cub squinted against the light and then sat up, rubbing his eyes. Plucki smiled,

"Sorry lad. The others are probably already up. Hungry?"

Cubbi gave him a raised brow. "Hungry? I'm always hungry."

"I figured as much."

Cubbi dressed, which was really just slipping his shoes on, and followed the older knight out of the tent. Sure enough, most of the others were up and he could hear the others coming.

Ursa turned a bit in her sleep. She felt something against her back and arms around her own. She fluttered her eyes open. They met black fur. She was lying against Gritti's chest; he was the one holding her. She twisted her own hands and saw she had them interlocked in an embrace around his neck. Horrified, she backed away.

Her movement woke Gritti. He saw her disgusted and troubled look and withdrew his arms. Why had he done that? On second thought, when had he done that? He didn't remember anything. He hadn't done it consciously. But why had she only noticed it now? She was the lightest sleeper he knew.

"Ursa...I…"

"Just shut up! Shut up!"

She shivered involuntarily, not from disgust but from her conflicting emotions. Gritti took it a different way.

"Gum's sake, I couldn't have been that bad!"

Ursa looked at him with an alien look in her eyes: fear. Fear of what Gritti didn't know but in any event, he shut up.

The two stared at each other a moment, uncomfortable. Ursa could feel the heat building up in her cheeks and she turned her face to hide it. It wasn't just the fact that she'd been so close to him…

It was the fact that she'd liked it.

The group of knights, Barbics, and glens headed out for Gummadoon shortly after. Buddi stuck close to Ursa. Whenever he got Gritti's gaze, he gave him a cold glare. Gritti never made a response but Buddi caught his hurt and dumbfounded look a few times from the corner of his eyes.

Sunni kept waiting for Grubbi to take a swing from his canteen. She didn't know what that root even was. She snuck close to Buddi if she could. Buddi always gave her this embarrassed glance and wouldn't look her in the eye. Sunni didn't know what the voices had made her do to him. Some things she remembered, some she did not. She doubted the root a bit, some inner voice from herself and not an outside source.

But there was nothing to be done about it now. She took her time guessing what it would do. She believed it to be some type of knock out agent. Had she known what it was…

"Buddi!"

The Barbic cub looked up. Grubbi was gesturing him forward. He walked from Ursa and up to the healer.

"What?"

"Walk up here a bit. Gritti needs to sort some things out with Ursa."

Buddi snorted, with a sneer in his eyes. Grubbi caught that easily. He touched the cub's shoulder,

"Buddi…don't look at Gritti that way."

"Like what?"

"You know very well what I'm talking about."

Buddi looked at the adult and shrugged. He didn't understand a lot of what he did lately. He felt lost, especially after last night; that little event with Sunni and the way she kept looking at him kept him on the edge. He shrugged at Grubbi and wiped his forehead, trying to block out the sun and to keep from looking into Grubbi's eyes.

A tap on his shoulder. He looked at Grubbi. The Barbic healer handed him his canteen. "Here. You look hot."

Buddi accepted it and downed quite a bit of the water. It tasted a little weird to him, almost spicy but it relieved his thirst so he was grateful. Grubbi took it back, hooked it back on his belt. He wasn't thirsty yet. Buddi was silent for a while and then said,

"Grubbi…"

"Hmm?"

"Ursa and Gritti were embracing each other last night."

"They were, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"And that bugs you?"

"A little."

"Why?"

"Be…because…I dunno…I guess because Ursa's-"

"Because you've always been the sole figure in Ursa's life? Hmm?"

"I…I guess."

"Typical response. You've always been possessive of Ursa. But an embrace doesn't always mean something Buddi. And even if it does, Ursa isn't about to forget you, you know."

"I know! But…all…I dunno! I think my mind does this just to bother me. I don't know a lot anymore."

Grubbi chuckled and handed the cub his canteen again. "Here. Just let come what comes Buddi. Ya know that we're all gonna try and help you through this?"

The cub took another swallow, "I know…I know."

Grubbi took in all the cub had told him and looked behind him. Ursa and Gritti were keeping a distance from each other. But quite honestly, it didn't surprise the healer. He'd known both of them since the day they were born. It made sense that they'd be feeling that way. He knew Gritti liked Ursa. He'd known it since the day he had turned fourteen. Ursa…now, her, he wasn't so sure about. Ursa'd never been very open.

Grubbi turned again and saw Buddi had trotted back to stand just behind Ursa and Gritti. That was fine. He wanted to stay close to Ursa but he was also giving them some space. It wasn't a great solution but it was a start. Plucki and Ramsei were a ways ahead of Grubbi and the twins were a bit behind him. Blastus and Gumlittle hung behind Buddi. Sunni seemed to dart to and fro. Something was bugging Grubbi about her. It was like she…she seemed flighty and he still wasn't sure about that jar to her head. A blow like that should have had some other type of reaction than what he'd seen from her. It disturbed him.

Buddi trotted to keep behind Ursa and Gritti. He had been walking at first but now for some reason, he had to speed up to keep up. He felt sweat break out on his forehead again.

"Hey Buddi…"

"Oh…" he swallowed hard, "hey Sunni."

"What's wrong?"

"N…nothing's wrong." He undid the canteen's top and took another swallow. Sunni's eyes went huge as the voices in her mind came back full force,

--Fool! Grubbi was supposed to drink it! We need to knock the healer out! Get the healer out of the way!—

Sunni's heart froze and she screamed back,

'You said it wouldn't hurt him!'

--Foolish girl, a healer has antidotes, knowledge that the others don't. Besides, hit him with this and he won't be able to concentrate long enough to make the antidote. Give him the rest of the canteen.—

NO! What did you make me do?!

Her answer came as a groan as Buddi collapsed to his side and started to moan in pain. Sunni watched in horror. The voices seemed muted to her now. All she knew was that Buddi was on the ground because of her…whether she had genuinely meant it was irrelevant.

That emotion she felt last night had been true and honest. She loved Buddi. She dropped by his side, gathered his head into her lap as gently as any full fledged lover. But the voices had told her one very important thing. Grubbi had the antidote. She cried at the top of her lungs,

"Grubbi! Ursa! Gritti!"

She heard glen, Barbic and knight rush to her. But her eyes never left Buddi's pain ridden ones.

Lady Bane slammed her fist against the wall. Igthorn and ogres jumped as one. She cursed,

"Blasted girl! If she'd-"

"Told you that there was something between her and that Barbic boy."

"Shut up!"

Toadwart looked at Igthorn, "Toadie thinks lady has flipped her lid."

"What do I care what you think, Toad-scum. We mustn't insult the lady."

Lady Bane ignored them both, and resumed her conversation.

"Take your influence from the girl, it won't achieve anything."

"That took a great deal of-"

"And so far, it has done nothing, her emotions are too complex. She's a teenager. If you're going to possess anyone, take the little knight."

"Now…now that might actually work."

"Not yet!"

"You just said-"

"Wait for the gummies to undo what your puppet's done. If you take Cubbi now, they'll expect sorcery, they're clever things."

"Fine…have it your way."

Far Past

Ursa couldn't take her eyes off of the small cub. He reminded her…Buddi. What was she doing here? Her poor cub…he didn't know what had happened to her. What if he was-

"Ursa?"

She jerked her attention back to the situation at hand. Kuriani was looking at her. Ursa forced herself to smile,

"Your brother?"

"Yes. Malachi…but I suppose you've already met."

"In a sense. But maybe we can fix that."

Ursa smiled at Malachi, a gentle grin she used on Buddi. The small cub shyly kept his head on Kuriani's shoulder but he did give Ursa a faint giggle and half wave in response to her kindness. Kuriani chuckled,

"Your _Buddi_ you mentioned…he's around Malachi's age, right?"

"A year younger. Just turned four."

Kuriani smiled, "Who's the father?" she said with a chuckle. Ursa laughed out loud,

"Oh no! Buddi's my adopted child, not by blood." Her face fell and she gave Kuriani a look that she swore was envy, "I can't bear children."

"Oh…I-"

"It's all right."

"So…how did you come to get Buddi?"

Ursa smiled faintly, "Buddi's father died before he was born, a week before in fact. The labor was too much for his mother; she died an hour after hand. But before she died, she asked me to raise Buddi in her stead." She gave Kuriani a chuckle, "As troublesome as Buddi can be, I thank Gum every day that his mother trusted me so."

Kuriani merely nodded. Malachi still hadn't budged from her arms, so she said,

"Malachi, you need to get down. You're getting heavy."

"But Sissy…"

"You can stay with me but I want you to walk, all right?"

Malachi accepted that and hopped down. Kuriani stretched her arms out. Ursa chuckled a little and gave her ancestress a smile of knowledge. She knew what it was like to have a cub do that. Buddi was that way sometimes, usually when he was scared. Nightmares still haunted the cub occasionally.

"Ursa…why don't you come with us. We need to eat anyway."

Ursa accepted her ancestress' offer and followed. Malachi gazed at her with awe. Kuriani noted that Ursa looked at the way Malachi clung to her with longing. Ursa chuckled out loud and then said to Kuriani,

"I hope the males do all right without a sensible female around."

Near Past

"NYIE! NYIE!"

Gritti was tempted to cover his ears. Why was it that when Ursa gave the cub a bath he laughed but when Gritti tried, he acted like it was boiling lava? Buddi was splashing Gritti every chance he got. The Barbic was at his wits' end. How did Ursa do this?

Gritti glared at Buddi. The small cub stuck his tongue out, saying,

"You're terrible at this! I want Mama Ursa!"

"Believe me, you aren't alone, partner." Gritti murmured under his breath. Buddi pouted at that. Gritti finally managed to get the cub's hair washed and lifted him out of the bath, drying him off. Grubbi was tending to the cub's bed sheets but Gritti would have gladly done that rather than dealt with this little demon.

Gritti pulled the cub's tunic on him and managed to get his boots on but the cub simply wasn't going to let him brush his hair. He squirmed away. Gritti let out an exasperated sigh. He watched the cub run into their sitting room and he merely grabbed some paper and paints.

"What are you doing?"

"Making Mama a present for when she gets back."

"What are ya drawing?"

"Mama Ursa!"

Gritti would have never seen that. All he saw was a mess of yellow, red and brown paint. But he knew that if Ursa had been there, she would have acted like the picture was painted by Gum itself. She had several hanging all over her room, with Buddi's strangely neat handwriting across the bottom.

Buddi wasn't paying any attention to Gritti. He was focused on his painting. He dug his fingers into the paints and drew their patterns over the page. He'd never done a portrait of Ursa. So he wanted it to be a good one. When he got it so he liked it, he picked up an ink quill and signed his name near the bottom. Ursa told him that he had very pretty handwriting. Buddi thought it was a little weird. Mama Ursa and Gritti signed with their right hands but Buddi used his left.

"There."

Gritti looked over the cub's shoulder. While he couldn't tell what the picture was, one could see how much thought Buddi had put into it. Gritti sighed deeply, smiling. How could Buddi be such a lacheo one minute and an absolute plycan the next?

Buddi got to his feet and ran into Ursa's room, sitting it on her desk. Then, he crawled onto her bed, and sat there, with his arms folded. Gritti walked in and laughed,

"What are you doing?"

"Mama Ursa didn't come tell me she was back last night. So I'm staying here until she comes back."

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