Author's Note/Disclaimer: Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews. I really appreciate that, if you couldn't tell by my prompt review replies. And, uh, if you don't leave your e-mail address when you review, I can't reply, not even in the chapter. It's now against the rules.

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends does not belong to me.

Chapter Four: Berry

Incognito, Berry hid behind a corner and watched Mac open his jacket and scrutinize the small blob inside. According to what she'd pried unwillingly, this was the creature that incited everything. Intriguing, considering its obvious height disadvantage. Its simple shape and design reminded her of hers. Either his creator was a genius to utilize shapeless in a world where large, obstructive imaginary friends would be conspicuous…or he emulated hers. The mere notion made her grit her teeth and coil her blobby arms into fists. How dare her creator leave her like that!

Toggling her transformer into a more humanoid imaginary friend (but avoiding her human guise), she continued to trail them. Already, she felt a kinship with this friend. He was young, naïve, and just like her. That meant, just like her, he could lose his creator when he least expected it. She had to spare him that. She had to spare all imaginary friends the agony of losing their creators by convincing them she was better. Humans were liars, callous, and incapable of providing the care they merited. He deserved better than this weak person.

Tousled brown hair shook this way and that in the wind as he massaged the creature's face in an attempt to warm him. She smirked, mentally noting the damage her crew had wrecked on him. All that torture, and still nothing. Well, there had to be a way to break that loyalty. Nothing was unbreakable. She'd tear him from his creator, he'd join her, and they would put an end to this charade. Foster's would be no more and imaginary friends would rule over humans.

"Come on, buddy, wake up," he whispered urgently, chary not to massage the tender bruises. Regardless, he moaned and then nestled closer to his chest. She narrowed her eyes. Oh, so sweet and oh, so fake. There was no such thing as sincerity from them. She knew firsthand.

"What did they do to you?" he whispered, lifting him up to kiss him softly on the top of the head. Eyelids fluttered, he moaned again, and then rubbed against him like a cat. The teenager stared blankly, blushing slightly, and gently tucked him back in. However, before he could step another few feet, she shifted out of the shadows. Enough was enough. This human disgusted her.

"No more than was necessary," she snarled, wintry breeze brushing past her pink pigtails. In this form, she looked nary older than him, but her violet eyes bespoke torturous years and painful secrets. A pink leather jacket wrapped firmly around her waist; she donned a pair of ineffectual pink glasses, a long, pink leather skirt and knee high pink boots. Even her skin radiated more neon than normal. A stray rabbit's foot dangled out of her hip pocket.

He growled, hastily zipping up his jacket in case she wanted to harm him further. Weak blobby arms pounded; he was almost entirely cognizant and as much as he loved him, he desired no part of suffocation by winter jacket. She smirked, shivering and putting on pink leather gloves. Head to toe, she was covered in another's skin. In fact, her pigtails were tied back with leather strips.

"You did this to him!" he retorted, ignoring his imaginary friend for the moment. He unzipped enough to give him some air, but not to let him speak sans muffling. By his sides, he balled his fists. She bit back a laugh- him, fight her? Why, with her transformer, she could easily overpower him. Or did he truly think she was human? Was he blind or just stupid?

Instead of answering, she pitched the rabbit's foot at his chest. Deftly, caught off guard, he managed to catch it. Blinking in bewilderment, he turned it over in his palm. A moment passed before she spoke, a moment in which a small blue blob stuck his head out of the opening in his jacket and inhaled deeply. He opened his mouth to criticize his creator when Berry spoke, overriding him.

"Give that to Herriman when you get back. Tell him I will have the real thing off him…and I will wear his pelt as a belt," she snarled, pivoting on her heel and leaving. No, she wouldn't follow them into the base this time around. She'd let him come to her and when the time was right, she'd strike swiftly and horribly. Mr. Herriman and his incorrigible creator would rue the day they tangled with her.

Snow crunched underfoot as she wended her way back to headquarters. Unfortunately, though she preferred this guise to her normal, she simply could not take the chance one of her workers would see her and then apprehend her as an imaginary friend. Anyone who happened upon her identity was shot quickly, like before. It was simply too dangerous. People entrusted with her secret would betray her and then try to steal her power. It was inevitable.

Regardless, that little blue blob occupied her thoughts. Surely one akin to her would have her ruthless and strength. Surely he would make a suitable mate as well, never mind his age. A little training, perhaps a smidgen brainwashing and he would be all hers. She relished the challenge.

Besides, it had been too long since she'd a companion like that. Years, in fact. Never mind sexual partners- those came and went. No, the last time she'd had a soulmate was nearly thirty seven years ago, when her creator...No, she vowed never to think about it again. The mere recollection caused tears of outrage and upset to flood her eyes and she was not weak enough to sob over a human. Never mind how much that human had meant to her and how it ached to consider her loss. Never mind that she'd never found another sympathetic soul she thought she could trust…

Once upon a time, she thought she'd loved her. Everything had been perfect; they'd shared everything, including dreams. Holding hands under the magnolia tree, they'd stared up at the branch "parapet" and said they'd be friends forever. Five months later, they'd vowed to never leave each other. Six months after that…she'd lied. She'd had the audacity to die on her and abandon her. She couldn't even take her with her.

Pounding her fist into her palm, she marched off towards her office. She had to hurt someone and badly. She wished now she'd followed him to locate Herriman. Tearing his foot off, hearing his screams, and watching him try to hop around on a bloody stub would amuse her greatly. Not to mention beating him to a pulp as well, lording over him as he died at her hands. His anguished screams would slowly turn into whimpers and then nothing at all- they were quiet in the end. It was death's lullaby. The death of her oldest rivals would be the best present, almost as good as her creator's return.

Eyes downcast, she leaned against a wall in an alleyway and gathered her thoughts. Even so, a tide of rage swept her. Together forever, hmph. That was a lie if she ever heard one. All humans were liars. They all abandoned their friends in one way or another and it was up to her to stop the abuse once and for all. That was why she started DIE in the first place.

Tossing her head haughtily, she ambled back in, the only indication of her upset by the nails digging into her palm and flinging another rabbit foot at a member.

Cold water streamed down her back and eased old wounds, despite her uncontrollable shivering. She gazed into the metal reflection of her human form and slammed her fist into it. Dull throbbing accompanied the shivers, but she smirked. Pain made her whole and showed she was above everything and everyone else. Humans and imaginaries reacting to pain and letting it rule them made them weak. After all, her own human had succumbed to it.

"We're sorry, there's nothing we can do…the pain was too much. She's slipped into a coma."

He stated it so coldly, so matter of factly, that she wanted to gouge out his eyes to make him feel the agony she suffered. Didn't he know what anguish imaginary friends went through when they were this close to their creators and they were dying? Didn't he care? Her heart was being wrenched from her still living body and all he could say was "I'm sorry"!

Her creator's mother stood by and held her blobby arm, but she said nothing. In fact, no words of condolence escaped her nor ever would. She'd never wanted her daughter and, under the magnolia tree, Virginia had told her this much. She said that the only reason she was born was so her parents would have an heir. Nothing more.

"Liar! You're doctors! You can save her! You're human, damn it! You're supposed to be better than this! You're supposed to be our creators, our saviors!" Berry shrieked, flinging herself at the door. She couldn't, wouldn't believe they couldn't help her. They were holding back. They wanted to make them suffer. They loved to see her cry. No one gave a damn about them.

Unbidden, Virginia's words flowed back to her and she balled her fists, pounding on the wood. "I'll always be here…I love you, Berry…"

"Miss, please sit down. You're making a scene."

He gripped her around the waist and physically hoisted her away. Her anguished cries echoed around the corridor and in the back of her mind, she felt her creator fading…

"LIAR! You want her dead!" Berry screamed, falling to her knees. Water poured down her back and soaked her pink hair. She hugged herself, biting back sobs. Even so, they streamed down her face and mixed with the cold, unforgivable liquid falling from the showerhead. At least her tears were warm…

A gentle rap on the door tore into her memories and she staggered to her feet; she leaned heavily on the shower door. One trembling hand reached out, shut off the faucet, and she snatched her transformer off the countertop. No one had better see this form. The last creature to was Virginia…and then she died. She died and left her here.

Strawberry blonde curls trailed down her back and she dressed, throwing them casually this way and that. Her creator's face stared back at her like it always did. Fury boiled within her and she slammed her fist against the mirror. Glass shards embedded themselves in her hand and poured to the floor. Pain arched across her hand, but she smiled. This was nothing. Was this the pain Virginia felt before she died? Then she was weak like all of them.

Ignoring her dripping palm, she opened the door with her uninjured right hand and smirked. A pale little boy, scarcely older than eight, whimpered in fear at her intimidating sight. Blood pooled on the floor with a steady drip. He retreated from it like it was diseased.

"Get me a bandage and clean that up, would you? I wouldn't want anyone slipping on that and trying to sue me. Not that they'd live to try, but you never know in this world," she said frigidly and when he stood there like a statue, she slapped him across the face. Red smudges lined his cheeks and the glass in her palm cut into him. Glass, like everything else, was a double edged sword. It was how you used your weapons that counted.

Swallowing hard, murmuring a response, he scurried away like a little rat. She watched the blood pool a while longer, then fetched a bandage herself. Feh, you could never count on ransomed and kidnapped help. They were always too meek to do the job right. Then again, in this world, she'd learned the hard way the only way to survive was to rely on yourself. There was no such thing as love (because if there was love, then how could she leave her?)

Pressing a cotton roll to staunch the flow, she glanced out the window where snow continued to fall steadily. She would lure him to her…he couldn't resist her...