It was not the exactly the easiest moment for the imaginary friend. Everything had a somber air, from something as small as his woozy eyes racing around the room's trappings, or the dead-as-night stillness of his legs set loose below the edges of the infirmary-like bed--to the realization that Miss Frances "Frankie" Foster was staring him down, her eyes unflinchingly wide and direct.
She placed her scrubbing mitt on the nearest desk, allowed what looked like an empty bucket to clank with the floor, and, finally, hunched herself onto the bed, without ever parting from her gaze. "Hello?"
The ape named Karoshi did not respond immediately. In fact; he had scarcely budged from his trance-like state since noting her presence... yet the inside of him was the exact opposite, seething with energy and fire that beckoned to explode right out of him. All that was visible, however, were spastic ticks that were as infrequent as they were bizarre.
Frankie was quick to notice this. She laid both of her arms across the friend's huge figure, and shook away with all her skinny might. "Karoshi...?"
He tried; to piece together what was going on, to find the right words with which to respond. It danced on the uttermost tip of his tongue, it's pinky toes circling around and poking down, teasing and numbing him at the same time; while his mind drowned in a hodgepodge of memories that spanned many years ago to right now--
The only thing to result, in the end, was him collapsing backfirst onto the bed.
He couldn't.
Silence. The nearby footsteps died down, just as all birds swooping through the window's afternoon view stopped chirping. Whether such actually happened or was just a self-created illusion, Karoshi didn't care. The energy inside him suddenly sputtered. All he did was stare wholesale onto the ceiling. It's blossom pink hue, sparkling yet not-overly-so, and with an unnaturally pleasant scent that just barely reached his nose... all he thought about, right now, was...
And then it came to him, so bluntly and forcefully, that he shot up with nary a warning to his feet.
Her name... Goo Goo Gaga--
Goldy.
The words were now within reach of his mouth. Before he did so however, his eyes moved around to find a particular redhead girl... but before he could finish, he felt those familiar hands claw fiercely into his skin, towing him down an inch or two. Before either of them knew it, they were staring at each other.
"Augh," Frankie huffed, dusting the sleeves of her hoody as she stood up(Apparently having been dragged along). She directed a somewhat stern gaze towards the ape. "Karoshi, I really hope this isn't--"
That was all she could manage to say before being seized by both of the ape's paws. Not maliciously or menacingly, of course; but desperately.
He spoke unornamentaly. "Goldy."
Frankie was confused. "Goldy?"
Karoshi stalled for a few tense seconds--and gave a somewhat embarrassed shake of the head. After which, he spoke again. "Goo... where is she?"
Somewhat to his surprise, the young woman didn't take very long to respond. "She's still in the backyard, last I checked. She's really been playing around the house a lot, with Mac and the friends."
That was it. All he needed to hear. Forget about Mac and forget about all those imaginary friends. Not only did the iron clench that gripped his heart vanished, but all of the wounds caused by it healed. Karoshi soon realized, even more to his surprise--he was smiling. Smiling.
Alright. Goldy was unharmed, to-be-seen, healthy.
She was alright.
Karoshi slumped onto the bed again, this time without the redhead's extra weight--and this time with clear happiness. Words couldn't describe just how overwhelmed with happiness he was, just like how he didn't quite know how to express it. All that could be said was that he seized the bed's pillow, and fiercely hugged and even kissed it as if it were Goo herself. Joy, joy, joy. JOY! That was all he cared about. That was all he thought about, for god knows how long.
And then another sensation overcame him. Neither painful nor pleasant, just neutral. Webs developed across the cracks of his brain, filling him with confusion at every turn...
He arose yet again, turning to Frankie with mouth open and loaded with questions aplenty--
But before he could mention even a word, she already began to answer them.
"It's been almost a week. Your body was found by the cemetery's undertaker hours after you fell unconscious. You were taken to the local hospital in which grandma and Mr. Herriman took me..." And she paused, to lay a quiet hand on Karoshi's paw--lifting his gaze and, at long last, creating eye-contact between both of them. "You were transferred to the very room in which I was."
The impact of these words, shell-shocking on their own, were muted in comparison to the fact that he was feeling the lady's heavenly smooth fingers race through his fur(and swearing that they moved about in a playful manner)... his eyes became a deep blank. "Huh?"
Frankie ignored that response, instead allowing her mouth to curl into a smile. "I was supposed to be in the hospital for a week or two, but I healed much faster than the doctors expected, so I only remained for two days. You..." And, suddenly and without warning, her smile burst into a full sunshine. "Well, we decided to take you back here so I could nurse you back to health."
"But how--"
That was all Karoshi could manage to say before the full extent of those words thunderstruck him. His face slumped as the cusp of both shoulders arose, deliberately trying to bury the swirl of confused expressions from the lady's attention... he sighed, shook a little, both hands tightened, and looked on the verge of breaking down--
And then felt something soothing land on his right fist. It was a hand; soft, graceful, feminine--
Frankie's hand.
The fists loosened back into a pair of fizzled fingers, resting peacefully on the bed's sheet for some seconds... and then crawled into the caretaker's warm lap. Before he even knew it, his entire body hunched down like the wounded beast--and leant feebly towards the shadow that the lady cast. Even with his eyes clamped shut(And rapidly moistening) and all other senses numbed, he could easily sense the contemplative humming as her beautiful face loomed overhead... and her hand was no longer contacting with his.
Instead; it gently stroked upwards, fiddling with the multicolored specks on his arm, rasping with his sweaty rock-hard chest, and half-circling across his neck's thick frame--and then curling her entire arm across it, in a very affectionate way.
"You feel very guilty right now. I can easily tell that..." Frankie said, her mouth beginning to frown thinly into the ape's earlobe. "But, guess what? I feel guilty too. Goo does. Grandma, Herriman, as well as Mac and the residents--everybody feels some sort of guilt and responsibility about what happened." she paused briefly, allowing hints of happiness to stream across her lips. "Since you've been unconscious in the meantime; if it makes you feel any better, things are back to normal now."
Karoshi felt the lady's hold tighten; something he did not at all try to reject... because he savored and enjoyed it. He liked it; just as he liked now fully resting on her knees, or that she told him that things were OK now, and that Goo was--
Goldy. She was somewhere in this place, this very instant.
He arose to his feet, once again, and spoke to Frankie in a very quick spurt: "Can I go see Goldy--err, Goo? Even for a brief moment?"
His rabid movements eventually caused the woman to lay flatly against the bed. Karoshi felt his heart somewhat sink, expecting a gruff response... and then became as beaming as the brightness in her face. "Take all the time you need."
- - -
Another blur... but this one was completely different. No gloomy grays, no hopeless blacks. No foul stenches or bittersweet tastes. The colors were of vivid blues, shining greens and fierce reds. The aroma was invigorating, the actual meal equally delicious. The songs were cheering; the orchestra performing a composition of pure happiness. Victory was everywhere. It assailed all of the senses, not viciously but lovingly.
And the memories.
Karoshi stopped his wild sprinting through the foster home, just briefly to catch his breath. He was fully expecting the wishy-washy tunnel to morph back into one of the many hallways, and the accompanying colors to being imaginary friends, of all size and ages.
That wasn't the case.
Instead, he was taken to a beautiful and endless grass plain. The roles here were instantly evident: Mr. and Mrs. Goodman sat on an isolated table to enjoy the playful ongoings. Marvin stood from a fair distance, akin to a big brother watching over his siblings. And, most important and most beautiful of all--two figures frolicked and rolled and hugged with everlasting happiness. An imaginary ape of huge frame, whom happened to be him... and that very girl who, for all intents and purposes, had been the love of her life.
A small side of him wanted to remain, to stand here, or maybe take a seat between the elder Goodmans; and simply watch those cherished memories, of a different time, unfold before him for the second time...
But he instead chose to turn his back on it, and continued to run, and his surroundings reverted back to being those colorful blurs. Those were good memories, no doubt. But they were just that, memories. They were of the past. Right now--
They were about to actually occur once again.
- - -
Eduardo was re-enacting the Lord of the Rings trilogy with all of his beloved stuffed dolls, Coco was busy looking over her latest batch of eggs, Wilt practiced football on the other side of the yard as a break from his usual basketball obsession, and Bloo, well, he was not-so-pleased with his multiplayer skills on Super Smash Bros. Melee. Mac oddly found himself thankful for all of that, because he'd hate to imagine if any of them saw him lying splat on the grass--hugging with(Or more accurately, being hugged) Goo Goo Gaga.
"Um, Goo..." the eight-year-old paused slightly, pondering if there was a polite way of saying this. "Don't you think--"
Mac trailed off when, yet again, he felt his forehead smooched by the girl's overly-eager lips. The first time, he had that irrational fear every young boy had: cooties. The second time, he overcame that fear and instead began to actually enjoy it. The sixth time, it began to lose it's appeal. By the forty-second time...
Goo simply grinned. "Oh, shut up." And before he even had a chance, it became forty-three and forty-four.
For what was probably half-a-second, the boy's body writhed with anger, so much that he could unhesitatingly unclasp his body whole and just run away from that utterly obnoxious girl. He didn't, of course. And he didn't want to. Deep down, he was actually enjoying this almost as much as she was.
At last, the girl's weight pressing onto his body loosened; Goo started leaning sideways. "Okie, time for you to get on top and kiss ME."
"Finally," Mac said with a half-smirk, squirming to the sides and then eagerly planting both of his arms to the sides of Goo's neck, fully expecting the afternoon sun to blast his back--
Instead, he felt an unsettlingly large shadow. His head craned a few inches onto the opposite direction to get a look, but was distracted by the change of expression in the girl's face--one of absolute shock and dread.
"Goo?" Mac inquired, concerned enough that he prodded the chin of her blank face with his finger.
She pointed right behind him. "Karoshi."
The two kids were no longer lying comfortably on the grass but instead in a sitting position, their arched positions perfectly corresponding with the rigid shock that govern their souls. The ape was large enough from the perspective of a fully grown adult; the fact that they were children in small bodies - and sitting down as aforementioned - meant that he appeared like King Kong. His maroon eyes glared down on them, masking his feelings into an effectively neutral face, and yet leaving blatant hints that something hid underneath...
Goo was the first to break this uneasy silence. "Mac... leave..."
Mac did not question the brusque way he'd been spoken to. He just stood up and walked away, though not before giving the girl a parting glance--and a very dirty glare towards the infamous ape.
Karoshi did not notice that, and he wouldn't have cared even if he did. His gaze, his attention, his energy--they were all directed to the swarthy girl located in the squat middle of this sea of grassy greens. The same was of Goo to the ape. Their surroundings seemed to be emptied at this point, whether through coincidence or fate... it was only them.
At last, Karoshi placed one knee into the grass--his first step towards sitting down and hunching himself towards the girl's side. He bent his head, so down and so low that he meet her stature.
And he spoke, simply and plainly: "Goldy?"
His eyes did not depart. He was scared and frightened, of course, and preparing for the absolute worst; but his eyes did not depart. Karoshi was too willful, and he wasn't going to quit right now. He needed to know, right here and right, if--
Her eyes did not leave. On the contrary, they looked on very approvingly... and her blank mouth curled into a great, wide smile. "Special K."
Special K. At last... at long last--
THUD.
One pair of eyes saw the brownish soil beneath the plants, the other stared deeply into the infinity of the sky. One was huge and bulky; the other relatively small and graceful. The one thing in common between the two of them: they hugged, rolled around and held each other as if there were no tomorrow.
Whomever else saw and scoffed at them be damned; right now, just this once--it was just the two of them.
Karoshi felt something moist planted on his cheek, as small in stature as it was big in affection. "I love you, Goldy."
And Goo felt a kiss so big she had to scrunch up her face to not get saliva all over her. "And I love you too, K."
- - -
Night time fell upon Wilson Way. No stormy rain, no chilly rain, no chaos or destruction, just that: a shining half-moon, leading a pack of scattered yet twinkling stars that worked their magic through the azure heavens. The yards were emptied, and the residents were deep in tonight's sleep... except Karoshi himself.
The ape sat on the entrance porch's stair, both of his eyes dwelling across, well, essentially nothing. Everything was dead quiet; even the crickets decided to take this night off. But it was a good quiet; it soothed him, relieved him of the last remaining shrapnels of hurt that accumulated on his soul over the years... he liked the occasional serving of silence, almost as much as he liked the swirl of rock 'n' roll in his ears. And besides, it helped him to clearly focus on that certain little girl, whom he spent the better part of this day playing around with.
It might seem a little odd that they be currently separated like this, him sitting here while she shared the same bedroom with all of her newfound friends. However, Karoshi was actually happy about all that, both about all those other imaginary friends she was soon going to bond with, and - he shuddered a little - the possibility of that chestnut-haired dork being her boyfriend... but, very deep down, even with the somewhat seething guilt caused by him still stuck ogling over scantily-clad models, he was happy that her creator had found genuine love.
Though to be honest, those models didn't seem to be very attractive to him these days. Maybe his tastes and preferences were finally growing up. Maybe...
He was unable to finish that line of thought when, somewhat fittingly, a feminine shadow was cast on his back. Even as he accordingly turned his gaze around, he already recognized it--and was not at all surprised upon seeing that familiar reddish ponytail and vulnerably beautiful face.
What did surprise him, as she sat right beside, was how positively delicious she looked on that set of pink pajamas, which seemed to barely fit her already-slender-as-it-is figure. He was just barely able to remove his dirty stare on her, ahem..."chest", so that they would instead meet with her own pair of eyes, as she began to speak. "Hi there, Kelly."
"Hello..." Karoshi responded, somewhat blandly--and then felt himself somewhat stung by seething embarrassment. "Did you just call me--"
Frankie did nothing but giggle. "Alright, alright, I'll call you just K... or maybe special K!"
Oh, fuckdamnit.Karoshi slumped with a sigh as he felt the lady's hands ruffled like some overgrown dog--
And then that simple, haunting fact crashed back to him: he was interacting with basically the central character in the ordeal they'd all endured in the last week or so.
The playful mood vanished like a popped balloon. Instead of sagging in irrelevant discomfort, he sagged in a deep, grim depression.
"Look, Frankie..." Karoshi would wholly and sincerely mean the words he was about to speak next: "I'm sorry. I really, really am. Please, just..."
Leave me alone danced on his lips, each step a tempting tickle which got him closer to actually uttering it... but he resisted the urge, because he did not want her to go. No, no, no--not right now, as she clung herself dearly close to him, the now loosened hair brushing against the shoulders...
"Goo's been telling me about you," Frankie said, pressing a kind smile on the ape's ears. "She says you're not such a bad person."
THE END
A/N - ...well, not just yet. I'm planning to write and publish an epilogue to this, to wrap up some of the loose ends and bring closure.
In any case, the actual story is complete. To be honest, I never thought I'd even get past the first few chapters, so this is an accomplishment at least for me. I thank everybody whom decided to devote their time to my sad little fanfic, but I have a few words for those who actually devoted multiple reviews to this:
ravengal - I appreciate the compliments on my writing style, as I think this story really helped me flesh it out. It should be interesting to see how it'll affect all of my future works.
FullMetalFrankie - Even if copyrights didn't exist, I don't think my story would be worthy of getting turned into an actual book. But thanks for all the praise!
Xaldin - I hope you don't hate me TOO much for not giving Karoshi the ass-kicking he admittedly deserved for what he did to my favorite Foster's character, but like you said, I'm the one who chooses how it ends...:P still, I must say I really enjoyed your reviews.
And finally,
Dude13 - I know you receive enough praise and worship as it is, so I'll try to be earnest: thank you, for reviewing every chapter from the 2nd onwards, and for supporting this story(and Precious... which I'm sad to say is being put on indefinite hold) even despite the plentiful torturous waits you've had to endure for me to update. Next time I write a multi-chapter fic, I'll do what you did with your original story and have AT LEAST a good amount of it written before actually publishing it. You might be disappointed at the complete lack of Frankie/Goo interaction in this final chapter... but the epilogue will more than make up for it.
And that's it. The end for my very first story under this account... yet, really, the beginning of my stint with fanfiction. Once I publish that epilogue, I'm taking a bit of a break from writing, at least the month of July. After that, all of my future FHFIF stories will be comedic(Yes, I'm actually capable of such... or at least I think so) or at least lighter in those than this was. My "serious" energies are being taken elsewhere.
See you next cha... well, see you later!
Voxxyn