Chapter Eleven: Resolve

Papa Smurf was worried about Vanity. He'd been vaguely aware that something was amiss, but had just been so busy in the lab this past week. After all, it was hard to tell how much "being preoccupied with his mirror" was a cause for immediate concern when it came to a smurf like Vanity.

These were all things that Brainy Smurf knew by looking at Papa Smurf.

What he didn't see was how smurfs had also been coming and telling Papa Smurf that there was something different about Brainy. This much, Papa Smurf suspected himself. He had tried to keep an eye on Brainy, but the other smurfs had also been keeping him so busy these past few days. Between that and the lab, there was little time to investigate too extensively.

Papa Smurf, I commend you for finally taking action, Vanity's been attached to that mirror for far too long… is what Brainy wanted to say, to start and to try to steer the conversation, distract from the main point at hand. But that was so much more effortful than his trusty autopilot responses, wasn't it? He was so worn out, from earlier, the time spent just being… himself.

"How are you, Brainy?" Papa Smurf asked slowly.

"I'm… fine."

"Are you sure?"

"…No." he didn't know… how much longer he could keep this up. He was slipping…

Papa Smurf nodded supportively. "I'm here to help. Would you like to tell me about it? Then perhaps I can help you."

Yes. Tell Papa Smurf… he wanted to. He'd… smurfed off more than he could chew, and he needed some help. Vanity was right. But he didn't seem able to talk about any of it. What kinds of other blockages had Roesia instilled in him…?

"I wouldn't want to take you away from your work. Every potion is still always resulting in that same black, slimy substance, isn't it? A neutraliser of sorts. It hides, and it dims, magic. But it's not what you wanted because it does so in a blanketed fashion, it does not target specific parts of specific spells. It's much easier to make and if you don't balance everything just right, that's going to be the result… You should probably start disposing of it properly."

"You'll stay in the sick bay, tonight, and we'll talk more tomorrow. Until you can tell me what's going on, or I can find out…" Papa Smurf stood up, began to carefully lead Brainy there.

Of all the people she had seen into the essences of in her life, everyone had their own story. What Roesia learned quite early in her life was that she could not afford to get too caught up in those stories, as they were immaterial to her own life. She had her own story and life to attend to, just as they. The most important question always was, and always had been, did anything exist in the essences of others that could help her? She would poke and search sometimes as she listened and gave emotional aid, just to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary, always searching for something more, something big.

"In the sick bay! Gee, I knew he was actin' a little strange lately, but…"

Papa nodded gravely. "Be careful Clumsy, if you do insist on staying with him. I hope there's nothing seriously wrong… I suspect that perhaps Brainy and Vanity's behaviour is connected, somehow."

Papa Smurf continued on, frowning, "It just doesn't make sense for Brainy to know some of the things he's talking about…" There was someone else he'd encountered recently, who had also seemed to know more than they logically should…

Perhaps it was high time to start up that investigation into Roesia.

Outside, it was turning dark. Tomorrow… tomorrow, he would get to the bottom of this.

"I can fix this." Brainy paced about the room. Dabbler had long retired to bed – he couldn't keep an eye on Brainy at every minute. Clumsy, however, was there and listening. He'd be there even if there hadn't been annoying, sensationalist talk sweeping the village. "Sounds like Brainy's finally lost his mind"…

He wasn't taking his glasses off anymore, the way he had been around Clumsy the past few days. It didn't seem to occur to him to remove them, even when he'd lied down and slipped into a shallow sleep a little while earlier. But he was awake now. Clumsy fought to stay awake too, to be there with him.

"Or – I must try."

Clumsy yawned. "How – how can ya fix it, Brainy? So ya do know what's wrong…?"

"Yes, yes…" he walked quickly to the door.

"Whoa, whoa," Clumsy took his arm in his hands, held him back. "You're s'posed to stay here. Papa Smurf's orders."

"No, I-"

"Now where can ya possibly be smurfin' to, at this time'a night? You gotta stay here, yep, yep!"

"There's no time to waste… I don't have much choice."

And then the door opened right up, neither of them having so much as touched it. Vanity stood in the doorway, glowing mirror in hand.

"What are ya doin' here? You should really go back to bed," Clumsy told him crossly, "don't ya know what time it is?"

"You don't know what time it is," Vanity said pointedly.

"And just what are you doing with that confiscated mirror, Vanity Smurf? Ooh, wait until Papa Smurf hears about this…!" There he was, the normal Brainy, reappearing in bursts.

"Didn't I tell you I'd go, right after you did? So let's go, shall we?" Vanity swiftly pulled Brainy outside.

"Uh, go where?" they were already walking away from Clumsy. He took a few steps after them, tripped, sent them all sprawling. "Ya can't… Papa Smurf said…!"

Vanity picked up the mirror, stood up, dusted himself off. "We have to. Don't worry. It'll solve everything. We can all wake up tomorrow and just go back to normal."

Clumsy wasn't sure what to think, but he wasn't very convinced. "Why is your mirror glowin', huh? Huh?"

Vanity kept his eyes on Clumsy. "Oh. You can see that right now, too? Interesting. Well it'll make a smurfy light amidst the darkness of the forest, don't you think? That is, if we three weren't already walking lanterns…"

"I glow, too?" Brainy was thrilled. It was the first bit of information Vanity had ever given him about what he saw – about himself.

"You can't just wander off into the forest," Clumsy insisted, "at least wait until tomorrow…"

"Oh, we're grown smurfs… And we can't afford to wait. We simply must throw off the shackles of this accursed insight as soon as we can." Clumsy didn't know what Vanity was on about, but he sounded determined.

The sky was gradually starting to lighten now.

"…And it's already tomorrow," Vanity pointed out, tugging Brainy along after him. Clumsy followed, wringing his hands.

"You shouldn't follow us, Clumsy… You should get some rest," Brainy advised, his tone sincere.

Clumsy shook his head adamantly, "I'm not lettin' you outta my sight. I'll follow ya around anywhere… 'cause I need to make sure you're okay. Especially now. I'm worried about ya. If ya won't listen to reason…"

Vanity smiled to himself. "Well if you're coming along, hold on to this, will you?" he tossed Clumsy his mirror. "That thing's been more than enough trouble for me this week."

"Aren't ya tired, Vanity? Shouldn't ya sleep?" Clumsy urged. They were rapidly nearing the forest now.

"Yes," Vanity admitted, "but once I'm finally rid of that mirror's magic, I can catch up on as much sleep as I want. Just you wait – you'll be mistaking me for Lazy!"

Clumsy could have called out to wake up the other smurfs, or rushed away to grab Papa, to do anything to stop these two smurfs from wandering off into the forest like this. But to do so, in and of itself, would have been to risk losing them – to have them slip away from him, and he needed to ensure their safety. He could have gone to grab Papa, but then they would have left without him, and how would he find them again? He could have called to try to wake other smurfs up, but perhaps then Vanity and Brainy would have run off without him. Clumsy could hardly keep his eyes open; he didn't trust his ability to keep up with them, especially given his tendency towards tripping over.

He realised he didn't even know where they were going.

He tripped over anyway. Vanity and Brainy both helped him up.

"Where are you goin'?" Clumsy asked them, nervous.

"To Roesia. She did this to us, she can un-do this to us," Vanity explained.

"Oh, no! Ya didn't disobey Papa Smurf's orders, did ya? Y-Ya disobeyin' 'em right now! Ya gotta turn back… tell Papa Smurf, he'll be able t' help!"

Vanity kept on walking, Brainy not far behind. "We can't wait, Clumsy. We can't afford to wait."

"But – but why'd she be in the forest at this time, huh? She'd have t' be fast asleep!"

"Oh." Vanity thought for a moment. "Then we'll just have to wait for her. The sooner the better, Clumsy, the sooner the better."

But they arrived shortly thereafter, and to Clumsy's alarm, she was there, and she was awake, and seemed to be working on… something.

No, that wasn't right… This wasn't right.

He couldn't even take anything in. He needed sleep.

"You're early," Roesia remarked.

Clumsy's eyes were closing. He blinked himself awake.

Vanity cut straight to the point. "Take away the insight."

"Okay…" he heard her say.

Clumsy walked absentmindedly. There was a particular spot on the ground that seemed good – there was just something about it. Like it was a spot just for him, and there he sat down. He didn't want to move.

"…Although I'm a bit busy right now. I think you can afford to wait a little bit longer. Why don't you two take a seat? Clumsy seems to have the right idea."

"Why… why did you give us the insight?" Brainy breathed. He'd made his way over to a spot not far from Clumsy.

"Don't worry," Roesia said reassuringly, "It won't be much longer. It'll all be over soon."