"Anger's back!" Joy sang out as the bell above the delivery hatch chimed a three-note pattern ("You've got mail!"). She dashed away from her position at the console and over to the hatch, where Anger was crawling through. Unable to contain her exuberance, she grabbed Anger by the hands and attempted, with limited success, to swing her around. "Welcome home, Anger!"
"Get your hands off me!" Anger snapped, steam rising from the top of her head. Joy knew she'd already had a trying day, dealing with the Subconscious and all, so she refrained from the original welcome she'd been hoping for and instead dragged Anger back to the front of the main control room. The other emotions, who were occupied in tidying up the main control room for the night, eyed Anger apprehensively, especially Fear, who still wore a bandage over the bruise she'd received that morning. Logic ignored Anger completely, keeping her focus solely on the POV monitor and Sarah's chosen bedtime reading - tonight, a few chapters of a biography of Ben Franklin. Joy couldn't blame them for their behavior, especially considering the morning's incident. But Anger was an integral part of Team Sarah - no one could deny that. If Joy helped Sarah find the light in life, Anger was the one who lit the spark. Without her drive, half of Sarah's Core Memories would be nonexistent. And even if she didn't get along with the others sometimes, part of Joy's job as lead emotion was to keep the team running smoothly, so she kind of had to at least pretend to like Anger.
Speaking of doing her job, Joy noted that Sarah's Pep Meter was at the "Sleep Now" level. "Looks like it's officially bedtime," she decided aloud. "Logic, since you're already at the console, can you put Sarah to bed - y'know, get the room ready? You're the only one the console will accept at the Pep Level we're at."
"Already taking care of it," Logic assured Joy as the lights in the room before them flashed off and the cool breeze of the fan began pulsing through.
"Perfect! Disgust, whose turn is it for Dream Duty?"
Disgust glanced at the chart that Logic had created to prevent arguments over whose turn it was. "Let's see, it's Sunday night, Anger's turn."
"Awesome! Anger can stay behind, then. Fear-"
"Already on it!" Fear stomped on the Suction button in the floor, sending the colorful array of the day's memories (mostly yellow, but with nice large patches of everything but red) along the Short-Term Memory shelves, through tubes in the floor, and into the steady stream of the suction tube. Joy smiled brightly as she gazed at the display, as she always did. While she hadn't been responsible for every memory made, nor did she wish to be. Nope, Joy was never happier than when every moving part clicked together to make Sarah's life absolutely perfect.
It made her proud to be a Joy.
Fear gave the dial on her combination lock one last spin, having stowed her trusty clipboard inside the locker for the night. Finally, after the trials and tribulation of having to make it through the day while injured, she had the chance to relax with a good book, or maybe a song or two on her guitar.
Out of the corner of her ear, Fear heard a soft 8-bit version of "Revolting Children" - Anger's ringtone. Who could possibly be calling Anger now? Sarah was asleep, so most Mind Workers and Characters were busy with their own matters, which usually didn't involve Anger. This was suspicious.
Fear continued to listen as Anger answered the ringing phone. "Hello?" said Anger casually. "Yeah, I made it back. No one suspects a thing… Right now, actually. I'll let you in as soon as the elevator's free… Fear? She's always been early to bed, early to rise. Trust me, she'll be sound asleep… It'll be good to have her out of my hair for once. You'll be a great replacement!" Here, Anger laughed, a snigger that added a few loops to the writing knot in Fear's stomach. "See you soon, then…"
Fear had to clap a hand over her mouth to keep herself from crying out in shock. She had overheard a plot to get rid of her! This was something straight out of her crime novels! Fear took a few deep breaths, attempting to calm herself, and finished up at her locker, walking away as if nothing had happened. She still couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with Anger. First, she had physically harmed her. Now she was plotting to kidnap her - or worse! She needed protection…
Fear carefully approached Joy, who was leading their fellow emotions to the elevator. "Hey, Joy," she whispered nervously. "If it's all right with you… Could I maybe hang out in your room tonight?"
Joy's eyes lit up. "Of course it's all right with me!" she gushed. "We haven't had a proper sleepover in so long. You'll need a minute or two to get ready, right?"
"Sure…" But not a long one, Fear thought with an internal sigh of relief. For the moment, she was saved from Anger's plot.
It felt nice to have a Joy for a friend sometimes.
Joy drew another Would You Rather card and scanned it. "Here's a good one: Would You Rather marry a bully or a whiner?"
"What? Oh, whiner. Definitely whiner." Fear's eyes continued to dart around the room as she drew her next card. Joy could see the purple hand shaking as it grasped the card.
"Are you okay?" Joy couldn't help asking. "You're jumpier than usual, Fear. Too much lemonade at dinner, or what?"
Fear answered with a bright smile, "Nah, I'm perfectly fine! It's just… I thought I heard something earlier. It's fine, it's fine. Okay. Would You Rather fall from 50 feet onto a giant air mattress or a giant pile of whipped cream?"
Joy had to think about that one. While the whipped cream would be both delicious and dense enough to support her fall, she wouldn't be able to breathe during the descent to the ground. The air mattress wouldn't have that problem, but Joy doubted she would be able to fall the exact way you were supposed to land on one of those things. She was about to ask Fear, the resident safely expert, her opinion when Fear let out a yelp, eyes locked on the elevator lights. They slowly traveled up, from the grey (Logic's room) to the purple (Fear's) to the white (the main control room). Fear dashed into Joy's wardrobe before the star could blink. After an awkward moment of silence, the yellow light flashed on and the doors opened, revealing Anger.
"Hey, Joy - have you seen Fear?" Anger inquired.
Joy nodded, but made no movement to indicate Fear's location. The last time Fear had interacted with Anger, she'd ended up with a massive bruise, after all!
"Do you know where she is?"
'Yeah… why do you ask?"
"There's something for her in the main control room."
"But the Train of Thought doesn't run while Sarah's asleep…"
"Where. Is. Fear?" A darkness passed over Anger's features and into her voice as she spat out the words.
Joy simply shook her head. "Anger, it's late, we're all tired, and if there really is anything for Fear, she can pick it up in the morning. G'night!" With that, Joy slipped into her cozy bed. Anger, however, didn't leave. Instead, she marched over to the wardrobe and threw open the double doors. "Wait!" Joy cried out, but it was too late.
"Found you." Fear was shivering and whimpering, clutching one of Joy's dresses so tightly it nearly fell off the hanger. Anger ripped her away from the dress, ripping the dress itself in the process, and dragged her over to the elevator. Joy threw off her covers, leaped over the abandoned Would You Rather cards, and slid into the elevator just before the doors closed.
"Joy-" Fear gasped before Anger clapped a meaty hand over her mouth.
"Quiet, you," Anger snapped. 'You've already dragged Joy into this, and you won't be doing anything else. Stay calm, and this'll be as painless as possible. Got it?"
Fear whimpered, but nodded weakly.
"Anger, what's going on?" Joy whispered. "You're not acting like yourself. Are you sleepwalking?"
Anger smiled slyly at Joy. "Oh, trust me, Joy, I'm wide awake…" Joy shuddered upon seeing the creepy grin.
The elevator doors opened to reveal the main control room. Without the bright glow of the screen, or the gleaming memories, the room was draped in deep shadows, illuminated only by the faraway-seeming lights of the Personality Islands, Long-Term Memory, and other zones of the Mind. Anger dragged Fear down the ramp and to the center of the room, then called out, "She's all yours!"
A figure slipped out from the shadows bounding the room. With her deep purple particles and pure black clothing, she seemed almost like a shadow herself, but her body shape was that of a Fear. Joy peeked at the scene from behind the railing, intrigued and eager to see what was really going on.
"We meet at last, Fear," said Living Shadow (Joy was gonna call her that for now) in a silky, dark voice. "It's good to see you again, I must say."
"Who… wha… who are you?" Fear stammered, sitting up slightly but ready to back away at any moment.
Living Shadow smiled softly. "Really, Fear, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out already. Well, we can't all be Logic, I suppose. I am Terror, ruler of the Subconscious - and soon, the Mind."
A string of frantic gibberish left Fear's mouth. Joy couldn't blame her for being tongue-tied in the presence of the legendary Terror. All the emotions had been convinced she was just a story Mind Worker kids were told when they weren't behaving themselves, but anything was possible in Sarah's mind. Terror calmly raised a hand, and Fear's stammers ended as swiftly as they had begun.
"That's better," said Terror. "Now relax. This won't take long…" With that, Terror gently took Fear's hands. Fear winced, and Terror grinned devilishly. All of a sudden, Fear jerked her hands out of Terror's grasp, delivered a flawless karate kick to her gut - memorizing all the now-forgotten memories of Sarah's karate lessons had apparently paid off - and made a mad dash up the ramp.
"Well, don't just stand there! After her!" Terror and Anger raced up after Fear, but Joy leaped between Fear and her pursuers, declaring, "As Sarah's Lead Emotion, I demand an explanation for this behavior!"
"You fool, you're ruining everything!" Anger exclaimed, attempting to rush at Fear, who cowered behind Joy.
Terror blocked her path with an arm and sighed, "Relax, Hatred, we can work with this."
"Hatred?" Joy gasped as she and Fear inched backward. "You can't possibly mean…"
"Oh, that's right, my little ray of sunshine. The Anger you knew is no more. By performing the Merge with my associate Rage, she has turned her back on the life she was being offered here… in favor of more power than you'll ever know."
Anger - Hatred, apparently - smirked, her particles shifting ever-so-slightly. They landed on a shade of red - not quite crimson, but noticeably darker. Her hair and eyes did the same. Behind Joy, Fear whispered, "The Merge thing she mentioned - Terror was trying to do that with me. It would have been disastrous. It looks like Anger and Rage only combined into one being with elements of both, but I would have been completely absorbed into Terror - she'd get even more powerful, and I'd lose my sense of self completely." The nerve was still shaking as she clutched Joy's shoulder.
"Don't you worry," Joy whispered back in a hopefully-reassuring tone. "I won't let her do that to you. I promise."
"What's that?" asked Terror with a smirk.
Joy fixed a determined gaze upon Terror and said proudly, "I said Fear is never going to Merge with you, as long as I have anything to say about it!"
"Fine," Terror replied calmly. "I suppose we'll just have to go about this differently…" As Joy looked into Terror's deep violet eyes, her heart began to pick up its pace. Her head throbbed with the rhythm of her heartbeat. She wanted desperately to run away, but her limbs were frozen. She couldn't move. Fear's voice seemed distant as she screamed out a warning of some sort; Joy could barely make out the words "Project" and "careful". She watched in horror as Hatred grabbed Fear again and dragged her down the ramp. Terror activated the suction tube, and Fear shrieked as she was unceremoniously tossed into the stream of outgoing air and carried away through the roof of Headquarters. As the tube retracted, Joy snapped out of the spell.
"What did you do to her? What did you do to me?" she demanded, racing down to the floor.
Terror pressed her fingers together. "I didn't wish to use Projection on you, but you left me no choice. As for Fear, I only sent her to a little place we both know…"
Joy may not have been Logic, but she connected the dots. "She'll never be able to handle the Subconscious!" she gasped.
"That's what we're counting on," Hatred replied.
Joy crossed her arms. "You guys are pure evil."
Terror smiled. "Thank you, Joy. Now, I'm going to need you to pay attention." Terror slowly circled Joy, who made a show of looking at anything in the room but Terror. "Things are going to change around here. For starters, if Fear's going to be in the Subconscious for an extended period of time - and mark my words, she will be - Sarah's still going to need all of her emotions…" In the blink of an eye, a carbon copy of Fear stood in Terror's place - but wearing an expression that should never be seen on a Fear, and still speaking in Terror's villainous voice. "I'll be filling in for Fear, and taking over as lead emotion. That will require that you cede control of the console to me or Hatred whenever possible. You won't object to any decisions made by either of us. And you won't let the other emotions know the truth. If you cooperate, you'll continue to live comfortably in Headquarters. If not, well, Fear could always use company… Am I clear?"
"No way am I agreeing to all that," Joy spat. "I'll never let you waltz in here and take over HQ. Sarah's my girl. It's my job to give her the best life I can - not to let you twist her forever!"
Terror chuckled. "I don't think we understand each other. Let me explain things to you…" Terror raised a hand, and suddenly, a rooster materialized near the Core Memory podium. Joy screeched - among other things, a fear of chickens was one thing she and Sarah shared.
"Listen well, Joy," Terror continued. "You may think you hold the power in this situation, but I can assure you, you do not. I hold the power here. I can leave more of an impact on this Mind than you ever will. And let's not forget - I can see what you fear most. So stay out of my way, or you will regret it. Now am I clear?"
A defeated Joy hung her head and nodded. She felt she had no other choice.
Terror smiled. "Good girl. Now, off to bed with you. Hatred and I have some things we wish to discuss…" Joy slowly turned and made her way back to the elevator, mind racing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Terror and Hatred approaching the Core Memory podium, just as the door closed.
There's gotta be a silver lining to all this, Joy thought. Okay. Terror specifically said I couldn't tell the other emotions about what's going on… But she never said anything about other mind residents! I can tell my Mind Worker or Character pals about Terror. Maybe they can help me come up with something. And there's another thing - I'll have a front-row seat to Terror's takeover, so I can directly plan a defense without having to guess what her next step will be. And even if I do land myself in the Subconscious, all the better to bust Fear out. Terror won't know what hit her… hopefully…
Once she got back to her room, Joy hopped over the Would You Rather cards and into her bed. She pulled up the covers, closed her eyes, and began to drift away. As she started to sleep, she heard a faraway voice, familiar and yet alien, relieved and desperate, in the same breath.
Help me...