"Don't you dare poke me!"

Colleen is totally getting poked, thought Caleb with a quick and quiet grin as he stared out the window of the Train of Thought's passenger car. Beside him, Maddie had whipped out her personal copy of The Neptune Project, now completely engrossed within the sci-fi novel. Behind them, Colleen and Alex were getting into one of their IBSs - Inevitable Bicker Sessions. Nothing out of the ordinary.

On the outside, at least.

A million thoughts buzzed through Caleb's consciousness, mostly concerned with that conversation he'd had with Joy. Poor Joy. Her normally bouncy, boisterous voice had reduced itself to a mere whisper as she regaled him with the previous night's events. Those enormous blue eyes of hers had seemed ready to burst into tears at any moment. Caleb couldn't bring himself to blame her for acting so OOC. After all, Terror was no laughing matter. His hearing, supernaturally enhanced by his status as Airmaster, had caught many a little Mind Worker or child Character whimpering over her appearance in their nightmares; older Mind Workers often threatened their naughty progeny with a visit from her.

He'd never believed the stories. Maybe it was naivete, but he didn't think something so… unsettling could exist in such a pure mind as his Narrator's. He and Alex had often shared a laugh at Terror's expense.

But Joy - probably the being with the most power in the entire mind - displaying such submission over Terror… that put a whole new spin on things. Terror was clearly real. She was tangible. And worst of all, she'd been under his nose the entire time.

So why hadn't he offered more than a promise of potential safety to Joy?

He could have invited her back to Imagination Land with him. He could have allowed her the use of his powers. Heck, he could have called out Terror himself and ended the whole thing then and there. Except he hadn't. Why?

This was the question that gnawed at him, even as his face remained as blank as he could make it. Caleb knew the answer, although he didn't necessarily like it.

Caleb may have been Joy's friend. He may have been a powerful guardian of one of the core physical concepts of the universe. But, first and foremost, Caleb was a Character. And a Character's first instinct was self-preservation.

Characters had a lot thrown at them by their Narrators on a day-to-day basis. A Character's plot could take an unexpected swerve, or their backstory could be completely wiped and replaced, or a heavy helping of angst could be added to their personality. Characters weren't supposed to complain about these changes. A Character who did was doomed to a minor role, possibly a death. Alex had nearly been consigned to such a fate by protesting actions he was being forced to take. Caleb had seen Characters go. Most often kicking and screaming, dragged into the Subconscious by security guards until they faded from Sarah's mind entirely. Caleb and his Elemaster friends were made of sterner stuff. They were Protagonists. All a Protagonist was expected to do was weather the challenges facing them with a stiff upper lip and help from friends.

Based on what Joy had told him, Terror was pretty good at reading people. If he had offered any sort of assistance to Joy, Terror would have known, and he would be her next target. He couldn't do that. He needed to be there. For Joy - and for Sarah.

Knowing that didn't make Caleb feel any better about his lack of action, but it did make him realize that he was never going to be able to keep this to himself. He remembered clear as day what he had told Joy: he wouldn't tell a soul. He'd even Pinkie Promised. Unfortunately, Caleb had recently gained an interesting character tic - the inability to keep a secret. Maybe Joy had forgotten in her state of panic, or maybe she was secretly hoping he'd spread the word and get more people on her side. Nevertheless, if Caleb didn't tell someone about the events, he was going to go full hurricane.

Well, he could already fly, and a cupcake to the eye didn't sound too bad.

Caleb glanced over at Maddie. Now there was a girl who could keep a secret for more than an hour. If Caleb told her exactly what was going on, he could be sure it would remain between them. And now would be a pretty good time. Colleen and Alex were shouting at each other by this point. If they kept things quiet, they could speak unimpeded.

"Psst - Maddie?" Caleb whispered in a barely audible voice.

"Hm?" Maddie looked up from her book.

"Notice anything… off about Fear today?"

"No, she seemed pretty normal," Maddie whispered back, seemingly catching on to Caleb's air of secrecy.

"Keyword seemed. Joy told me what's really going on. That wasn't Fear, Mads. It was just a really good actor known as Terror."

Maddie's eyes widened until they looked like Joy's. "You're kidding."

"Don't I wish. I thought Joy was kidding, but she seemed pretty scared, and there's not a lot that can phase her."

"I know." Maddie sighed. "How is that even possible? Oh, poor Joy…"

"Pity her not, but lend thy serious hearing to what I shall unfold," Caleb interrupted, patting himself on the back for a successful Shakespeare quotation. He repeated Joy's story, from Anger's Subcon sentencing to Fear's, condensing as much as possible without leaving out important details. Maddie's countenance grew more and more horrified as the tale went on.

Finally, Caleb came to an ending point. The Water- and Airmasters remained silent as the other two continued to shout at each other in the backseat.

Maddie was the first to break the silence. "So what can we do about it?" she whispered.

"Not much," Caleb was forced to admit. "All I could really do was offer Joy sanctuary in Imagination Land if worse really does come to worse."

"I think that's going to be helpful enough," said Maddie with a smile.

Caleb smiled back. "Thanks, girl. So, do you think I should reserve the max-security suite at Possibility Estates, or set up an extra hammock in my courtyard? It's easily defendable, especially now that I'm working on that force-field thing."

"Both good ideas," said Maddie. "Why don't you give Lerin a visit and ask if there's any room in the Humanal facility? It's even more max-security than the suite."

"Ooh, good call! Or I could even set her up on an extended trip via the Worlds Beyond Express!"

"Set who up, lovebirds?" came Alex's teasing tone from behind them. Caleb must have been getting loud.

"Look who's talking!" Caleb quipped back. "You and Cee are fighting like an old married couple!"

"Eww, gross!" Alex made a disgusted face. "I don't even like her like that! I'm gay, remember?"

"He's not wrong," Colleen said sharply, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

He is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Close one," Maddie whispered as the fight continued. "I'm… I'm glad you told me about this, Caleb. I hope we can help Joy if Terror makes Headquarters unlivable - although I really hope she doesn't."

"I think…" Caleb sighed. "I think that's all we can do right now. Oh, remind me to grab a cupcake when we get back."

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I'm allowed to be hungry, aren't I?"

Sarah snuggled beneath her covers, holding Tilly the tiger close to her heart. Nothing had seemed to go right today. No matter what she had done, there had always been that underlying fear that it hadn't been done right. Sure, she'd managed to keep a smile - but what if everyone had seen through it? What if everyone already knew what kind of a person she really was.

Just go to sleep, she told herself. It'll be all better in the morning.

"Say, Fear, are you all right?" Terror turned to see Logic at her side as they dug through their lockers, stowing things away as everything would down for the night.

Terror managed to put on the slight smile that Fear so often sported as she responded, "Who, me? I, uh, I've never been better! Why do you ask?"

Logic's grey eyes narrowed. "You're not telling the truth. Why are you acting so distant today?"

"Distant? What do you mean? This is how I normally act."

"I mean - ah, forget it. I'm not getting a straight answer out of you." Logic turned on her heel and left the locker corner.

"Finally. I thought they'd never leave," Hatred groaned as she approached her locker. "Can't believe how chatty Disgust can get."

"Indeed." Now that it was just herself and her partner, Terror allowed her disguise to melt away. A dream began to play on the viewscreen. Something about a tropical island with a seagull that was turning into a rabbit. Barely paying attention to the dream, Terror seated herself in the central chair, drumming her fingers on the edge of the console. "Would you mind telling me more about that button Logic utilized when the Elemasters paid a visit?" she asked offhandedly.

"Oh yeah, Time Freeze," said Hatred just as nonchalantly. "Honestly, you'd have to ask Logic for the full deets. I don't really know how it works myself."

"Give me your best attempt."

"Okay… it's pretty new, only showed up on the last console update. Logic's the only one it'll respond to. When she presses it, time stops moving outside of the mind, and we can leave the console and do whatever. Another press, time unfreezes. Oh, and it moves around constantly. Only Logic knows its exact location at a given time, so we can't just use Instant Logic to push it whenever we're bored."

"Instant Logic… you wouldn't be referring to the jar of silver glitter in the storage closet, would you?"

"That's it. Joy came up with the idea. It's a little complicated, but we basically combine broken pieces of old memories with what Joy calls "emotional essence" - it's what passes for blood in us. If you sprinkle a bit on the console, it triggers a reaction of that emotion."

"I see. And you don't use this very often?"

"Nah, just for emergencies."

Terror grinned, far wider and more genuine than earlier. "This could prove very useful indeed… it's almost as if I was supposed to take over. Everything's falling into place. I think a few more days ought to do the trick, a week at most. Oh, and we'll need to have our reinforcements on standby…"

"Joy, may we converse?"

Joy knew that tone of voice all too well. It was the tone Logic used when she suspected a secret was being kept from her. That tone had nearly ruined her surprise party plans for Sadness, had forced Fear into a sobbing mess over a missing game piece, had even garnered a slap from Disgust. If Logic was suspicious, there was no way Joy could keep this hidden any longer. She slapped on a big grin and replied, "Sure! Come on in!"

Logic left the elevator, the doors closing behind her, and took a deep breath. A single inhale, a single exhale. Uh oh. This was gonna be a bombshell.

"I need you to tell me the truth, Joy. Fear, Anger, and especially you are all acting oddly - don't try to deny it. I can tell when you aren't yourself. It's no use keeping secrets from me. Just tell me what's going on."

"I… I…" Joy sputtered, trying to gather up the right words for an explanation. Nothing seemed to come. "I can't!" she finally said in a burst of an emotion that was not of her essence.

Logic raised a curious eyebrow. "And why is that? What's stopping you?"

"I'm not supposed to tell the other emotions," Joy whimpered.

Logic smirked. "Perhaps the fact has slipped your mind, but let me replace it. I am not an emotion. The only reason I'm here instead of somewhere in Long-Term Memory is that Sarah has Asperger's Syndrome. I may work alongside the emotions, and the console responds to my touch, but I am not of the same essence as you. Whatever it is you can't tell the others, there's nothing stopping you from telling me."

Joy's storm of feelings began to subside upon hearing Logic's explanation. "You're right. You're so right. I should have thought of that sooner…"

"Just spit it out, Joy."

"All right, all right, Logic. Here's the truth. The truth is… that's not Fear and Anger up there. That's Terror and Hatred."

There was a pause as Logic's eyes widened in realization, as all the pieces snapped together. "Of course. I should have recognized it sooner. Do you know where Fear is? Has she been Merged yet?"

Joy shook her head. "No, she's been sent to the Subconscious. I might be next."

"That's all I need to know. Thank you for trusting me, Joy. Come, sit down. Let's make a plan. The sooner Terror is out of Headquarters, the better."

"And what if your plan fails?"

"We'll plan for that, too."

For the first time since breakfast, Joy genuinely smiled.

Fear couldn't breathe.

Not very deeply, anyway.

Her breaths were short and quick, only taking in and expelling about a mouthful of air each. Huffpuffhuffpuffhuffpuff, they went. Her heart was keeping perfect time with her lungs, maybe even faster. She was curled up in a ball on the neatly made (if dusty from lack of use) bed, tightly hugging her legs and rocking ever-so-slightly back and forth. Her eyes frantically scanned the room for a light, an exit, anything to end this nightmare. There was none. Only darkness surrounded her. Darkness… and endless whispers.

How long had she been down here? There was no way of telling. The clock on the nightstand had long since ceased its duty. It could have been minutes, hours, days, weeks since she had been unceremoniously dumped in this dark, dusty hotel room. She'd barely moved a muscle since coming to. Not that she'd needed to.

The door creaked open. Fear's hurried breaths stopped completely as she was jolted away from her scattered thoughts. Who was coming for her? She hadn't seen anyone's face since the Grinch's, and that had been for a matter of seconds as he had sneered at her on his way out. The isolation had been terrifying… but whoever was coming could potentially be even worse.

The face that appeared from behind the door was slightly familiar to Fear. Yellow particles, almost perfectly round head, bright blue eyes…

"Joy?" Fear whispered, allowing a single glimmer of hope to slip into her pounding heart.

She shook her head, but her eyes grew a little bit brighter. "You know Joy?"

Fear nodded, taking in every movement this newcomer made. The girl quietly slipped into the room, closing the door behind her.

"I'm not Joy, but I know her," the girl explained softly, delicately. "I saw her in a dream last night. She told me to tell you that she's doing everything she can to get you back where you belong. She'll just need a little time."

Fear unwrapped her arms from her legs, daring to smile just a little. "That does sound like Joy," she admitted. "You must be her Extreme? Ecstasy, right?"

The girl nodded. "How did you know?" she asked with a quiver to her voice that Fear knew all too well.

Fear uncurled her legs, feeling significantly calmer. Based on her readings, she knew she could trust Ecstacy. "I read about you in the Mind Manual covering the Subconscious. You and Joy must be undergoing a Mind Merge. I read about those, too. I'm Fear, by the way…"

Ecstacy nodded, then sighed. "Do you have any idea how much danger we're both in?"

Fear was forced to shake her head. "I really don't. But I get the feeling we're going to find out whether we want to or not."

"I have to ask," said Ecstacy quietly, as if afraid to offend Fear, "how do you deal with it all?"

"Deal with what all?"

"Being afraid… of everything…"

Fear had to giggle at that. "I may be a Fear," she said with a slight smirk, "but that doesn't mean I can't relax. Tell you what - do you know where I could get a guitar around here?"

Ecstacy nodded solemnly.

"You get it up here, and I'll show you exactly how I like to relax after a long day. Does that sound fair?"

"Very."

"Alright. Oh, one more thing before you go?"

"What is it?"

"Would you mind leaving the door open?"

That gave Ecstacy pause. "I'm… technically not supposed to…"

"It's not like I can get out of here anyway," Fear argued.

"Well, all right," said Ecstacy with a sigh. "I'll be right back with the guitar." With that, she opened the door once more, neglecting to close it as she stepped out of the room.

Fear's heart rate began to quicken its pace once more, but the smile that had found its way onto her face persisted. Ecstasy seemed nice. If she was anything like Joy, then she was probably genuine about anything she said. It was going to be nice to have someone like Ecstacy by Fear's side during her prison sentence.

If Fear didn't know better, she'd say she was making a new friend.