Chapter 4 - The Storm Breaks

Clumsy suddenly blushed again. "Oh, uh…yes! As a matter of fact, I do. I mean…it's not that big of a mystery as to why any Smurf would."

Her face contorted ever so slightly as she tried to process Clumsy's words but coming up with nothing. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The boy fumbled his fingers. "Well, why wouldn't anyone just straight up approach you and proclaim how much they admire you?" he asked as a matter-of-factly. "Because I know I do. Every strong word you said about me being more than just a klutz may be true, but you're still everything I've always wished I could be, Smurfstorm. So bold and brave, fearless in the face of danger and not afraid to speak your mind!"

Storm stared at him and suddenly caught on to what he was saying. Now it was her turn to blush. But not exactly in a good way.

Clumsy hadn't seemed to notice, for he was still talking. "That can-do, let's get down 'n dirty attitude of yours might be a little imitating at times, but wowzers, it's amazing! I'd give my whole chest of lucky charms just to be half as cool as you are. You just look so…confident with those bow and arrows of yours."

Although it looked like she was listening, she was far from that. Poor Clumsy had no idea that he was currently stepping right into very dangerous territory.

Smurfstorm could never receive compliments well. Countless times, the entire village of girls had praised her for her hard work, thanking her for the sleepless hours spent on defending their home from possible threats. Perhaps after she had successfully sent the enemy packing, they would lift her to their shoulders and put up a big celebration for her. Praising her for all the exact same things that Clumsy was praising her for right now. Saluting her for her best qualities and admiring her for everything they weren't. The generally weaker Smurfs like Smurfbegonia and Smurftulip were especially prone to that. Storm had always quietly let them, permitting them to honour her in whatever ways they felt warranted. But in truth, she could not care less. She was simply doing her job. Her duty was to protect. But as the years went on, she slowly became very tired of the hero's treatment. Because she never felt like a hero.

"I've only known you for maybe a day or so, yet even that's been enough to show me how phenomenal you really are!" Clumsy rambled on. "The way you shot those arrows at Gargamel's bird while keeping both feet planted on Spitfire despite my crazy maneuvers…all the while keeping such a straight face…"

Yes, she was bold. Of course, she was brave. But only because she had to be. Her strict no-time-for-fun grip on life was only what was necessary to protect her village and her tribe. And she needed to be fearless every day. Was she really that imitating? Well, too bad. Intense, was that not how Lily had warned her about earlier today? So what? Storm could be and would be whatever she needed to be if it meant her sisters would stay safe. She had let her guard down only once before in her life and that had been the biggest mistake she would ever make. Ever since that day, she had never been the same; one careless decision had taken away so much from her. But she had remained quiet about it for so long, preferring to endure the charade of enjoying all the cheers and applause for her instead of telling them to stop because deep down it bothered her, resurrecting painful memories of something that had happened so long ago…

But for some reason, hearing Clumsy, a Smurf whom she had just met and knew nothing about her tragic past, do all of that now was becoming too much.

To make matters worse, Storm gasped as she suddenly saw the same image flash before her eyes: the Smurf with the long braid and all her scars. Behind her stood nine more girls, all of them with similar markings and confident stoic expressions. All of them sporting a four-leafed clover on their hats. Storm began to tremble.

Stop, her mind pleaded frantically. No more…please stop it…

Unable to stand hearing any more unworthy showers of praise from Clumsy, she opened her mouth to cut him off, only to be stopped when she saw he was no longer looking at her, rather up at her hat, with his eyes peering up and seeming to ignore the brim of his hat slipping down again. Storm tried to follow where he was looking.

"Even that stylish four-leafed clover of yours…a traditional symbol of good luck! Everything I'm certainly not," Clumsy grinned. "I sure wish good luck could follow me for a change."

His last sentence was what finally snapped something deep inside her. Storm couldn't take it anymore.

"So that's what you think, huh?" she hissed sourly. "That good luck just follows me like a skunk's scent?"

Clumsy froze, caught off-guard by her sudden anger. "Pardon me?" he asked in confusion.

"You think I'm riding on a good luck streak just because I wear this clover on my hat? Because I carry this bow and all these arrows? Because I got the power to make anyone do anything I say just by opening my mouth?" Storm growled, both her temper and her voice rising dangerously.

Clumsy shrunk back in a panic, his fearful eyes darting about. "Well, I-I-I…just thought –"

"Well, that's your problem," she snarled furiously. "You didn't think."

Suddenly on her feet, Storm directed an accusing finger at Clumsy's chest. "This might come as a surprise to you, ya stupid boy, but wearing this clover doesn't give me a free pass on life," she snapped. "I'm no luckier than any of the one hundred and ten Smurfs who lost our home to that demented freak! Does that sound like good luck to you?!"

"N-N-No," Clumsy squeaked, staring up at her in fear. "Wait…did you say a hundred and ten?"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Storm yelled so fiercely that Spitfire woke up. Kicking violently at the grass, she sent a pile of pebbles dumb enough to stand in her way flying over the cliff's edge before firing up again. "The point is I am the unluckiest Smurf in the world. Don't you get it?! I lost my village! My home! My best friends, for smurfing out loud, almost died! Lily! Blossom! All of them! We swirled around that fishbowl like ragdolls and had our life sucked right out of us! If Thunder was here right now, she'd say–"

SMACK

A sharp swat to the back of her head knocked Smurfstorm's rant right out of her mouth. Whipping furiously around to face her offender, she met the burning eyes on Spitfire, who was glaring angrily right back at her with smoke flaring from his nostrils. His tail, still raised in the air after hitting her, jabbed forward. Storm looked to where he was pointing and saw Clumsy, cowering on the ground with his hat pulled over his whole face, shaking in fear.

The girl blinked and suddenly felt the intense storm in her chest dissipate. Seeing Clumsy like this seemed to paralyze her guts, ceasing all feelings of hurt and anger spilling out from her and instead open her mind to realize what she had just done.

Oh smurf, she mentally groaned.

This was exactly what Lily had warned her about.

Feeling an absolute mess of emotions crowding her brain, guilt being the most prominent intruder, Storm had to take in several deep breaths to try and calm down. She eventually did, during which she had time to reconsider herself.

Her anger was not rooted in Clumsy, but somewhere else entirely. Someone else. She decided that right now, it was only fair that he know this. She sat herself back down next to him.

"Clumsy?"

She felt terrible when the sound of her voice caused him to flinch, but she continued on bravely.

"Clumsy, I'm…I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. And I'm sorry for calling you stupid. I'm a huge jerk, I get it. I just feel so…so bummed out right now."

Ever so slowly, Clumsy lifted his hat from over his eyes to peek at her. Storm watched him and could see he still had plenty of fear in those enormous white orbs of his, but also a hint of concern, the same kind he had directed towards her when they had been talking in front of his mailbox.

"Was it something I said?" he asked tentatively. "If it was, then I sincerely apologize…"

"No, it was nothing you said," Storm interrupted, though that was only partly true. "It's not even you who I'm mad at."

"It's not?"

"No. I'm mad at me."

That was entirely true.

Looking at Clumsy full in the face as he slowly came out of hiding, Storm could tell he was still confused by what she meant. Made sense, since there was no way he could know what she was talking about.

"The thing is…there's a reason why I'm so brave and fearless," she said at last. "And grouchy. And intense. And literally everything that everyone knows me for now. It's even why I'm wearing this clover. Something happened to me when I was younger. I don't like talking about it because it just rips me apart whenever it gets brought up."

Clumsy's eyes widened so much that much of them disappeared beneath the brim of his hat. "You don't have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable, Smurfstorm," he said quietly.

The girl shook her head; she had already come this far. "No, I'll tell you. I already blew up in your face, so it might as well be for a reason."

There was a pause as Clumsy shifted himself around to face her better. "Does it possibly have something to do with a hundred and ten smurfs?" he prompted with extreme caution.

Storm hung her head sadly. "Yes."

"And…who's Thunder?"

Spitfire let out a sad moan as he nudged his beak against Storm, who responded by placing one hand on the certain spot of his neck. The other hand gently clutched her quiver's strap, right over her heart. Storm closed her eyes, preparing herself to step back to a time she had long wished she could forget.

"She was my big sister."