(A/N: Ok, I'm super psyched for this chapter. I really got to let my creative juices flow and create a whole new part of inner Riley. I won't give away too much, so enjoy. Also, there's an Easter Egg in this chapter, so look out for it.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 10: Love and Hate

The newcomer was about as tall as Joy and wearing a similar dress, only it was white with red hearts rather than light green with blue flowers, and it contained several laces and frills. She also wore white gloves that went up to her elbows, and yellow high-heeled shoes. She had a heart-shaped face surrounded by curly bright red hair that hung down past her shoulders. Her skin was hot pink and had a very glittery look to it that was very familiar to the Emotions.

Large lavender colored eyes stared at them with interest as she cocked her head to the side curiously. "Can help you?"

Joy glanced at her fellow Emotions, who were staring at the stunningly beautiful pink girl, then back at the newcomer. "Um, I hope so. See, we're a little lost. My name is Joy, and this is Anger, Sadness, Disgust, and Fear."

The girl's eyes widened as her ruby red lips spread into a wide grin. "Joy? Thee Joy? You're actually here? All of you?" She screeched excitedly and ran at them with her arms spread wide as she wrapped them in a tight group hug. "It's such an honor to meet you guys! We work in different departments, so I didn't think we'd ever meet!"

"That's great, lady," Anger grumbled as her impressive cleavage threatened to smother him. "Now, how about you let us go and tell us who you are."

She quickly released them. "Oops, sorry. Can't help myself. I tend to be very affectionate; it's in my nature. As for who I am, I'm Love. I'm one of Riley's Emotions."

This was received with strange looks. Fear was the one to speak first, raising a finger to point at her. "You're one of Riley's Emotions?"

"That's a lie!" Anger snapped. He motioned to himself and the others. "We're Riley's Emotions."

Love nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes, but so am I. You work up in Headquarters, but I work down here in Heartquarters."

Disgust pulled her jealous gaze from Love's much larger chest and cut her eyes at her. "Heartquarters?"

"Uh huh. You hear about it all the time in romance novels and such. 'Follow your heart', 'don't listen to your head, listen to your heart', 'do what your heart tells you'; Oh, I love that one. You guys work in the head, but I work in the heart. Love isn't something you feel here." She tapped her head. "Love is something you feel here." She placed her hand over her chest and sighed dreamily.

Joy stared at her, dumbfounded. "Wow. Ok then. So, um, what exactly do you do?"

Love's face lit up. "You want to see? Come on, I'll show you!"

She rushed across the room, going through a door the Emotions hadn't noticed before; how had they not seen it? They cautiously followed her, entering a room that was similar to the control room in Headquarters. Love was standing by a control panel that resembled the previous version of the one they used to use. There was also a large screen that showed what Riley was seeing like they had up in Headquarters.

"This is where the magic happens," Love told them. "My job is similar to yours, but rather than deciding if Riley should be happy, sad, angry, whatever, about certain things, I decide on whether she likes or loves something, how much, and what kind."

Fear raised an eyebrow. "Um, what kind?"

"Oh, sure. Just like for you, there's different things to be afraid of in different ways, and in different levels of intensity. Being nervous for a hockey game, worried she'll get in trouble for doing something bad, afraid for her life when she's in danger. Likewise, there are also many different forms of love. Platonic love, affectionate love, enjoyment love, romantic love, family love, the list goes on and on. And even then it gets broken down further. For family love, there's parental love, sibling love, love for your children, love for your pet, just to name a few. And then there are different levels of intensity for that love." She giggled. "Sorry, I'm rambling. It's all very complex, but it goes hand in hand with your guys' job."

Joy was now generally curious. "How so?"

Love tapped her chin. "Well, lets look at hockey for instance. Riley loves hockey. I decided that, and decided how much. However, you guys decide what she feels when she's playing, and how intently. If she scores the winning point in a game, you would most likely make her feel happy. Or maybe her team loses; you would probably decide that she should feel sad or angry. However she feels towards it, it's still for something she feels love for. So, you see, we're a team!"

Disgust stared at her with hooded eyes and a bored look on her face. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Right there with you," Anger grumbled.

Joy nudged them. "Ah, come on, I think it's sweet."

The green Emotion rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's so sweet it's going to give me cavities."

Sadness, however, was looking gloomy. "So it's just you down here, all alone?"

Love shook her head. "Oh, no, there's one other. I'll go get him."

She took off before the Emotions could say anything. Going over to another door, she reached around her neck and pulled out a necklace with a key on it, the handle shaped like a heart. She turned and smiled back at the Emotions, giving them a wink as she stuck the key in the lock.

"The key to Riley's heart," she told them, and disappeared into the room.

The Emotions stared at the door as a commotion took place in the next room. It sounded as if Love was arguing with someone, though she still sounded as chipper as ever, even while arguing.

Finally, she came back out. "He'll be out in a minute. He just likes to be difficult." She turned back to the door. "Come on, our guests are waiting."

There was a crash from the other side of the door, as if something had been thrown. "I hate uninvited guests! I hate invited guests! I hate any kind of guests! They're such a pain!"

A new Emotion entered the room. He was short and round, resembling Anger, only he was sphere-shaped instead of cube-shaped, like a large ball wearing a pair of dark red pants, and large muscular arms at his sides, a pair of white gloves covering his hands. His color was black, his skin glittery like the other Emotions'.

On top of his head, several black spikes, a shade darker than his skin tone, stood out like horns, almost making him resemble a medieval spiky iron ball, and down the center of his head, he had a stripe of spiky white hair like one would expect to see on a biker or a rock star.

Whoever he was, he was not happy to see the other Emotions. Thick white eyebrows were cast in a permanent scowl above a pair of large eyes. What should have been the whites of his eyes were red, and his irises were yellow. A jaw set in a permanent snarl revealed a mouthful of sharp shark-like teeth.

"Well, what do you want?" he demanded.

"Whoa," Joy muttered, caught off guard by his hostility. She leaned in to the other Emotions, lowering her voice. "Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"I heard that!" the black Emotion snarled, the spikes on his head protruding and retracting in length. "Are you insulting me?"

Love waved it off. "Ah, don't worry about him. He's always moody. This is Hate." She pinched his cheek. "He's nothing but a big softy."

Hate slapped her hand away. "Don't pinch my cheeks! You know I hate it when you do that!"

She ignored his violent outburst as she turned back to the Emotions. "The same way I decide if Riley likes or loves something, he decides if she dislikes or hates it. He's part of our circle too. Like with broccoli. He decided that Riley would hate it, and Disgust would make her feel disgusted by it. We're a team!"

"Yeah, you said that already," the green Emotion replied.

Hate pointed at her. "Don't get smart with me, greenie."

Love placed her hands on his shoulders. "Now, now, calm down," she said, blinking her long eyelashes at him. "There's no need to get snippy. We're all friends here."

"I am calm!" Hate raged, but, strangely enough, he did seem calmer. "I just hate people with attitudes like hers."

Love giggled. "He's just grumpy because there's not many things Riley hates, so he gets bored because he doesn't do much."

"Not true!" Hate snapped at her. "I hate working. And you seem to do fine without me."

"Oh, come on. You know that's not true. Riley needs you too." She glanced at the screen and smiled. "Oh, look, Riley's teacher is assigning everyone homework."

"What?" both Hate and Anger exclaimed. The former walked over to the control panel and began pressing buttons. "I hate homework!"

"Yeah," Anger agreed, "it makes me so angry. I.B. better be portraying that."

"Who's I.B.?" Hate asked, but was immediately distracted by the assignment. "Look at this? Because we're learning about the Salem Witch Trials, now we have to find other cases of witchcraft throughout the world and write a report on it."

Joy's face lit up. "Ooh, I know, we can do one on that snow witch. You know, the one that was the queen of that place. What was it called? Um…"

"Arendelle," said Sadness.

Joy snapped her fingers. "Yes, that's it. We can do a report on the queen of Arendelle."

Hate grumbled. "I guess it won't be so bad if we have an idea of what to write about. I just hate having an assignment with no idea of what to do."

"You're telling me," Anger grumbled. "Wasting time like that really makes me mad."

"I know, I hate it."

Love giggled. "See, our job goes hand in hand with yours. Without us, Riley wouldn't like or dislike anything. She'd just be indifferent towards everything." Her eyes lit up. "Ooh, come with me. I want to show you something."

She ran to the door Hate had come out of, waving the others over. Hate reluctantly went with her, grumbling all the while. He glanced back at the others. "Well, come on. I hate being kept waiting."

The Headquarter Emotions hesitated before following. Upon entering the next room, they found a large place similar to Long Term Memory. Its shelves were filled with pink and black orbs of what appeared to be memories. But upon closer inspection, they were more heart-shaped rather than round. The colors were different shades, ranging from hot pink to pale salmon, from pitch black to dull gray. There were far more pink ones than black, which the Emotions guessed was a good thing. They also saw that there were a few white ones as well amongst the pink and black.

"Memories?" Fear asked.

"Not quite," said Love. "I call them love bubbles. These are the Halls of the Heart It's kind of like your Long Term Memory section. This is where the love and hate Riley feels for different things are stored. Here, look at this." She pulled two pink ones off the shelves. "Riley loves pizza, see." She held it up, showing them the image of a pizza floating in it. "But then, while Riley likes potatoes, she doesn't care for them nearly as much, look."

She held up the one that contained the image of mashed potatoes. It was a much paler shade of pink. Joy examined them with interest. She reached out to touch them. The duller pink one was warm to the touch while the brighter one was almost hot. It reminded her of the memories and how much Riley cared about them. If a memory became less important to her, it grew dimmer. Once it became too dim, the Mind Workers tossed it into the Memory Dump where it faded away completely and was forgotten.

Joy looked at one of the few white orbs on the shelves. "And what about those?"

"Hmm? Oh, those. Well, remember how I told you that without Hate and me, Riley would feel indifferent about everything. Well, even with us, there are some things that she still feels indifferent towards. We just couldn't decide if she should like it or dislike it. She doesn't love it, she doesn't hate it, it's just… there. Like a pebble in the road, an unknown face in the crowd."

Hate was tapping his foot impatiently. "Why are you explaining all this to them? They work in Headquarters. It's not like any of this matters to them."

Joy waved her arms. "No, no, this is really interesting. The head should learn about the feelings of the heart. It'll help create a better understanding between the two."

Disgust cleared her throat. "If we're going to be getting a whole lesson on the inner workings of Riley's heart, would you mind explaining that thing."

She pointed upon the horizon. Going up into the sky was a tube, and at the end of it was what appeared to be an enormous hot-air balloon in the shape of a red heart.

"What is that?" Sadness wondered out loud.

"Is it going to pop?" asked Fear.

Hate slapped his arm. "Of course not! Don't be stupid."

Love gave him a look of disapproval. "Hate, they don't know any better."

"Well, I hate ignorant people." He motioned to the big red balloon. "That's Riley's heart."

Joy's face lit up. "Oh, her heart. Wait, what?"

"How is that her heart?" Anger asked impatiently.

Love giggled. "Not her literal heart, silly. It's not like the one that pumps blood. It's like your Islands of Personality. Come on, I'll show you. You're going to love this."

Chuckling at her pun, she led them back inside, over to an area close to the control panel. She pressed down on the ground, and a hidden compartment rose up, revealing a container similar to the one that held the Core Memories up in Headquarters. And inside were what indeed seemed to be Core Memories. Most of them were pink, but a couple were black.

"Core Memories?" Sadness asked.

"Core Love Bubbles," Love corrected. She stroked them affectionately. "These babies power Riley's heart. You hear people talk about it all the time; how a person has a big heart. The pink ones cause it to expand, and the black ones cause it to contract. The more pink Core Love Bubbles there are, the bigger it gets. The more black ones there are, the smaller it gets. Watch."

She took out one of the pink ones, and the giant heart shrank. Putting it back caused it to expand back to its normal size. She then removed a black one, causing the heart to grow bigger, then put that one back as well, and the heart shrank back to its original size once more.

"It's size depends on how much love and hate Riley has in her heart," she explained.

Joy bent down to look at the Core Love Bubbles, reaching for a pink one. "That's so cool- OW!"

She touched one of the pink ones and pulled her hands back as it burned her finger.

"Careful," Love insisted. "You shouldn't touch Core Love Bubbles without gloves. These are the things Riley loves and hates the most, so the temperature is either really hot or really cold."

"Why?" Joy asked, popping the burnt digit into her mouth.

"Oh, for the love of…" Hate grumbled. "Why do you think really nice people are called warm-hearted and cruel people are called cold-hearted?"

"I guess that makes sense," Joy replied, waving her stinging finger. "Mind if I touch one of the black ones?"

Love glanced at a black Core Love Bubble. "Only if you want your finger to freeze off." She went over to the control panel and pressed a button. A recall tube dropped off a black one that had been on a shelf in the Hall of Hearts, which she handed to Joy. "Here, this should help."

Joy pressed her finger against it. It was as cold as ice, relieving the sting. "Much better." She glanced at the pink Core Love Bubble she had touched. "Boy, that one was really hot."

Love smiled. "It shows the intensity of Riley's love, and her love is burning brightly."

"What was it for?" Sadness asked.

"Look for yourself," Hate snapped.

She did so, seeing the image inside. "Oh, hockey."

She looked at the one next to it, seeing Riley's parents. This one was pink as well, but it also contained a small stripe of black on it.

"Hey," she said, "why does the one with parents have some hate in it?"

Love bent down beside her to look. "Well, Riley obviously loves her parents, but there are some things about them that she hates. Sometimes they embarrass her in public, or sometimes they can be a little unfair about things, and sometimes they just plain drive her crazy, as all parents do to there kids. Like all kids, she really hates those little tidbits about them, but she still loves them a lot. Likewise, even certain things that Riley hates have a bit of love in them. Like this one."

She pointed at a black one that was about a 25 percent pink. In it was the same image of the Core Memory Nostalgic, the one that powered the Island of Change and Loss that came to be when Riley ended up crying in school just after the move.

Back up in Headquarters, the Core Memory of this moment was mostly blue, but also contained some yellow. The change in Riley's life from the move and the loss of everything she knew and loved back in Minnesota was a cause for great sadness, hence the blue. But it also presented opportunity, allowing Riley to experience opportunity, experience new things, and make new friends as she began a new adventure in her life. It also brought her closer to her parents in a way she didn't have before. These positive things change brought forth provided a new type of joy, and were the reason it was partly yellow.

Similarly, the love and hate for this moment of change and loss were mixed. Riley had hated losing so much of her old life, but at the same time, she loved all the opportunity the change in her life brought her. And the Core Love Bubble before them reflected that with its mixture of black and pink coloring.

"Huh," said Fear. "It really is a lot like Headquarters."

Love nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, and it's all wonderful. Oh, but this one, this one is my favorite."

She picked up a pink orb, her gloves protecting her from its intense heat. The Emotions looked at it, and Joy gasped. "It's Jordan!"

Love smiled. "Yup. Call me a romantic, but this one-"

"This is great!" Joy cried. "That means I.B. hasn't succeeded in breaking them up."

Love looked surprised. "Um, no they haven't broken up. But even if they did, it doesn't mean that Riley would stop loving him."

Hate crossed his arms. "Why would they break up anyway? Because of the fight they had?"

Love returned the Core Love Bubble to the container and placed her hands on her hips, giving Anger the stink eye. "Yeah, what was up with that anyway? Why'd you make Riley so mad at Jordan for no reason? He didn't schedule the gig during her game. I mean, I can understand her being upset, but did you have to make her that angry?"

The red Emotion began sputtering. "That wasn't me! That was that stupid I.B.!"

Hate raised an eyebrow. "Who's this I.B. person?"

Joy grinned nervously. "Riiiiight. See, he's kind of the reason why we ended up here. To put it simply, he's, uh… Well, he's, uh…"

"He's a rogue imaginary character that kicked us out of Headquarters and took over," Sadness told them bluntly.

Joy stared at her for a moment before shrugging. "Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

The black and pink Emotions stared at them. Hate reacted first, his expression twisting into one of distaste. "Are you kidding me? First, how could an imaginary character go rogue like that? Is that even possible? Second, how could you let an imaginary character take over Headquarters like that? They're not even supposed to be any imaginary characters in Headquarters. I hate when people don't follow the rules!"

Love placed a calming hand on his shoulder; she was very good at making him relax. "How did this happen?" she asked worriedly.

Fear gave a nervous laugh. "It's kind of a long story."

"A long sad story," Disgust grumbled, giving Sadness a look of disapproval, causing the blue Emotion to look down shamefully.

Neither Love nor Hate seemed to catch the green Emotion's indication. "Why would an imaginary character take over Headquarters?" the former wondered out loud.

Joy took a deep breath. "Well, I guess it all started when Riley and Jordan officially became boyfriend and girlfriend…"

(A/N: Well, that was fun. So who liked Love and Hate? How about Heartquarters? It's similar to Headquarters, but different. I'll be going into further details of how things work next chapter, and reveal how the two places connect and affect each other. The real question is, will Love and Hate be able to help the Emotions? Keep reading to find out. Also, who spotted the Easter Egg? I thought it was fairly obvious, but still, props if you find it.)