Title: Nightmares and Dreamscapes- Chapter 8/?
Fandom: Lazytown
Pairing: Sportacus/Robbie
Rating: T
Summary: There is no such thing as magic...right? However, when Robbie starts noticing something strange about Sportacus and unusual things start occurring in Lazytown, that belief just might have to be changed.
Author's Notes: Outline: pretty much nonexistent right about now. I have only a vague idea of where I'm going with this. OH NOES. Although, chapter eight, so stuff should be starting right about…now.
The next two weeks remained as the same as the other days. The children played games with Sportacus (excluding the few times rashes or pains would hit in which Sportacus would make them sit out for a while and wonder where in the world that dark elf was). Robbie was still conspicuously absent (which continued to bother Sportacus to a great degree). Nighttime outings continued to occur, although the children only remembered their nightmares and the strange paralyzed-like state afterwards. (Sportacus occasionally worried that his crystal would go off and Robbie would be the person in trouble, only Sportacus would not be able to find him. This, however, did not happen.)
Sportacus had also taken to nighttime wanderings. He was determined to find this svartàlfar before anything worse happened to his charges, the inhabitants of Lazytown. These outings were wrecking havoc with his normal routines, causing him to be tired and less energetic during the day. The children noticed, questioned him, and then lectured him on how he was supposed to have an 8:08 bedtime. He said nothing to them about the mysterious being haunting the town; instead he merely laughed it off and said that he was just having trouble sleeping. The children let it go at that and didn't complain (much) when he staved off playing another round with them at the end of the day.
Sometimes on these nightly wanderings, he would feel that brush of oily magic against his own. He would try to send out tendrils of his own magic and attempt to find this dark elf; yet, whatever he tried, he got nothing in return for his efforts, the being still absent.
It was on another one of these nighttime wanderings that he—finally—ran into Robbie.
Robbie was sitting in the bench, eyes focused on the star-studded sky. Unlike last time Sportacus had seen him like that, however, Robbie was not frighteningly still. Nervously, Sportacus rubbed at his crystal, feeling the magic sparking at his fingertips.
Then he stepped forward. "Robbie?" he called out hesitantly. Anybody who knew the elf would say that he was rarely hesitant. Yet, Robbie was, and always had been, unpredictable to him. Who knew what the man would do to him?
Robbie's gaze snapped over to him. "What do you want, Sportakook?" he sneered.
Sportacus tried not to fidget. Instead he opted with asking, "What are you doing out here, Robbie?" Once the words were out, he almost wanted to take them back. Yes, they were sincere and protective, but there was a lecturing quality to them that Robbie would not take kindly to.
Just as he had thought, Robbie bristled, scowling darkly. "That's none of your business," he snarled. "I can do as I please." There was a certain sort of smugness in his grey eyes.
Sportacus frowned. "You can," he said placidly. "But…Robbie…" He trailed off, uncertain. Stephanie had shared with him what Robbie believed but just going out there and flaunting all of his elfish background was against every single instinct he had.
"What?" Robbie spat, standing up defensively. He nearly towered over Sportacus.
Sportacus sighed roughly. "Robbie, there's something out there right now and it could hurt you."
Robbie drew back, wary now. "What do you mean by that, Sportadork?"
Pursing his lips, Sportacus tried to think up a way in which he could explain without exactly revealing his magical race. Mind tired and worn from lack of sleep and energy, he could think of nothing that fit his self-imposed requirements. For Robbie's safety, he would just have to give it up.
"There's a…magical being running around Lazytown, Robbie. It has powers that I don't know how to defend against. And," here he hesitated speaking, the naïve belief of goodwill in everyone prevailing in his mind, "this elf's kind is usually not very nice."
Robbie stared blankly at him for a moment. Then he smirked. "So there are elves? And you're one, aren't you?" Those eyes held a calculating edge that Sportacus only saw when the man was thinking of ways to run him out of town—one of the last things that needed to happen right now.
Sportacus blew out another sigh, frustration levels rising as Robbie blatantly missed his point. Dealing with children and having the temperament he did meant that Sportacus usually had an almost unlimited amount of patience and tolerance. Once again, his lack of sleep was being a rather annoying obstacle, as was Robbie's single-mindedness.
"That doesn't matter," Sportacus tried to impress, but Robbie was still smirking, eyes still analytical and sharp. "What matters is that there's a dark elf in Lazytown and it could hurt you."
Defiantly, Robbie crossed his arms and settled into his stance. "I'll be fine," he said languidly, his smirk quirking strangely on one side.
"No, Robbie. I don't think you should be wandering around at night. The svart—"
Sportacus's words halted when Robbie scowled blackly at him and leaned into his space. "What does it matter?" he hissed. "Leave me be. I'll be fine."
Trying to curtail his sharp frustration, Sportacus fired back, "No. You shouldn't be out here. You could get hurt!"
Something about Sportacus's words seemed to offend Robbie, causing him to sneer angrily. "What do you care?" he retorted. "Go back to playing hero with the kiddies, Sportaflop."
Color rose in Sportacus's cheeks. "I care, Robbie," he replied lowly. There were more words about that particular subject tangling for attention in the forefront of his mind, but this was neither the time nor the place for those words. Suddenly, he was aware that he was much too far into Robbie's space, the two of them almost intimately close. Here he could see every shade of cloudy grey, every sooty spike of eyelash, every flicker of passionate emotion. Here, he could see the curve of Robbie's sneer and the swell of mouth. He was so close; he could almost…
Trying to reign himself in, Sportacus stepped back and looked away. "I care, Robbie," he repeated softly. "I…I just don't want you to get hurt."
There was a quiet pause as Robbie just stared at him. Then, "Whatever you say, Sportakook," but there was a distinct lack of emotion in the words. "I don't want to be out here anyway," he said with his usual petulance, no matter how affected it seemed. With that, he turned and stomped away, his figure blending into the dark.
Sportacus let out a sigh. Once this whole situation was dealt with he would be able to deal with this situation with Robbie. He turned back the way he came and walked slowly, magic reaching out in effort to search out the mysterious being haunting Lazytown.
It was unexpected that his magic slammed against dark magic. He physically reared back, his own magic rushing back to him. His eyes swept his surroundings…and then he froze. Ahead of him there was a woman, her body a curvy hourglass figure against the shadows. Then there was the spark of magic and she was gone, as if she had never been there. If it hadn't been for the oily feeling of that magic that still lingered on his own, he would have believed he had simply imagined her.