Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Lazy Town. They belong to their respective company of the same name. I am just borrowing the characters for this fan fiction. I only own Readsmore and Lidenbrock, but the name of the latter is somewhat inspired by Jules Verne's character from Journey to the Center of the Earth. My thanks to KrysSaiyan for her continued comments! I really like the ideas that you are giving me! This chapter is a bit more on the serious side though.

Behind the Crystal

Chapter 7

The skutla shot into its place under the curve of the large expanse of blue and red. Propelling himself from the seat Sportacus 10 landed in the 'hangar area'. Then he somersaulted his way to the living quarters. A smell of earth in her being mingled into the scent he perceived on his workout suit. Far above the earth, he had set his airship to hover so he could survey Lazytown.

Part of him wanted to go back and see if she was okay, and the rest reminded him the crystal would tell him if she were in any danger. He found himself wanting to raise his spyglass to check in on her. A movement in the bushes had alerted him someone had been watching them. Sighing he turned from the door and retreated to his living quarters. Vast windows from floor to ceiling in the forward chamber allowed him a panoramic vista of clouds. Here he could excercize and meditate to his hearts content between heroic missions.

"It has been a while, since I've thought about these things," he murmured, then flipped over so he stood on his hands. Pushing his weight up on one solitary hand he closed his eyes and let the blood rush to his head.

For a while he stood on one hand, trying to block the thoughts that came over him. There came a slap of something hard against his hip and side. Sportacus blinked at eye level with the floor. Sighing he pushed himself up with the flat of one hand pressed downwards. Instead of flipping to a standing position, he sat trying to stretch. Just how he had lost control frightened and thrilled him. When he desired such things in the past, he had usually suppressed the urges in workouts. Yet now his entire body hummed with energy and the sense of strange happiness to know someone else had thought him handsome and looked beyond the hero.

Just behind the numeral 10 his crystal pulsed to life, shrilly cutting into his musings. Sportacus mind cleared of everything and he sensed the direction. Someone was in trouble, and if he concentrated he could almost tell who and where. Nevertheless he leapt up and rushed towards the door. A quick glance through his spyglass and he homed in on a solitary figure huddled miserably on a park bench with papers clutched in her hand.

"Stephanie!" he gasped. He did not have to think twice before he rushed to the nearest transport possible and rocketed off towards the park below.

In the sports field Stephanie's friends wondered why she had not returned with the ball. Trixie was the first to spot Stephanie rushing off from the trees with her hands over her face. "Pinkie!" she called.

"I'm sorry I can't talk now! I gotta get home!" she blurted out, tossing the ball and glove down at her friend's feet.

"But what about the game?"

"I'm sorry I can't!" Stephanie blubbered.

"But… hey!" Ziggy gasped, next in path. Stephanie almost ran him over as she raced back toward her uncle's home.

"Where is she going in such a hurry?" Stingy wondered, trotting over from the bushes where he had been picking up loose change.

"She was crying," Ziggy gasped. "Hey Stephanie!"'

"She looked like she wanted to be alone," Trixie said, suddenly grabbing his shoulder.

"But if she's upset maybe we can help her," Ziggy said.

"Girls need time alone sometimes. Guys don't always get it," Trixie said. She knew Stephanie well enough to know when the girl wanted solitude. In times past when Stephanie said she wanted to be alone, or she could not talk, she really meant it. She hated crying in front of anyone. Except Sportacus maybe?

"But…" Ziggy said.

"I have it!" Pixel rushed up, carrying something in his hand. A long tube that said 'air mail' glinted in the sun.

"Too late," Stingy stamped his foot.

"Where's Stephanie."

"She was all upset," said Ziggy.

"She wants to be alone, and she means it," Trixie grunted, stepping before Pixel. His dark eyes widened in concern.

"But if she's upset she might need one of us! She lost her parents remember!" Pixel snapped. "I'm gonna go if you wont!"

"Pixel, don't! She'll come to us when she's ready," Trixie snapped, grabbing his shoulder.

"It's a 'girl thing'. You'd better listen to her," Stingy shrugged.

"But Stephanie's my friend! I'm not gonna leave her alone! You guys do what you wanna!" Ziggy snorted, marching off despite Trixie's concerns.

"Come on," Pixel said.

"Boys," Trixie snorted. Stingy moved off as well, picking up Stephanie's discarded sport equipment.

"But maybe Sportacus is already talking to her?" Stingy said.

"True," said Pixel. "She might not want us there if she's talking about private stuff to him. She tells him stuff she won't tell us even."

"Why's THAT?" Ziggy asked.

"Cause Sportacus is like a big brother to her maybe," Trixie nodded. "So she really must wanna be alone."

"I think he's kinda old for her," Stingy commented.

"I don't mean like THAT!" Trixie groaned.

"I hope not," Pixel muttered, glaring at Stingy.

"I'm sorry!" Stingy complained as they all stood arguing near the street where Stephanie lived with her uncle. Just then, they saw their science teacher strolling along wearing a casual sundress, walking shoes and carrying what appeared to be a fishing tackle box. She also carried a geological hammer in one hand, and wore a fisherman's type hiking vest overtop the outfit that was khaki in color. The wide brimmed sunhat was the same one she would wear during gardening.

"It's Miss Lidenbrock, and she's carrying her rock hound stuff," Trixie pointed out. "Man I hope she's not checking up on us about our homework!"

"She looks like she's in a good mood," Pixel said.

"Hello children? Good day for rock collecting? There are all sorts of good things you can find for your class project," she asked.

"Um yeah… um… why don't you show us?" said Trixie nervously. She worried constantly about the C she was getting in science and the others rolled their eyes at her trying to kiss up.

"We can't talk about that right now! Stephanie ran away crying, and these guys don't want us to go!" Ziggy stamped his foot.

"Ziggy, don't be so RUDE to MY teacher, when she's talking about MY project possibly," Stingy snorted.

"What was that about Stephanie," Miss Lidenbrock asked, holding up her hand for silence. "Is something wrong?"

"Trixie said she saw her running away towards the park crying! She was out looking for the baseball, and we're going after her!" Ziggy said.

"Crying, where?"

"I was off looking for an air tube for Sportacus and it all happened. Tell Trixie she's wrong!"

"What's going on here," Miss Lidenbrock held up a hand for order. "Start from the beginning and one at a time?"

"Well," Trixie sighed. "It started after the game when we lost the ball."

Clutching the papers to her chest Stephanie flopped down on the bench. She had not the heart to go home because she did not even want to think. Her whole mind swam with the reality of memories she had buried and they were all swarming and overwhelming her at once. Anxiously she held back tears, afraid to even cry because she worried about her friends or someone seeing her. While she knew going home was an option, she was sure that her Uncle might come walking in. The last thing she wanted was to talk to him or bother them with her problems.

However, she hoped one person would see her here, and knew that if she sat near the apple tree he would come. Soon she heard the whoosh of an aircraft come to a stop somewhere overhead. Raising her head, she saw Sportacus flipping head over heels to land only feet away from her. "Stephanie, are you all right?"

She rushed over and hugged him tightly, before he could ask anything else. "I'm glad you're here," she muttered into his chest. Just by the look on her face, he knew he had come in time.

"Stephanie, what's wrong? You can tell me… are you hurt or sick?"

"I…" she stammered. "I can't talk about it right now."

"Shh, let us go sit down, and you can relax. Take your time," he urged. With his arm around her shoulders he walked her over and sat her down on the bench. Stephanie's tears finally dripped down her face and she heaved in and out with deep breaths. Sportacus sat right next to her, wrapping her in strong arms so she could lean against him and cry. Hot tears soaked into his shirt and vest, and he rubbed her back with soothing circles of his hands. As a hero, he dealt with emotional crises as well as physical ones.

"What are these?" he asked, reaching down to grab up the wad of papers she had shoved into her small purse.

"Some weird man who said he was a lawyer gave them to me. Sportacus I'm so scared he knew… and he said they were for my Uncle, but he asked me about... about them… and I don't want to…"

"Let me see," said Sportacus, letting go of her and taking them out. He unfolded the documents and narrowed his eyes at the legal writing. His head spun a bit and he saw their names.

"I don't understand what this is Stephanie. It looks like some sort of form or document with their names on it. Is this why you were upset? Who was this man?"

"Habi… S. Corpus. He said he was a lawyer and was looking for my Uncle… and told me to find him…here's his card."

"Then he should have come to your UNCLE, not you! I don't like this!" Sportacus grumbled, glaring at the card. It looked much like one that he had seen people use in his experience. The papers also looked legitimate, but such matters were not his forte. "I think we should talk to your uncle about this now!"

"I can't see him right now. I just… I don't know why!" Stephanie whispered.

"Relax and settle down. We will go together. But only when you're ready," Sportacus promised. "I'll be there with you. Whatever this is, we'll figure it out!"

"Thank you," she nodded, hugging him tightly.

"But I think right now you need something to eat and drink," he said, softly kissing her forehead. "And I know just what."

"She's over there," said Pixel, pointing to the park bench. He led the way for the unlikely search party, brought up in the rear by their science teacher.

"She's not alone," said Ziggy. "Sportacus is with her."

"Then maybe we can just butt out and leave her be," said Trixie. "She looks like she's crying."

"But…" Ziggy said.

"I'm worried," said Pixel.

"I'll tell you what, children. I'll find out if she's all right and then I'll tell you," said Miss Gretchen. "Why don't the rest of you see if you can find Mayor Meanswell?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me, let's split up and look!" Pixel said. "I'll go check Stephanie's house!"

"Okay!" said Ziggy. "I'll go to the candy shop! The mayor likes to stop there this time of day for his newspaper!"

"But if she wanted to talk to Uncle then why…" asked Stingy.

"Let's go find him. You know he's so busy that he doesn't always see straight," Trixie whispered. She grabbed his hand and dragged him off in the direction of the town hall.

Nodding the friends dispersed, and the science teacher walked into the park entrance. Once she neared the park bench, Gretchen remained at a discrete distance, seeing Sportacus rubbing Stephanie's back and gently holding her. Then they broke apart and he stood up to shout something overhead. He carried a small stash of his items in the craft and soon she was eating a banana and drinking bottled water. She looked decidedly better.

As he sipped his water he asked, "Stephanie, do you want to talk to me more about what's going on?"

Stephanie tossed her banana peel away into the trash. She wiped her hands on a napkin and sighed, "I told you, this weird guy dressed as…"

Sportacus handed her a cluster of grapes. She popped a few in her mouth and offered some to him. He cleared his throat before asking, "Not just that. But what else is bothering you. One moment you seem very happy and the next you're trying to hide it. You've never actually talked to me about how you felt when…"

"I guess I was just trying not to think about it because when I do, I'm afraid I'll never stop crying,' she whispered. Her hand holding the water bottle shook, sloshing the liquid around in it.

"You're also lonely aren't you? That's ALSO part of the hurt, isn't it," Sportacus found himself adding. She snapped her head around and glared at him with suspicious brown eyes.

"I thought you 'wanted to talk' about my parents," Stephanie asked quietly.

"You're feeling more then just them gone. You're here with your friends and uncle and the hurt wont' go away by pretending it doesn't exist. Lazytown isn't the same as home is it? That's another thing that must be bothering you. So please you have to face it sometime," he said gently. She turned away slightly, and sighed. Her thin shoulders heaved up and down with the out rush of breath.

"Mom and Dad won't be there to wait for me here either, that's obvious! I'm just so tired of thinking about it, because I KNOW they're not coming back!" she sniffled with a far-off look. Her eyes squeezed shut when she felt a hot stinging at the corner of them again. Sportacus saw them open again to gleam with tears.

"Stephanie, please talk to me! I wish you had told me sooner about how you were feeling so I could know how to help you," Sportacus said softly, touching her shoulder.

"It's not like there's anything anyone could have done," she sniffled. "It just happened so fast. I… I was at my cousin's house when it happened."

"Stephanie, I'm sorry," Sportacus said, sliding his arm around her shoulders again. She leaned into his vest and buried her face in it. Grasping a handful of cloth, she sobbed. He enclosed her in strong arms, rocking her slowly in a comforting embrace. Tracing fingers through her soft pink hair, he made a shushing noise.

"Why wasn't I there? With them?" she murmured.

"Is there anything you could have done? Really?" he asked, drawing back to cup her cheek. "If anyone knows how helpless feels, it's someone like me. To not be able to save the ones you love is the worst fear of any hero. The worst kinds of pain to feel like you have failed. Is that what you feel?"

"Yes," Stephanie admitted, wiping away her tears.

"But it isn't your fault. What could you have possibly done differently, Stephanie?"

"I don't know but I just feel guilty… like something should have happened to ME! I want to be with them so bad! My head knows it does not' make sense but my heart hurts," she sniffled.

"You know I'm your friend, Stephanie," he whispered against her ear. "Right? You trust me?"

"Always," she gulped. Sportacus reached into his vest and pulled out some tissue he kept there along with a pen and pad of paper. Sometimes heroes had the most useful things in their costumes for any occasion like this.

"Then will you believe me when I tell you something?"

"Yes," she agreed.

"Then what if I say it isn't your fault. That sometimes things happen and as much as they do not make sense and we hate them, that blaming ourselves will only make us feel worse? That was an accident…"

"How did you know what happened? Were you there?" she snapped, pulling away and glaring up at him.

"Your uncle told me," he said. Stephanie whimpered, shaking all over. Sportacus again hugged her close, and she hid her face in his shoulder.

"It hurts so much," she whispered.

"It will for a long time," he murmured, caressing her scalp. "But I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. In addition, neither is your uncle, or your friends. This is your home now, and we're here if you need anything."

"I know, Sportacus. But every time I close my eyes I can just imagine them falling and screaming. Then nothing but a huge fiery crash," Stephanie said. Her chin quavered, and she did as well. For a long time, Sportacus and she sat on their park bench just enjoying each other's presence.

Nearby in the shade of the apple tree, Miss Lidenbrock the science teacher felt her stomach turn flips. Inside she knew what Stephanie was going through. Because she had lost a loved one. Her brother was still alive, but her uncle was missing.

"Uncle Axel," she murmured. "I miss you so much, and so does Brother. He took over your job and you'd be so proud of him! You were the one who helped me learn about geology when Father could not be there… and always sang to me. When my parents had to go away on a trip and could not take me you watched out for me. You and Captain Nimrod both. I miss you… and it still hurts."

A few minutes of crying later, Stephanie swigged a bit of her boxed juice and nibbled on the rest of the grapes, feeling decidedly better. Sportacus in turn was munching on an apple and glaring at the forms with confused blue eyes.

"I wish I could understand what these papers meant. Too bad I'm not Legal Eze. He'd be able to fix this mess," Sportacus mumbled in Icelandic. Flipping through the papers he was going cross-eyed. He wished that hero was easier to reach, for he was the superhero of lawyers and paralegal everywhere. A consult to Superheroes and legal matters he was on call for just occasions. However, he was busy because it was almost Tax season in the US in his protectorate of Boston.

"Uh, am I interrupting?" Gretchen asked, stepping out from behind the tree.

"Miss Lidenbrock!" Stephanie said. "I'm sorry I'm not working on my homework!"

"You've got plenty of time. I was just out rock hunting myself. I found a few nice specimens to put in the tumbler and thought you might like to see some for your report?"

"Uh sure…" Stephanie said as Gretchen opened the small fishing tackle box and pulled out a few nice pieces.

"Some quartz and here are a few pieces of sandstone rock with fossils in them… Lazytown has a good variety of examples natively. But I figured out that there's a lot you need. But if you need more time don't hesitate to ask," she said. Her copper eyes met the sapphire blue ones of Sportacus and they shared a look of concern.

"Er, Miss Lidenbrock, I was wondering if you could help me till the Mayor gets here. But these papers… could you possibly read them and see what they mean? Since you did volunteer to help?" Sportacus handed them to her as Stephanie momentarily was diverted looking at the rock collection. She sat down next to Sportacus on his other side, her leg brushing his. Both of them leaned close to peer at the papers together.

Gretchen traced her finger over the lettering, muttering to herself. Her eyes widened with each line she read through. She whispered to Sportacus, "I'm a science teacher, not a legal expert, but this looks like some sort of life insurance policy. But what's strange is there's some odd conditions on it. No wonder it's so upsetting. Where did you get these Sportacus?"

Lips close to her ear Sportacus whispered back, "Stephanie says a lawyer brought them."

Gretchen muttered with a frown, "If that's the case that's a very UNPROFESSIONAL way to do it. I don't think this guy was on the level. We've got to see if these are really authentic or if they're a fake!"

"Here's the business card," he said, reaching into his vest pocket. Gretchen took the card and scrutinized it. She slipped her glasses more firmly on her nose.

"That address doesn't exist," Gretchen said, pointing to the zip code. "Every country has a specific zip and this one is as you would say… bogus."

"Then that means… what?" Sportacus asked. Stephanie put down the rocks she was examining and nudged Sportacus in the knee.

"That lawyer was no lawyer," Stephanie narrowed her eyes. "Then that means he knows about my parents and he had fake papers? That's scary!"

"Stephanie, don't worry we'll sort this out," Sportacus promised.

"Together," Gretchen said. "I think it's time we got some answers. And it looks like we've got company."

Swallowing hard, the friends slowly crept up towards where the hero and Stephanie sat. She jerked her head up to see them there, and Sportacus squeezed her shoulder. "It's okay, you should tell us all. Let us in."

"Pinky, you're all broken up. What's been going on?" Trixie asked. "Your uncle just got home and is waiting for you and sent us to come get you!"

"Tell us," Pixel urged, sitting down next to Stephanie on her other side. He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"You could have told ME. You're MY friend too," Stingy tapped his foot.

"I hate it when you get all sad. It makes ME want to cry," Ziggy sniffled, blowing his nose in his cape.

"I didn't want you all to worry," Stephanie muttered lamely.

"What's going on?" Ziggy asked.

Stephanie took a deep breath and looked at her friends. If she could tell Sportacus, she could tell them. Something in his blue eyes urged her to give voice to her pain. Miss Lidenbrock moved to leave, but Sportacus grabbed her hand and guided her into the circle of Stephanie's friends.

"I think we should all go to your uncle's house," Sportacus said.

"I want you to know too, since you read those papers and if you really think they're bogus you should know the story before you decide," Stephanie said looking at her teacher. Behind her dark framed glasses the teacher's severe face softened. As she heard the words from Stephanie's lips recounting the tale, her own emptiness ached. For a moment, she saw herself sitting in Stephanie's place. While her parents were still alive her father was coming down with Alzheimer's and her mother worked hard to keep him going. Her brother was away defending a town as a hero. Like Sportacus was now.

From the bushes a lone figure frowned hard. He blew his nose although he felt the whole emotional display was disgustingly sweet and sappy. However, even in his dark heart he felt a twinge of sadness for Stephanie. Pouting he slunk away, feeling a bit cheated of joy.

"Drat, they discovered the papers were phony. I'd hoped that would confuse her stupid uncle and cause everyone to sit around and mope along with Pinkie because she was upset! But no matter I got what I wanted. Stephanie's upset still and that means Sportacus will do ANYTHING to make her feel better," Robbie muttered.

"Perhaps it WAS a good thing. If they know those papers are fake maybe they'll believe that this whole thing about her parents missing is questionable. Ohhh I'm devious!" A small evil grin came to his face as he sauntered back home. But it would take planning, and the timing was not right anyhow. He had to make sure that pinkie and Sportacus found out in a more convincing way that could fool everyone, even a nosy schoolteacher!

"Now for the next phase of my plan. A plot twist. If her parents were presumed missing over the North Sea…"