So here's a third chapter. I highly doubt I'll be able to post every day like this. Thanks so far for the (two) people watching this story - much appreciated! Reviews and interesting ideas for future pages on Disgust, Anger or Joy would be appreciated. Hope you like it.

FEAR

Before Fear came along, headquarters was mainly at peace. People went there and did that, they sat around and just ignored whatever didn't concern them. The thing was, they also ignored the numerous safety hazards that surrounded both them and Riley too. A broken wrist when she was three? Painful, but not their problem. The memories made of material so fragile they almost faded before even being sent to Long-term? That was for someone trivial, like the mind workers. Not their problem. So of course Fear saw this and thought "Nu-uh! This ain't happening!"

Fear tried to make changes, but besides making the memory casing a few inches thicker, people just rolled their eyes whenever he shoved his custom-made "potential disaster" list in their faces. He saw how it was. He understood their opinions even if he didn't necessarily agree, but it was best to be prepared. Not being prepared was the second worst scenario on his list: the first being a sudden meteor strike.

It was after a few months he realised he was good at keeping Riley safe. He was actually pretty sure she would have died three times over by now if he hadn't been there. He wasn't brave, God, no. But if a car was about to hit her in the street, she would be able to dive out of the way instead of being flattened into an organ pancake. And that made him feel good.

When Riley's twelfth birthday came, the "puberty" button was pressed by accident when he tried to stop her from choking on her drink. She ended up choking slightly anyway, but the deed was done. Disgust decided he ought to be punished one way or another, because now unexpected alerts and problems were starting to appear every day, but the others managed to calm him down. Neither of them had liked each other despite the fact that they were once stuck together in a sudden absence of Joy and Sadness. In the end, she charmed her way into the final vote, which forced him to Mind manual business, researching teenage protocols. Even Sadness smiled faintly at this, because someone else was taking the rap as well.

That didn't mean Fear never had much of a social life, despite the constant pleas for his attention, including sudden odours and hair growth in rather unexpected places. Over the years, he'd always had a certain feeling of physical attraction towards Joy.

I mean, perfect match, right? A raw, cowardly, scrawny nerve coupled with very embodiment of the light and fruit of life? But deep down, Fear staged imaginary conversations in his head where she admitted to liking purple stickmen and often found himself drooling and gazing numbly at her. In other words, he became headquarters' first stalker. He even found it hard to concentrate on his work. Riley almost failed an entire maths test because of his inability to keep her nervous and mindful, and there was even one point where she almost got struck by lightning if he hadn't brought her down the hill only seconds before. Things weren't going well for him, so he decided to seek help. And by seek help, I don't mean go to us mind workers who actually know about Riley's memories on love. Nope, he went to the only other male emotion, who hated him just as much as Disgust: Anger. Normally, Anger would have greeted him with a smack across the jaw and maybe a few punches to the gut, but today he was in quite a good mood. Surprisingly good, considering how there wasn't a single trace of vengeance in his tone when he noticed him.

"Fear! How's it going? Long time since I've had you come to my door!"

Fear was tempted to remind him that the main reason he hadn't come to his door in a while was because he was once kicked out of his room and told never to return after an incident involving Anger's best shirt, a cable box and a chainsaw. He only just managed to stop it all slipping out.

"Hey, uh, listen." He said, scratching his neck feebly. "It's about a girl."

Anger's eyebrow raised in that cynical way. Then he gave him that sarcastic grin which he always seemed to specially reserve when he didn't believe him.

"Ooh, becoming a man now, are we?" he mocked.

"Y..Yeah…" Fear replied, unsure.

He had a whole, careful speech prepared. Only two sentences actually deemed necessary before he noticed Anger's mouth tightening and the constant looks he kept throwing at Disgust, who was smiling back.

I'm not going to laugh. I'm not going to laugh. Anger kept repeating to himself. But then Disgust winked and it was all over.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he burst out, spraying spit all over Fear. He instantly started panicking and checked himself for signs of a sudden disease. "You actually think you have a chance with…Joy? Really? You…OHOHOHOHOHOHO!" sounding like a drunken Santa, he stood up from his bed, clasped Fear none too slightly across the shoulder and dragged him down to his position.

"Listen, let me explain how this system works." He said in between chortles. "People who hide behind curtains and under beds aren't exactly ideal girl targets."

"I don't just do that, you know." Fear said, a bit offended. He tried to back away considerably, but Anger's grip kept him in his place. He wasn't about to be coated in yet more spit.

Anger flashed that false grin again. "Then what do you do?"

"I protect Riley."

A gleam of something in Anger's eyes. "You ran away from her. You scare her. So you are definitely an absolute chick magnet in this place. You just flat out rock when it comes to Riley wetting her bed during the night."

"This is ridiculous. You weren't even going to consider helping me were you?"

"Not really." Anger said through his teeth, while Disgust snorted contemptuously. "And I also remember saying I'd kill you if you came back in my room again."

Oh. So he had remembered. That burning trickster.

Twenty seconds later, Fear hobbled back to the control panel with no confidence, no skills when it came to confessing love, and nothing besides a throbbing backside. Boy, could Anger kick hard. Since he'd revealed his big secret, the loudmouths would obviously spill sooner or later. The looks they kept slinging him across the dinner table were enough. They might have actually told Joy, too, if it wasn't for the fact that in a blight of panic he stuck his knife in Anger's left thigh. It got a lot of blood all over the carpets and caused Disgust to pass out, but for as long as he was hospitalized, Fear was safe.

"Wonder what he was wanting to say?" Joy asked, a little concerned but all the same curious. If someone was telling her a nice juicy joke or snippet of conversation and were stopped halfway through, it just made her all the more excited.

"Don't know." Was all Fear said and took a much bigger interest in his evening spaghetti than he usually would have.

Despite the constant pressure of the can of beans being spilled open in the most life-ruining way possible, Fear found it easier to get things back on track. Anger still hadn't come back from the medical department, so he telephoned him to say he owed the headquarters another knife since he'd burned it in a rage. He only got as far as saying who he was before he was informed the ward was open and he was very welcome to visit if he wanted a kick straight into the gut. Anger seemed to be turning the air purple with his swearing, and he was still in a foul-mouthed fly as Fear hung up on him. Every day, the world became a more and more volatile place.

The Easter holidays seemed to roll around fast. There wasn't much for Fear to do, since eating chocolate wasn't especially dangerous until your brain started deforming due to prolonged use of sugar. There was no meteorological chance of an alien invasion either, so he just returned to the stalking habits he'd picked up a few months before. Staring at Joy's vividly blue hair, in fact.

Then June. Anger was finally discharged from hospital, so Fear made sure he was outside punching, smacking, kicking and bone-breaking distance for the next few days. His days of keeping his secret crush were numbered. He 'd better tell her. But what if she denied him and they didn't talk for the next few months, years even? Christ. Love was so complicated and unpredictable. And he hated unpredictable.

Joy had taken up a fond habit of dancing along to Riley's dreams every night during duty. Again, he knew this because of his aimless staring every night whenever he got up to get coffee. But now was time to take action.

"You dance very well." Said Fear very quietly, as to not startle her. It was midnight and the main room was pitch black except for her signature glow. He'd seen lots of pickup lines beforehand, but decided the basics were best right now. The last thing he could afford was to get tongue tied.

Joy did look startled and mildly confused as she asked "Yes, Fear? What are you doing at this time of night?"

Uh oh. Stutters were occurring. "I er – I – I –you know, I – uh- I…oh….." he tried helplessly, speech failing him.

He just burst out in a series of heartfelt words and confessions, admitting everything, even the creepy stuff. And Joy just honestly felt ready to explode with radiance. She was a bit sorry for him, but appreciated the sentiment he had.

"And Anger was going to tell anyway, so I kind of had to, like, right now." He rambled as fast as possible, before pausing for breath and sucking in lung fulls of air. Talking really fast, he learned, was a big hazard he'd never seen before. It was great for getting your feelings out there and running off before anyone could comprehend what you just said, but it didn't grant much lenience to your lungs.

"Oh, Fear." Now it was Joy's turn to remain speechless. "You really shouldn't have." A mix of shy crimson leaked into her saturated yellow aura.

I almost didn't, thought Fear.

Joy extended a hand. "Come dance."

So they did. He obviously tripped over his own legs despite the slow waltz, and positively wrapped himself up in his own arms halfway through a foxtrot. But hell, there was finally some form of action in his life. Maybe not wrestling dinosaurs, but enjoyable and (at least to him) challenging nonetheless.

You know what? We'll say a bit more about Fear. The guy had more on his mind than just romance. Our final few words will be on things afterwards. The Mind reader wasn't too happy about the shortness of my last tale, so I'll carry on with a gun pointed at my head. Literally. And yes, mister publisher, I know you're looking over my shoulder.

Fear was good at lying. Sneaky, but it was good for getting Riley out of trouble. But at certain times, the pressure got to him. One of Joy's favourites was when an eight-foot gorilla was claimed to have eaten Riley's school report. It came out after quite a while of thought, too. Dad listened to this for a while and informed her he'd be going gorilla unless she told the truth.

"Well, it spat the thing back out again. But it was so gross!" Riley added. "He died of…er…mad cow disease afterwards."

Dad wondered how the girl made such unbelievable nonsense come from that gob of hers, and especially why this supposed gorilla had died of mad cow disease, of all illnesses. But he didn't press the point. He knew it was pretty much hopeless. Kids would be kids. Just as long as she didn't see wander across the likes of King Kong, he was good.

Fear stared behind Riley as Dad shook his head and wandered off into the living room to watch some telly. He knew he should have gone with the evil dragon frying the report instead.