Chapter 4: My hero
"Alright, ready when you are." Said the sunflower, making room in the bed for the peashooter to sit in. The peashooter bounced over to the bed, falling silent when he sat down.
"Sorry, I just don't know where to start." He said, to which the sunflower gave him a comforting smile.
"Maybe the beginning could be a good place to start." Said the flower, making them both chuckle. Once they stopped, the peashooter's mind wandered for a few seconds, looking for the best place to start from, a point in history where his story would make some sense.
"Sunny... Do you remember the old days?"
"The old days...?" She responded, trying to figure out what he meant.
"Yeah, where it was you, me, Wallnut, the cherries, Potato mine, Snow pea, Repeater and Chomper..." Said the peashooter, getting an understanding sigh from the flower.
"Yes... Those days were awesome..." She said in a nostalgic but happy tone.
"I'd say those were the best days of my life. Just being with you guys and Lewis was everything. Everything was so simple; beat zombies, get inside to eat, pass the afternoon hanging out and going to sleep. It was so simplistic yet fun." He said, making the flower take a guess to where this was going.
"Yeah... I miss those days too." She said.
"But do you remember the day where we saw our first conehead?" He asked.
"How could I forget? That was pretty scary." She said, although she also remembered how she got to take care of the wounded peashooter, which made her elated and proud at the same time.
"It was... I guess that's where it truly began." He said, making the flower stop her train of thoughts and look at him with a surprised expression.
"What began?"
"My uselessness. I remember how we were spread out across the garden, and I had to deal with the zombie. I survived by some sort of miracle, and that was only the beginning!"
The flower could visibly see the peashooter get more uncomfortable as he spoke.
"Then some other zombie with a bucket showed up, and another with a newspaper, and another with football gear... If I could barely defend myself against a guy with a plastic cone on his head, how could I defend myself AND you guys from one of them? I just can't."
The flower could see the peashooter start to shrink in his seat, so she moved closer to him.
"I preffered to stay up here to not bother anyone while the other plants fought, but I still wonder how much more I could have done. Maybe I could have helped the catapult family while they fought against that giant robot! Or the plants in the pool when that storm came! Or... I don't know, something!"
Now he was starting to tear up, so she hugged him.
"I... I remember the day you sang at the party after Zomboss was defeated, I saw him crawl out of the robot. I could have finished him off, but I trusted that we could all live in peace... Stupid..."
The peashooter could barely hold himself together, the flower decided to hug him tighter, to remind him that she was there for him.
"What was all that for anyway? We lost, the zombies won and most of our friends aren't even with us anymore! All because I'm just not enough! Too stupid to finish Zomboss off! Too weak to defend anyone! Too coward to come out and try to put up a fight! I... I just don't want to feel like this anymore..."
That was it. No more holding back. The peashooter at this point was a sobbing mess. The sunflower was a little taken back, she honestly didn't know how much he was keeping to himself. After taking a quick glance at the window she saw the wall that divided their portion of land from Zomburbia. At this moment she knew how much he blamed himself for everything.
He had been looking at that wall for a long time and blaming himself for its existence and so much more.
She wanted to cry because of how much the peashooter had suffered in silence, and she honestly had to let out a couple of tears herself, but she didn't cry. She knew he needed her, and she was going to be strong for him.
She hugged the peashooter as tight as she could, and he hugged her right back. Their mutual presence made them both calm down, with the peashooter eventually calming down. Once they were done, the peashooter looked up to see her face, and saw her tears falling down.
"S-Sunny! Please don't cry! Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have said anything-!" He said, starting to talk himself down for opening up.
"STOP IT!" She cut him off, and he looked at her surprised. He had only seen her this assertive once, but it was still surprising to see. "Please stop saying those things about yourself, Pea-Jay!" She said in a hurt tone, which made his heart break.
"B-but you're sad because of me... I'm sorry..." He said. The sunflower wiped the tears off her face and looked at him with a weak smile.
"Pea-Jay, let's take a walk, okay? If... If this is how you really feel then I have something I want to show you." She said trying to sound excited, to which he doubted.
"Go out...? But, what if zombies attack or Lewis needs-?"
"Pleeeeeeaseeee?" She held his face close to hers while she made her best puppy eyes.
"Oh, okay. I can't say no to that." He said, blushing and trying to match her enthusiasm.
"Great! I'll get Lewis!" Said the sunflower, getting off the bed.
"W-What?!"
"We have to let him take use there. It's kinda far."
"Okay..." The peashooter relented. What was she going to show him? And what did it have to do with the conversation they just had? After exposing his feelings to her like tat?
Nevertheless, the peashooter knew that the sunflower always wanted the best for everyone, so if she knew what she was doing, he would do as she said.
The ride had been something. Lewis not only had accepted to take them to where they needed to go (which the peashooter still didn't know), but he said that he would give them some time alone because he needed to do something else. He sounded extremely fake, but if it meant he could be alone with the flower then the peashooter wasn't complaining.
Once they got in Lewis' car, there was no conversation, but the flower had kept her leaf around his, which made him feel relaxed.
After 20 minutes they arrived at their destination.
A park.
Why on earth did Sunny want to take him to a park?!
Lewis waved them goodbye as he started the engine again to do the "thing" he supposedly had to do, which left them alone. Literally.
It was mid-afternoon and most people were in their houses, either getting ready for the next day or preparing their plants for a zombie attack. This was a good thing for the peashooter, since he didn't feel comfortable with anyone around right now.
"So... I'm sorry for cutting the conversation short earlier, Pea-Jay." Said the sunflower when Lewis was out of earshot.
"Oh, don't worry about that, Sunny." Said the peashooter.
"But, I really think you should see this. I know you haven't come out of that room in a while, so I guess you didn't even hear about this." Said the sunflower, guiding him across the park.
"See what? What are you talking about?" Asked the peashooter, getting annoyed by the flower not giving him a straight answer.
"Well, I think you give yourself much less credit than you deserve. You're literally everyone's hero!" Said the sunflower, getting a curious look from the peashooter.
"What...? What do you mean...?"
"Do you remember the day when we met? How everyone was so excited to meet you?"
The peashooter nodded. That was something that he had always noticed when a new plant came to Lewis' home. Why was every plant he met so excited to meet him of all plants?
"Yeah... I still can't figure out why. I mean, why would they, who can take out strong zombies by themselves, want to meet me? Like, how do they even know me?" He asked.
"Pea-Jay, peashooters were the first type of plant ever created to defeat zombies!" Exclaimed the sunflower with pride for her friend, who looked both confused and surprised. "And you were one of the first ones!"
"W...What?"
"I remember when I was created by Bloom and Doom along with Repeater and Snow pea, and being told that our purpose was to defeat zombies..." The sunflower's face fell for a moment, which he picked up on. "I remember being terrified, and almost wanting to cry. I also remember that Repeater and Snow Pea weren't too different from me. Snow Pea looked like she was having an existential crisis while Repeater was shouting to try and get out of there."
The peashooter couldn't believe it. Were Sunflower, Repeater and Snow pea really scared of zombies? After watching all of them battle zombies time and time again and seeing their determined faces, imagining them acting like that sounded surreal.
"I... I don't believe you! You guys do as much as me and even more in the lawn! How can you be scared of zombies?" Asked the peashooter, still in disbelief.
"Well, we were for a while. We stayed in Bloom and Doom a bit more than we were supposed to because of it. However, all that changed when we were shown a video to help calm us down. You were in it!"
The peashooter froze for a second. "... Me?..."
"Well, I'm not sure if it was exactly you, but there was a peashooter on screen fending off a horde of zombies by himself. We were all amazed by the plant, how determined he looked, how brave he was and how he didn't flinch when the zombies got close. And when we were told that we could meet him? We were all tripping over ourselves to see who could be first!" Said the sunflower, giggling.
"I... This is... Really?" Said the peashooter, in even more disbelief than before, making the flower giggle yet again.
"Yup! And in honor to all peashooters, this park was founded! Do you know what it's called?"
The peashooter shrugged.
"Pea Park!" Said the sunflower, coming to a stop and extending her leaf arms to show the peashooter what she wanted him to see:
The center of the park was beautiful. It was decorated with well defined peashooter-like shaped bushed and trees, with a fountain which had a big peashooter statue in the middle. Along the fountain there were various metal plaques which told the story of peashooters, from the most basic like him to the more advenced, like the hero Green Shadow. There were also brick walls scattered across the park with pictures of peashooters defending lawns and their respective humans from zombie attacks, with information about where and when they were taken.
The peashooter was tearing up again, but this time out of happiness. For the first time in what felt like decades he felt something which he hadn't felt in a long time. He felt...
Proud.
After feeling miserable for the longest, he finally felt like he achieved something. The peashooter was filled with elation. He felt so honored to be an inspiration to those who were more powerful than him!
"This is... Amazing, Sunny! How did you know about this?" Asked the peashooter, still trying to hold himself together.
"It was kind of a big thing, maybe you should get out more." Said the sunflower, laughing lightly.
The peashooter also giggled, looking back to the park. Now the pieces were starting to fall into place. Were all the other plants that he had met really so eager to be like him and the other peashooters? If that was the case, then he really had a lot to feel proud about!
He could have kept feeling happy, but...
'Whatever, you may have been an inspiration for some, but that still doesn't change the fact that you're completely obsolete...' That damn voice inside his head kept talking to him, which pulled him back to earth faster than he'd like to admit. The sunflower saw his expression change from an ncredibly happy smile to the same sad smile he always had in a matter of seconds.
'Oh no, you're not gonna feel like that while I'm here!' Thought the sunflower before nuzzling the side of his face, making him blush instantly.
"S-S-Sunny?!" Said the peashooter, surprised by her actions.
"What's wrong, Pea-Jay?" Said the sunflower, stepping back to look at him directly. "I thought you would like it here."
"I... I do! This is beautiful! I just... I don't know, I still don't think I do enough..." Said the peashooter, his smile falling as he finished his sentence.
"Pea-Jay, look at me." The peashooter did just that, and saw the flower give him a comforting smile. "Please don't say that. You've done more than enough for everyone. We're all here because of you! It's you who brought all of us together. You've always protected everyone as best as you could, and you always kept a smile while doing it. We are your legacy! We all try to do our best to be like you. Heck, you're the sole reason I'm the way I am today!"
"W-what do you mean...?" Asked the peashooter, genuinely confused.
"I wasn't always cheerful, you know... I think you remember how shy I was when I arrived at Lewis' house, right?" The peashooter nodded, he did remember the flower being a lot more quiet and reserved when she first arrived. "Well, it's you who I want to impress the most, Pea-Jay."
"What?"
"You're so cool... The way you fought against zombies, the way you stand in the face of danger, how charismatic, noble and kind you are... Those are all things I love about you..."
Now both of them were frozen.
The peashooter went as red as a tomato. Did he really hear that? Did she make some sort of mistake when choosing her words?
The sunflower was so red she could pass as an excellent rose. Did she really say that? How did she let it slip like that?!
There was an awkward silence that lasted for about 15 seconds, but it felt like forever. Neither of them could look at the other in the eye. Eventually, the peashooter decided to break the silence.
"Umm... Sunny, do you... really mean that?" Asked the peashooter, to which the sunflower's mind went bonkers.
What to do? If she said yes, then maybe it could ruin their friendship, and make him think of her as some sort of creep or weirdo. There was also the chance that he would laugh at her, or expose her, or humilliate her, or insult her, or...
...
...
No.
She had known him for as long as she could remember. H eowuld NEVER do that. In the worst case scenario he would just not reciprocate her feelings but ty to be friends either way.
The sunflower was about to shut down her feelings and make this seem like some sort of mistake, when other thoughts entered her mind:
Him being isolated again.
Him becoming a cranky old plant.
Him being angry at her forever.
And worst of all...
Him going out with another plant.
'You know what? Screw it!' She thought.
"I... I do. I'm sorry, I didn't want you to find out this way..." She said sheepishly.
The peashooter was at a loss for words. Was this really happening? Sunny, who was by far the most popular plant in the lawn, someone who, unlike him, was always needed, and overall his best friend was confessing?
He didn't know what to say... He didn't know much about topics like love, or really anything related to love, but he did know one thing...
The fact that Sunny loved him made him feel... Happy. He was undoubtedly happy to have someone like Sunny by his side, and to be honest, he also had some hidden feelings for the flower he didn't want to recognize...
Maybe it was time to do finally it.
"Ah, thank God." He sighed with relief.
"What?" Said the sunflower, looking at him with shock in her eyes.
" I thought you didn't feel the same way. I thought someone as useless as me wouldn't get anyone's attention."
"Pea-Jay!" The sunflower exclaimed before launching herself at him, envolving him in the warmest hug he had recieved. The hug lasted for about 30 seconds, but it was enough for the months of worry to start melting away from their minds. "Don't ever say tyhat again! You're my hero!"
"I promise I won't, for you." The peashooter said, making her giggle.
After they broke the hug, the sunflower planted a quick kiss on his forehead, making him blush.
"Look, Pea-Jay, neither me or Lewis or any other plant thinks that you're useless. You're more than enough for us, but if this is REALLY all that important for you then there might be a way for you to get back into the fight..."
"Really? How? I'm just a peashooter in a world with zombie heroes and time portals and some stuff I don't even know of..." Said the peashooter, still blushing from her kiss but really intrigued about what she had to say.
"Well, just follow me. Lewis can get us there." Said the sunflower, taking his leaf and turning around.
"Really? Again?" Said the peashooter, sighing at the fact that he was being dragged out to who knows where yet again.
"Oh come on, this turned out better than you expected. I promise you that this'll be even better!" Said the flower with excitement.
"Heh, I doubt that. I don't think anything's gonna top this." He said, nuzzling her face.
"Le-Let's just go! Lewis m-must be witing for us!" Said the sunflower, blushing at his actions, to which he just laughed playfully.
The way to the othe place the sunflower wanted to show him was way more enjoyable than the last. Now, with their feelings out in the open, they spent the trip talling jokes to each other and talking about past events, like how funny the zombies looked when they blew up or hoe chilly they looked when Snow Pea hit them.
If Lewis had heard them, he didn't interrupt.
Finally, they reached their destination: It looked like a big facility behind a fence with lots of plants and humans gathered on the exit. Lewis drove to the entrance to the facility, dropped the plants where they wanted to be and waved them goodbye yet again as he drove back to the exit.
"Sunny, where are we?" Asked the peashooter, looking at the big building ahead of them.
"This is a Bloom and Doom facility where they transform and process simple plants like us into bigger and better plants to fight in the front lines!" Said the sunflower, getting a look from the peashooter.
"Transform? What do you mean?" Asked the peashooter, a bit nervous about the implications of her statement.
"Well, last time I was here I accompanied Chomper and Cactus to be transformed here. Now Chomper can put down Spikeweeds, Burrow and eat big zombies! And Cactus can lay down Potato mines, Tall-nuts and deploy a garlic drone!" Said the sunflower with excitement, while the peashooter looked at her with disbelief for what felt like the fifth time today.
"Really? That's crazy!"
"It is! And we can do it right here and right now!"
"Woah woah woah! Right now? Doesn't something like this take like a long time?" Asked the peashooter, a bit nervous about how fast things were going.
"Well, maybe it used to be that way, but since Suburbia was taken the humans have been at work to speed things up. Nowadays I'm pretty sure we just have to show up and tell them that we want to upgrade." Said the sunflower, shrugging.
"And what would this thing do to us...?" Said the peashooter, nervous about the outcome.
"To be honest, I'm not really sure. For all I know, you could be a gatling gun and I could end up shooting lasers out of my face!" Said the sunflower, giggling at the thought.
"Hmm... I don't know, Sunny..."
"Pea-Jay..." The peashooter looked up to her, and saw that same comforting smile he adored. "Look, if we do this then we can make sure no one else from our friends dies again..."
The peashooter's mind wandered to the moments when the cherries, Potato Mine and Jalapeño died to save them. They looked at peace, knowing they would save their friends with their sacrifice, but it hurt everyone else all the same.
"Yeah... Maybe you're right. I guess I'm just a little scared." Admitted the peashooter, looking down.
The sunflower liftes his head to make him look at her. "Don't worry. I've een thinking to do this for a while, but I always felt too scared to try. But with you, I don't fear anything. If we decide to do this, we're gonna do it together."
Her words flled the peashooter with determination. If there were any remains of doubt of fear left in his soul, they instantly evaporated when he thought about the flower who he would give anything for.
"Yeah... Yeah! Let's do this, Sunny! I promise I won't ever leave your side! Nothing will harm you or our friends while I'm here! I promise you that!" He said, completely filled with bravery.
"Now that's the peashooter I love." She said before kissing his cheek, leaving him blushing. "But I still saved your butt that day, and I will continue to do it."
"Not if I protect you first." He playfully added.
"You're just mad I beat you to it." She said, making them both giggle.
Now it was time. Just both of them and th entrance to what could very well be the start of a very different future. Maybe they were both still scared, nervous or had doubts to what could happen once they entered the facility...
But they didn't back down.
Leaf in leaf, they entered the building together, ready to face whatever the world, the future or the zombies had to throw at them.
Because to the suflower, with him by her side, her fears evaporated into nothingness.
And to the once lonely and melancholic peashooter, with her by his side, the once bleak sky would disappear and all that would be left would be sunny days.
Author notes:
Phew! Boy, am I glad that's over!
Thank you for stopping by and reading this silly little thing. This idea had been on my mind for a while and I'm glad to have it out once and for all.
This story was inspired by another fanfic on this site called "Legacy plants", but I wanted to take a chance to do something similar while writing my own take on the PvZ universe and timeline. I hope it was to your liking.
Sorry if the orthography or grammar seem a little off... Still a non-english speaker learning and trying my best.
If you see this story gone in the future, then maybe I'll have looked at it and decided to delete it. I don't want anyone re-publishing my stuff, since I'm a bit picky with what I do, and if I decide that I could have done better or decide that something like this is too cringe in my future, I'd rather delete it and move on.
Again, thanks for stopping by and give this a chance! I'm still a pretty new writer so if you have any constructive criticism then please let me know what you think!
See you next time! Bye!