What Could Have Been
Chapter Eighteen "Father, I call upon you in this most desperate hour..."
Courage happened to glance out a window and saw Fred returning from a walk and a sudden thought occurred to him.
Chester had been the only pet that Fred had mentioned.
How come Fred never got any more pets after Chester? True, his mother never bought him another pet. But once Fred grew up and moved out of his mother's house, how come he had never gotten another pet?
Not that Courage wanted Fred to have a pet.
But he easily could have gotten another pet.
He never did.
Why?
Overcome with sudden, intense curiosity, he grabbed a scarf and hurried outside into the cold.
Fred's face had been furrowed in a frown of deep thought. He glanced up, the frown softened into surprise.
"Hello, Courage."
"I want to ask you something."
"Anything."
"How come you never got anymore pets after your hamster?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Humor me."
"I would think that I didn't have to explain that to you."
"Are you not allowed to have any pets? Are you not allowed to buy any pets because - because -"
"I just chose to never get another pet."
"Why?"
"Chester hated me after I shaved him. I assumed that any pet I got would end up hating me. So I never bothered to get another pet. No matter how much I wanted one."
"Then why did you shave me?"
"You don't want to hear it."
"I mean, you already told me that you loved me."
Fred looked embarrassed.
"You already told me that. You might as well tell me."
"I didn't think that I would end up liking you as much as I do."
The freaky barber wouldn't look at him.
"I had no idea that I would like you as much as I do. Had I known I -"
The freaky barber let out a visible breath.
"I never would have shaved you."
He shook his head.
"But there's no point in thinking about that now."
He slid his gloved hands into his coat pockets. His green eyes withdrawn.
"Is that all you wanted to ask me?"
"I just wanted to know why you never got another pet."
"Well, now you know. I wish I never shaved Chester and I wish I never shaved you."
With that, he turned and strode down the road.
He did not look back at Courage.
Since that afternoon, Fred seemed to get better.
He took a shower that night, brushing and untangling his long hair. He emerged from his bedroom the next morning, dressed in his olive blazer and freshly laundered jeans and a crisp white shirt. He smiled more, spending more time with Muriel even when the chores were finished, listening to her talk and chatter away.
It was no mystery why Fred was suddenly in better spirits.
It was because Courage talked to him.
There was no other explanation to why Fred had suddenly started bathing regularly and having a spring in his step whenever he walked past him
"Perhaps you ought to keep talking to him then." Computer had said, a smirk dripping off his every word, "If it will get him to keep bathing."
Courage frowned.
"I shouldn't be responsible for his happiness! Just because he likes me, it doesn't mean I'm responsible for his happiness! If he won't take care of himself just because I don't like him, that's his problem! I'm never going to like him! I don't know how to get that through his dumb head!"
"Let's just say you never get it through his dumb head, what then?"
Muriel slumped into a chair and, after a quick glance at the screen door, Courage crawled out from beneath the table.
"Oh Courage..." Muriel lifted her head from her hands, "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to help him."
Whatever wish he had to fix the relationship between them had died. He stared at her, feeling nothing in his heart as tears streamed down Muriel's face, not the slightest twinge of guilt dug it's fingers into his gut.
Had she cried like this when the freaky barber had shaved him, he could forgive her for feeling compassion for her nephew simply for the fact that he was her nephew, her flesh and blood. And no matter how much he disliked someone, he could understand to some extent how important someone's flesh and blood could be to them.
But again...
He could never forgive her smiling face as she waved him goodbye that very first visit. How she made excuses for him. And here she sat crying over him after showing her what a disgusting human being he was.
"Oh, Courage, how am I supposed to help him? How can I help him?"
Courage turned and strode out of the kitchen.
"Courage? Courage!"
He strode past the blaring television and past another meteor sighting and up the bright, orange sunlit staircase and made his way to the attic.
"How are you feeling?" Computer said as Courage made his way through the darkened attic, "Did the water do the trick?"
"He's leaving."
In any other situation, he would have danced around and thrown confetti all over the place. He didn't have it in him to jump around. He felt dead. Every part of him felt dead.
"He's moving out tonight."
"Well, that's good news. Now everything can go back to normal, happily ever after and all that."
It took all of Courage's strength to climb onto the chair and he slumped against the hard wooden back.
"Now what?" Computer drawled, "The freak's moving out tonight. You should be happy."
Courage sighed and gazed out at the black clouds. The fluorescent horizon burned neon orange.
Even if Fred left, too much damage had been done. How could he go back to normal after everything that had happened? How could he and Muriel go back to the way they were before? Before he had ever met Fred. When everything had been pure. When his relationship to Muriel had been pure.
Fred hadn't been the only one who had not been truthful to himself in his own private writings. He had trivialized what Fred had done to him within his own memoir. What he had written in his memoir had only been a footnote to what Fred had done to him.
How it had actually felt.
Courage thought of the hunchback. He smiled at the memory of his friend, wondering how he was and where he was at this moment. He wondered what the hunchback thought of this whole meteor situation.
Muriel had made pancakes that morning. He had not thought of Fred while he ate the pancakes. Not once. He had been able to eat pancakes many many times. Pancakes had never made him sick or nauseous until Fred moved in.
He somehow managed forget that Fred choked him with pancakes. What Fred had done to him had been summed up in a single sentence in his memoir. He wouldn't allow himself to remember anything else about that day. He didn't want to remember it. All he wanted was to forget the whole thing.
That was the thing - he had been able to forget about Fred and what he had done to him. He had been able to forget that it ever happened. He had been able to go back to normal. He could've spent the rest of his life pretending what the freaky barber had done to him never happened.
And now he had to live with everything he had faced. How could he possibly go back to normal? How could he go back to when his relationship with Muriel had been innocent and pure? Before she had turned a blind eye to what Fred had done to him?
As best as he could, he tried explaining all of this to Computer. A long silence followed this and Courage continued to stare at the sky. The black clouds above caused the neon orange horizon to glow even brighter; the window cutting rest of the sky from Courage's view. He decided he would sleep here tonight. He needed his space after everything that had happened.
"So," Computer began, "I found something interesting concerning that freak. Something that would explain his...abilities. I did some reasearch and, well...Long story short, I've come to the conclusion that he is, in fact, a demi god."
Courage managed to turn his head to look at Computer's monitor.
"What."
"And if he isn't fully a demi god, then he's a partial demi god at the very least."
"Are you putting me on?"
"Nope. Dead serious. I've researched everything I could about the things I've seen and what you've told me and the only conclusion that I could come to that would explain how he is able to make his thoughts real is that he is a demi god."
Courage shook his head
"No. No way. Not him..."
There was nothing god like or otherwordly about the freaky barber and whatever mystery that Fred may have had about him had been compleyely destroyed by this point.
"I refuse to believe he's a god-"
Courage stopped.
"Maybe that's why Crane tried to kill him! He knew Fred was a monster and he was trying to get rid of him-"
In any other situation, hearing himself say such things would have horrified him, especially considering that he was referring to a five year old boy.
But this was different.
This was Fred.
Five year old boy or not, Fred was a monster.
He had always been a monster.
"This is unrelated," Computer said, "But I have another theory. I know for a fact that you didn't have any symptoms before he came to live here. You didn't start erasing your work and closing your documents without saving until he showed up. Because that freak is able to make things real with his mind, I suspect that he might have created the virus himself."
"So, you don't think the symptoms are because of a glitch in the system anymore?" Courage grinned.
"That whole simulation theory was a bust. Old news at this point. Boring." Computer gave a fake snore, "Honestly, who even remembers that?"
Courage shook his head, smiling to himself.
"Anyway, If he's able to make his thoughts real, then that explains everything. As I've said before, you didn't have these thoughts until he showed up. And he's ripped out pages from his notebook and erased what he had typed whenever he went online ever since he arrived. It all adds up. He's the reason you have these symptoms-"
Courage stared out the window at the sky, Computer's voice became distant as he droned on and on.
Since the freaky barber had arrived, there had been times when the air had felt as though it were made of crystal.
As though he were breathing in solid crystal.
The wolves had a tendancy to weave between solid matter and intangibility.
His ears perked up.
He had already come to a conclusion
But first he needed to add things up.
He needed to catch up with his thought.
"Dog? Dog? Yoohoo. Oh, Dog-"
"Quiet!" Courage slid off the chair, suddenly forgetting that he was tired and looked around the paper strewn floor for a pen, "I need to think!"
Spotting the pen in the farthest corner of the attic, he snatched it up and picked up one of the papers off the ground. Turning it over, he expected to see one of the disgusting poems either Fred or one of the wolves had typed up. Instead, he recognized one of the accounts that Fred had printed out, spotting a familiar red circle Fred had drawn around a particular sentence. Turning the paper over, Courage began to scribble on the back, his pen moving faster than his own comprehension.
The rain began right after his encounter with the teacher.
When had that been?
May or June?
The rain had begun before Cordelia died.
And she was the one who told them that Fred had been attacked.
Courage's pen halted.
It suddenly occured to him that Fred had never told him exactly when Enid had attacked him.
But regardless, the rain started after his encounter with the teacher and before Cordelia died. And Enid had attacked Fred before Cordelia passed away.
"There were meteor sightings last year." Courage murmured, "When I came downstairs earlier today, the news reporter said that the meteor had vanished. When I had gone downstairs...after Fred left the attic, he said that there had been another meteor sighting..."
Fear prickled Courage's forehead.
"It's him. He created the meteor. It's been him all along. He caused the rain. The weird weather we've been having. Everything."
"Well," Computer said after a pause, "I could have told you that."
Dropping his pen, Courage stood up and headed towards the door.
"I'll be right back."
Without waiting for Computer to reply, Courage darted downstairs into the darkened living room just as Muriel switched off the TV.
"Meteor this and meteor that." She tutted.
"Hey, stupid woman, I was watching that!" Eustace snapped, "They said the meteors heading this way!"
"They said there wasn't any meteor heading this way and now there is? Why don't they make up their minds already?"
Courage hurried to the TV and switched it on, wincing as he hastened to turn down the volume.
"I repeat," The normally cheery and smiling news reporter looked pale and shaken, "A meteor is hurtling towards us. Get underground if you can. If you have a basement or celler, then please get in there at once. Anything underground is your best bet. And whatever you do, don't go outside-"
Courage started as the TV went blank. He turned the dial on and off over and over. He started, pressing his paws over his ears as another planet splitting crackle of thunder exploded around them.
"Muriel, stay here!" He yelled over the thunder before rushing outside to look up at the sky, coughing as he inhaled the oven hot wind that buffered him.
There weren't any words to describe the ugly, burning darkness that filled the sky.
He saw what the Earth would become
every bird and plant and animal
every blue sky filled day
every smile and hug
all burned away in an irreparable fire.
Bursting into the living room once more, his eyes fell on the silent TV.
Computer.
He glanced at Muriel, who stood arguing with Eustace, his concern torn between his owner and his friend upstairs. He charged at Muriel and in a burst of strength, he picked her up and carried her to the kitchen and into the makeshift bunker the farmer had turned the basement into.
"Muriel!" He held her hands in his paws, hoping she would listen to him, "Please just stay right here! I will be right back, I promise!"
With that, he rushed upstairs and hurried to the attic. To his horror, he saw that Computer's monitor was shut off; his friend all but obscured in the dark corner. His heart sank as he saw Computer's power switch was still on.
"Computer!"
He flicked the power switch on and off.
"Oh no..."
Fear of what this meant prickled his forehead and face.
"Computer!" He grasped the monitor, a sob mangling his voice, "Computer!"
Maybe it was just the power he told himself. The power's just out. It wasn't an EMP. Computer will be fine if the power comes back on. But if it had been an EMP...
His sobbing cut short as another crackle of thunder exploded around him and he pressed his paws against his ears out of fright.
"Muriel!"
He unplugged Computer's cord from the wall and began gathering up his friend's wires.
"Don't worry, buddy!" He stammered, "I got you! I got you!"
He gathered up all of Computer in his forelegs, keyboard, tangle of wires and all, and carried his friend to the attic door. He decided that the printer wasn't necessary. They could always get another printer.
He could never get another Computer...
"Hold on, buddy!" He sputtered as he reached the top of the stairs, "I got you!"
He all but ran down the steps, the rumbling thunder urging him to not take his time and he managed to reach the bottom step without dropping or spilling one wire or any piece of Computer. Had this been any other situation, he would have wondered what the teacher lady would have thought of this feat.
Upon reaching the kitchen, he all but collided against Muriel. He heard Computer's mouse clattering against the ground.
"Are you out of your mind?" Eustace snapped, "You're going to get killed out there!"
"Fred's out there! I have to find him!"
"Forget about that freak! He ain't worth it! Now get in the basement and shut up!"
"I'm not stepping one foot into that basement until I find my nephew!"
"Fine! It's your funeral then!"
With that Eustace slammed the basement door shut and Muriel turned and strode towards the back door without a moments hesitation.
"Muriel!" Courage screamed.
Dropping Computer into an unceremonious heap on the floor, he grabbed a hold of Muriel's dress.
"No, Muriel! Don't go out there-"
"I have to find Fred, Courage! He's out there somewhere-"
"You'll die out there!"
"I have to find him, Courage!"
She met Courage's gaze as though she could understand him,
"I have to-"
Just then, the screen door opened and the freaky barber burst into the kitchen, eyes wide and hair wild.
"Muriel!" He bellowed, sounding nothing like himself and he charged at his aunt, all but carrying her to the basement door.
"Courage! Get in the basement! I'll take care of Computer!"
Taking Muriel's hand, Courage pulled his owner down the steps, though Muriel remained at the bottom step. Courage tensed as the freaky barber carried Computer down the steps and gingerly placed his friend on the basement floor.
"Honestly!" Muriel gasped, "What are you thinking risking your life for a silly computer-"
"Shut the stupid door!" Eustace snapped, "You're going to let the meteor in!"
Courage hurried up the steps and pulled the door shut. Legs shaking with adrenaline, he slumped onto the steps, watching as the freaky barber clamoured into Muriel's arms.
"Oh, Fred, I was so worried-"
"Shh..."
"I didn't think this would actually happen-"
Courage finally found his voice.
"Fred!" He yelped, "You're the one causing this!"
The freaky barber looked at him.
"You're the one causing all of this! You were the one causing this all along! You created the meteor last year! And you're the reason it rained so much last year!
The freaky barber looked as though Courage had struck him across the face. Anger flickered in his bloodshot eyes.
"I know you're causing the meteor! When I came downstairs earlier today, the news reporter said the meteor vanished! And when I came downstairs from the attic after you left, he said there was a meteor heading this way! You're the one causing this-"
Courage saw the freaky barber's eyes light up.
He gripped Muriel's shoulders.
"Stay here." He said before bolting for the stairs.
"Fred-" Muriel gasped.
"Courage-" The freaky barber turned to him, wide green eyes fixed elsewhere, fixed within, chasing a thought that was running fast ahead of him, "Don't let her leave the basement! No matter what happens, don't let her leave the basement-"
"Fred-"
At once, Courage felt the drop in temperature and he found himself looking at Lindsey, dressed in a coat and, from what he could see, a dark knee length skirt. She rubbed her arms, pressing her her bare legs together as if to keep warm. The rain spattered and melodiously dripped into puddles nearby.
"So, are you sticking around town?" Lindsey drawled, dropping a cigarette onto the concrete and grinding it beneath her high heeled shoe.
"I plan on visiting my aunt." The freaky barber rumbled, "So yes."
"I'll be around If you ever feel like meeting up." Lindsey grinned.
"I'll be in touch."
An awkward pause followed this. Lindsey suddenly pressed close to him and Courage squeezed his eyes shut, scared that she would kiss him again. Instead, Lindsey wrapped her arms around the freaky barber in a tight hug. For a long moment, she held onto the freaky barber. Several times Fred made to pull away and Lindsey held onto him tighter until the freaky barber relaxed into her hold.
"I'm so sorry about your mom." Lindsey whispered, and Courage found himself looking into her dark green eyes, "She was an angel."
"I have a headache." Fred rumbled, "I'd like to lie down if that's alright with you."
"I won't keep you." Lindsey drew pulled away suddenly looking awkward, "I guess I'll see you around then?"
"Take care of yourself."
Courage stood unable to look away from Lindsey as she made her way across the parking lot of the run down looking motel. Once she disapeared from sight, Fred strode towards the road, the rain all but blinding Courage. The weight of the drenched duffle coat on his shoulders made him realize that he had seen all of this before. He knew what was going to happen.
Sure enough, Fred leaped over the guard railing and Courage tried to lean away from the cars that almost brushed against the freaky barber. It wasn't long before he saw the headlights of a particular semi-truck. He closed his eyes as Fred stepped into the road, feeling the freaky barber holding out his hands on either side of him, reminding himself that this was only a memory; the light of the truck vanishing from his clenched eyelids as Fred threw him into the darkness...
"If only he died there..."
Courage wrenched his eyes open.
The wolf with Crane's voice hovered in front of Muriel
"Wolves! Ahhhhh!" Eustace screamed, leaping behind the washing machine, "Just what I need! Stupid wolves in my stupid basement while it's the stupid end of the stupid world-"
"If only he had waited a second more..." Honey dripped from each word, "Oh, did he not tell you about that, Aunt Muriel? I suppose he failed to mention exactly what he had attempted to do the night he walked in the rain. And if it weren't for Courage, he would've died that night."
Crane grinned, his red fluorescent eyes burned into Courage.
"He hoped to patch things up between him and dear old Courage. And, well..."
He have a hearty lustful chuckle.
"As you can see, that didn't happen."
"Albert Crane?" Muriel gasped.
Crane gave another hearty chuckle that caused Courage's hackles to rise.
"Not quite."
The wolf with Crane's voice turned to look at Muriel and Courage threw himself in front of his owner, his legs moving faster than his mind could take in the situation, growling and baring his teeth.
"I'm merely Fred's memory of Crane or, to be more precise, how he perceived Crane as a little boy."
"And what an accurate perception he had." Muriel hissed.
Crane let out a cackle of laughter and Courage growled, pressing himself against Muriel.
"Oh, Aunt Muriel," Crane murmured in a manner that could've come from the freaky barber himself, "You've always stood up for him, havent you? Through thick and thin?"
Crane pointed to the basement ceiling, "Do you hear that? Your nephew created the meteor! And all because he didn't have the decency to let the truck run him over-"
"Oh, sod off, why don't you?"
Had this been any other situation, Courage would have stared at his owner in amazement and shock.
Crane let out a seething hiss of disgust as Muriel walked through him, her fists clenched at her sides. She shrieked as several wolves materialized at the foot of the stairs.
"You heard the man!" One of the wolves sneered.
"Why you-" Muriel placed her clenched fists on her hips, "Get out of my way, you beasts!"
"Sorry, lady, no can do."
Crane suddenly materialized and Muriel glowered at him, not looking the least bit fazed.
"If it's any consolation, as long as we're here that means he's alive." Crane said, "We are his subconscious after all. So, if we're still here, that means he's still alive."
"Oh, I don't have time for this!" Muriel spat, "Get out of my way!"
"Relax, lady," One of the wolves drawled, "He's just getting dear old Dad's music box."
"So that means-" Courage met Crane's eyes, "If he dies..."
He stopped himself, forgetting that Muriel couldn't understand him.
Crane grinned and nodded towards the corner of the basement. As Muriel continued to argue with the wolves at the foot of the stairs, Courage followed Crane, glancing back at Muriel to make sure she wasn't paying attention to them.
"So if he...dies," Again, Courage glanced back at Muriel, wringing his paws, "The meteor will disapear?"
"Right on the money there, Courage."
Courage started as he felt ice cold draped along his shoulders, pulling away from Crane's arm.
"Back off creep!" He spat under his breath.
"Hey, I'm just trying to talk man to man."
"You can do that without touching me."
"I just wanted to let you know..."
Crane leaned closer. While his breath didn't smell, it stung Courage's face as though it were frost. Courage backed away, glowering at him.
"If you want the meteor gone, all you have to do is say the word. You don't even have to get your hands dirty. We'll take care of it for you."
Courage's heart sped up and he glanced at Muriel, scared that his owner heard them. However, Muriel continued to argue with the wolves as though Courage weren't in the room at all.
Crane's burning fluorescent eyes drew Courage from his thoughts.
"Well?" He purred.
Again Courage glanced at his owner who was oblivious to Courage, her attention fully on arguing with the wolves. He listened to the crackling rumbling thunder that hadn't ceased since they got into the basement.
"You don't have to do a thing." Crane's honeyed purr startled Courage from his thoughts, "Just leave the dirty work to us..."
"This is a trick. Why are you telling me all of this? Why me?"
"Muriel doesn't realize that her nephew is a rabid dog. If Fred had been a frothing rabid dog, Muriel wouldn't have the heart to put him down. She would build him a crate and keep him in the crate if it meant she didn't have to put him down. She doesn't have it in her to do what needs to be done. But you do. It's up to you to stop the meteor, Courage."
"But why me? What's stopping you from..." He glanced at Muriel, "You tried killing us before. What's stopping you from killing him now?"
"Oh, come now, why all the questions, Courage?"
Crane hadn't ran a finger along Courage's neck but he might as well have.
"Isn't this what you want? Don't you want to get even?"
Crane leaned closer
"After what he did to your mouth?"
"That wasn't-" Courage stammered, his insides burned, "He didn't-"
Why was it his first instinct to deny what he did?
"It is considered assault if a man forces his finger or another part of his body into another man's mouth. If you had read his notes, you would know that." Crane grinned, "And Fred's finger has been inside of your mouth, Courage."
"So what if he has, huh?" Courage spat, "So what? What's your point? Why are you telling me all of this?"
"Do you want to save Muriel?"
Courage started.
"If nothing else, do you want to save Muriel?"
Courage started, pressing his paws over his ears as thunder crackled around them. Muriel continued to argue with the wolves, oblivious to the noise and the dust falling from the basement ceiling.
"As I have said," Crane whispered, "Were Fred a rabid dog, Muriel would merely build a kennel for him and keep him in there. Such a soft heart she has. Too soft for her own good. She would rather doom the planet than put down a rabid dog. She doesn't have it in her to do what needs to be done. But you do, Courage."
Courage jumped as footsteps thundered down the stairs and Muriel called out her nephew's name. The relief in her voice caused Courage's heart to squeeze and his resolve to waver. He watched as Fred knelt on the basement floor and emptied the pockets of his olive blazer. Tossing the blazer and his journal aside, Fred began to fervidly turn the key to his father's music box.
"A fine time to play music just when the stupid world's ending!" Eustace grumbled from behind the washing machine.
As the familiar, ponderous melody played, Crane caught Courage's eyes and wriggled his eyebrows.
This would mean the end of his relationship with Muriel.
Even if she didn't blame him, and even if she forgave him for killing her nephew, he couldn't stay here.
He couldn't.
He stifled a sudden whine in his throat.
He didn't want to leave.
He didn't want to leave her.
Despite everything that had happened and everything that he had felt, he didn't want to leave her.
If this was the only way he could save Muriel...
He didn't want her to die.
No matter how he felt, he didn't want her to die.
"...I'm doing this to save Muriel."
He couldn't hear himself above the crackling roar of the meteor.
"I'm doing this to save Muriel-"
He watched as Crane appeared behind Fred, wrapping the olive blazer around freaky barber's neck. He watched the music box fly from the freaky barber's hands as Fred grasped at his neck. Muriel screamed Fred's name as the wolves pulled her away from him.
"Courage! Help him!"
His own name felt as though Muriel had stabbed him in the heart.
Courage watched as Crane approached him, dragging the freaky barber by the throat. Fred kicked his spider like legs in all directions, his heels thudding dully against the concrete floor, hands scrambling at the olive blazer around his throat.
"Look at him, Courage!" Crane cackled, "Watch as the light leaves his eyes! Well go on! Look at him! I thought this is what you wanted! Isn't this what you wanted, Courage?"
"Courage, please save him-"
"Look at me! Damn you, look at me!"
He no longer sounded like Crane. If Crane weren't strangling him, Courage would have assumed that his voice had come from the freaky barber himself.
"Isn't this what you want? Then look me in the eyes, you coward! Look at me! Courage, look at me! Look at me-"
"Courage, please save my nephew! Please! Please!"
"I'm doing this for you, Muriel." Courage whispered.
He couldn't hear his own voice.
Tears blinded him.
"I'm doing this to save you, Muriel..."
He looked at Fred.
The freaky barber's bulging bloodshot eyes barely held his. He clawed at the blazer with bloodied fingers. Blood oozed from his bared, gritted teeth.
He would never be able to look Muriel in the eyes ever again.
"Why did you have to do this to me, Fred?" Courage screamed above the roar of the meteor,"Why did you have to ruin my life? Why? Why?"
He collapsed against Computer. Holding onto his friend, he gave himself up to the choking dark, no longer afraid of the meteor.
He was no longer afraid of anything.
"Father, I call upon you in this most desperate hour
Grant me the power
To stand up to that which causes me to cower
My hero...ever doughty."