Author Notes - A shorter chapter than the last, dealing with the aftermath of Brianna's encounter with Molly.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - BROKEN PEDESTAL

After what had happened in Ms Andersfin's place, Deema decided that the best thing to do was to return to her pad as soon as possible. Zooli kept the crying Brianna close to her the whole way there. It was astounding, to Zooli anyway. To think that having to put up with a kid's crying was one of the biggest reasons she chose not to have children. And here she was, trying her best to comfort this young child in need.

Even once the group got back to Deema's place and Zooli got the little girl settled on the couch, Brianna was still struggling to deal with all her emotions. And Zooli didn't blame her for a moment. It reminded her of her own hero - the late Steve Irfin.

It wasn't quite the same deal. Steve was truly a good person, after all. But when Zooli found out that Steve had died several years before she was even born, and she had been watching footage at least a decade old for years, it had broken her heart. The knowledge that she would never get to talk to him had destroyed her spirit for weeks. Even the friendships she had with the other Guppies barely helped at all.

It was a different but similar feeling of knowing that the hero you knew and loved was no longer around…

'H-how could she say that stuff?' Brianna murmured, leaning against Zooli. 'A-About me? About you guys? About the band?'

Zooli sighed. 'I don't know, Bri. Some people just let fame go to their heads.'

'I'd hate to say it,' Deema said. 'I'd really hate to say it, but I t-'

'Then don't,' Gil snapped.

Gil was the only one not sitting down at the couches. Instead, he stared out the window. He wasn't looking at anything in particular. Just staring. He was so close to the glass that no one could see his reflection, but it wouldn't have mattered. His face was as stoic as always.

'I can't believe it!' Oona yelled, throwing up her arms. 'After everything we did for her, she has the nerve to call us just a bunch of nobodies? She knows we used to be friends. How could she say that!'

'She moved on,' Nonny said, looking to the floor. 'And… and we didn't. Maybe she was right. Maybe she grew up but the rest of us never did.'

'Don't let her get into your head, Nonny,' Goby said. 'We all grew up. We have lives. Jobs. Responsibilities. We moved on, but not completely. That woman has destroyed any attachments she once had. If anything, she's the one who hasn't grown up.'

'Hey, look on the bright side,' Deema said. 'Look at this, Bri! You got every Guppy back together, except for one. Now that's really impressive! You should feel proud of yourself.'

Brianna shrugged. 'I-I guess…'

It felt like such a hollow victory. To get every member back except for her favourite and the face of the band was like tripping at the finish line. Especially when her hero had said such cruel words…

'I knew this was going to happen,' Gil said. 'I just knew it. There was no way Molly was going to join us.'

Zooli rolled her eyes. 'You're not helping, Gil. Rambling about how you supposedly 'knew' isn't going to help us.'

'Oh, believe me. I know Molly. A lot more than anyone should.'

Goby cocked an eyebrow. 'And how would you know this if you haven't been friends with her for years and years?'

'Because I-!'

Gil shouted, but stopped himself. Everyone else looked at him in shock. He regretted speaking up immediately. But now he had six stares coming his way.

'Well?' Deema said. 'Gonna finish that sentence, Fire Boy?'

Gil let out a long sigh. 'Alright. Just promise you won't hate me for saying this. Because I'm not proud of it.'

'Just say it already,' Oona said. 'It can't be that bad.'

'Okay. But if you get mad at me, I will be rubbing it in. Do you remember a couple years back, there was this whole scandal about Ms Andersfin dating some random nobody no one knew? And everyone was trying to figure out who that person was before they just dropped it all and moved onto the next dumb celebrity scandal?'

Deema groaned. 'Oh, don't remind me. The public couldn't decide if he was a hotdog vendor, or a street magician, or a firefighter, or a-'

With that, the proverbial penny dropped. One by one, each Guppy was hit with the realisation of exactly what Gil was implying. When Gil got a good look at their faces, he knew they had all come to the same conclusion.

'OH!' Deema said, apparently only just now getting at Gil was saying. 'That's what you're talking about! Right. Sorry! I completely forgot that you and those scandals were connected.'

'Don't tell me,' Goby said. 'That after all this time, those dumb rumours were spreading around because you were the one dating Molly.'

'You can't be freaking serious!' Oona said. 'That's ludicrous, right?'

Gil couldn't say anything. He could only hang his head in shame, fully prepared for the others to get mad. But they weren't getting mad at all. Just… shocked. Gathering their thoughts. Oona turned to Deema, wildly gesturing her arms about in Gil's general distraction. She didn't say anything, but her wild movements and confused expression did all the talking for her.

'Yep,' Deema said. 'He means it. I saw it myself. I was able to keep the secret under wraps, despite all the rumours floating about.'

'So that's what you meant when you said Gil was special...' Goby said.

'Oh…' Zooli said. 'That changes some things.'

'You're… not mad?' Gil asked.

'Of course we're not,' Goby said. 'Why would we be mad? We're all friends here. We've all done things we regret.'

'Totally insane that this happened at all,' Oona said. 'But we're not mad.'

Brianna sighed. At better times, this'd be the moment she stood up. Announced that she totally believed in the 'Golly' ship and that she was delighted to see a long-standing fan theory turning out to be true. But she didn't have it in her. Not anymore.

'You guys deserve something of an explanation,' Gil said. 'See, Molly and I had been dating in secret for months. If you're wondering, I chose to break up with her because I realised how much of a dick she was towards other people. Even if she treated me well enough, seeing her treatment of others was too much for me. When she had a massive falling out with Deema, I had to break up the whole thing.'

He stopped telling his story, but the others could sense that there was a little more to it. They stayed quiet for a moment, seeing if he was willing to keep going. And he could sense their curiosity floating in the room. He couldn't imagine how. Perhaps they really were still best friends for life, able to read each other without words.

'T-The worst part is…' He said. 'Part of me still loves her. I-I know it's wrong. But I can't…'

Oona stood up and swam over to him. He was expecting the berating of a lifetime, but all she did was put her hand on his shoulder in that comforting way only she could. In the way that reminded Gil of when they were children, going back years and years and years.

'There's nothing wrong with that,' Oona said. 'Sounds like she had one person in her life who she treated well. And love's a weird thing, isn't it?'

'I-I take it back,' Gil said. 'That isn't the worst part. The actual worst part is that… is that…'

Though he was facing away from her and thus she couldn't see his face, Oona could hear the way his breathing changed. The way it suddenly hitched. It was a sound she had learnt to recognise from her years of teaching. The sound of someone who, if they failed to fight against it, was about to cry.

'Gil, are you okay?' She asked.

'T-The worst part is…' Gil said. 'Is that I've always loved her. Even since we were little kids, and I didn't know what romance was yet. Back before I could even have romantic feelings, I knew I wanted to be close to her. I wanted to spend every day of my life with her. My entire life seemed to revolve around her. She was the light in my life. The apple of my eye. A-And now she's…'

He took a deep breath, regaining his composure almost as quickly as he had lost it.

'Never mind that,' He said. 'You said she had one person in her life who she actually treated well. That… isn't totally correct. Not because she actually treated me poorly, but because there is one other person out there she's nice to.'

Brianna sat up with a gasp. 'Wait! I think I know who you're talking about. You're talking about Mia, right?'

Gil's eyes went wide. 'How… how did you know that?'

Deema gasped. 'Oh, of course! Molly's little sister!'

'Their relationship isn't… great,' Gil said. 'But Molly was nice to her. I know that. Mia's a good person. I'm sure if we called her up, she'd love to catch up with us.'

'Do you know where she is?' Goby asked.

'Not really, no,' Gil replied. 'She doesn't live in Big Bubble City. Not anymore. I think she got sick of her sister's behaviour and being the little sis of a big-name celebrity, so she moved out to a smaller town years ago. But, uh, I still have her phone number.'

He wasn't sure how the others would take this bit of news, and assumed they'd call him out on it. But no one did. If anything, it seemed like their curiosity was piqued. Brianna's especially.

'Then call her!' She demanded. 'If we can't get Molly, then Mia is the next best thing!'

'Hang on,' Zooli said. 'I don't know Mia at all, but I don't think she'd appreciate being seen as just a replacement for Molly.'

'But she's close enough! The band just won't be the same without Molly, but I'm sure Mia will feel that void at least a little.'

Goby cocked an eyebrow. 'You wanna call Mia… only because you think she'll be a half-decent replacement for the one Guppy you couldn't get? Even ignoring the fact she could be hours or even days away, that isn't fair to her. She can't just replace Molly, like buying a second guinea pig for your child after the first one died and pretending it's the same one. My sister can tell you from first-hand experience, that doesn't work.'

'I-I know, but…' She stood up tall and took a deep breath. 'The band isn't the same with just the six of you!'

She shouted louder than she thought she would. Loud enough that Deema's neighbours, if she had any, could've heard her through the thick floor. Tears were gathering in her eyes again.

'I… I needed Molly,' She said. 'I really did.'

'What, more than us?' Gil remarked. 'You think we're less important than her or something? Sounds like you agree with her.'

Zooli stood up too. 'Of course she isn't saying that! She'd say that about any of us. We were a group of seven. If any one of us couldn't join this group instead of Molly, she'd be saying the same thing now. Molly isn't special.'

Brianna gulped. 'That's… mostly true.'

Everyone looked at her.

'Mostly?' Deema said. 'You're not saying that Molly actually is more important than us, are you?'

'No!' Brianna cried. 'Never. You're all just as important as each other. There was no 'one Guppy' who made the band what it was. You were all special. It's just that… Molly's a little more special to me. S-She...' She paused and took a deep breath. 'She was always my favourite.'

The room fell silent. Suddenly, the whole situation made a lot more sense. Brianna closed her eyes and sat back down on the couch, bringing her 'knees' up to her chest.

'Oh,' Nonny said. 'Surprising.'

'Not really,' Oona said. 'In hindsight, it's really freaking obvious. Of course Molly is her favourite. That explains so much.'

'Sorry if that makes you guys feel… less important,' Brianna said, softly.

'Nah, it's okay,' Deema said. 'We all have favourites. Besides, I spent years as the one the fandom couldn't agree on. I'm used to being beloved by half of a fandom and hated by the other half.'

'Molly was my favourite too when I was little,' Zooli said. 'Before I joined the band, of course. It was hard not to like her. She was friendly and charismatic. And there was no denying that she was the face of the band.'

'Right now,' Deema continued. 'All we have are the arms, the hair, the chest, the stomach, the tail, and the tailfins. And if anyone's wondering, yes, I am the hair.'

'Thank you for answering a question I never had,' Gil said. 'And I'm definitely the 'chest', right?'

While the other Guppies argued over who was meant to represent each body part, if only because it helped to distract them from the horrible situation at hand, Brianna began to wonder. Molly would probably never join the band. But she held onto a small possibility that maybe, just maybe, she would. The Guppies had taught her never to give up. To keep hoping even in the dark times.

'Hey…' She said, interrupting the discussion right when it was decided that Zooli was the tailfins. 'I-I know it wouldn't be right to get her involved just because I wanna replace Molly, but-'

'You want to call Mia,' Goby said. 'Don't you?'

'So do I!' Oona said. 'Mia was kinda like a niece to me, long before I had an actual niece. It'd be nice to call her up again after all this time!'

Gil sighed. 'Alright, we can do that. But if we're going to do it, I'll be better off using whatever computer Deema has here instead of my phone. That way, we have a nice, big screen.'

Author Notes - When I got to writing this chapter, I had just broken up with a guy I had been dating for about six months. I won't go into detail about it for the sake of his privacy, but I simply didn't have any romantic attraction and decided I didn't want to lead him on. It hurt like hell to do, because he was such a great friend. I channelled a lot of my emotions into Gil talking about his own relationship with Molly, though obviously it hurts Gil for very different reasons. Lucky for me, the guy has still been a good friend. This is yet another thing I feel like I have improved on vastly compared to 'Thirty Years Later': the falling out between Molly and Gil.

'Steve Irfin' is a pun on 'Steve Irwin'. That's a name you're probably familiar with, but he was especially beloved in my home country of Australia. I was a very young child when he died, around the time I was starting to understand the concept of death but hadn't fully comprehended it yet. It was a wild time for me, as you can guess. And this won't be the last time that Zooli brings him up either. She's got a damn good reason to talk about him in a later chapter, but we're not nearly there yet...