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Chapter Text

Once upon a time, in a land not so far from your own, a handsome young Fae lived in a shining castle.

Although he had everything his heart desired the Prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. He treated his servants with little respect, and the towns he ruled over were treated even worse.

Then, one harsh winter’s night, an old woman begged at the castle for shelter from the bitter storm. In exchange, she offered the Prince a single sunflower. The Prince sneered at the gift and turned her away at once.

She warned him not to be deceived by appearances— for beauty is found within.

When he dismissed her again, the old woman’s haggard appearance melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. People ran from the castle in fear of her fury as the Prince begged for forgiveness.

But it was too late. 

She had seen there was no love in his heart. As punishment for his cruelty, she broke his magic, letting it run too wild, and locked him into the appearance of a terrifying beast. And placed a power curse on the castle and those who still dwelled within.

As days bled into years, the prince and his remaining servants were forgotten by the world. For the curse had erased all memory of them from the minds of the people they loved, and from the minds of the townspeople once mistreated.

The sunflower she had offered was truly an enchanted sunflower. If he could learn to love another, and earn their love in return, the curse would be broken.

If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all eternity.

Time passed, and the Prince fell into despair and lost all hope.

For who could ever learn to love a Fae beast?

Chapter Text

“But I wanna go too!” Ziggy whines for the eighth time that morning. “I’m big enough to go on an adventure! I promise!

Stephanie feels genuinely sorry they have to leave Ziggy behind but it’s a relief to not have to worry about their youngest friend while hiking through the woods. “It’s just for today, Ziggy,” she soothes. Beside her, Trixie is stuffing rocks into Stingy’s pack while Stingy and Pixel are consulting Pixel’s map of the forest.

Today the Lazy Scouts are going on a hike through the woods alone. The weather is warm, no hint of rain, and all their parents had finally said yes to their constant begging. Ziggy, not even 10 yet, was not allowed to go.

“It’s alright, Ziggy!” Sportacus says, picking up Stingy’s bag with one hand and dumping the rocks out of it. “You and I get to spend the day together! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Ziggy pouts. “I guess…”

Stephanie ruffles his hair. “We’ll bring you back a cool present. Okay?”

“Yeah!” Says Trixie. “Like a snake! Or a fuzzy spider!”

Ziggy squeaks at the mention of spiders and clutches Stephanie’s arm. “You really think you’ll see all that stuff in the forest?”

Trixie nods, smiling like shark smelling blood. “Oh yeah. You never know what’s in an old forest. We might find bears! Or man-eating plants! Or a house made of candy with a mean witch inside!”

Ziggy squeaks again and hides behind Stephanie as if to distance himself from the woods as much as possible. “Don’t bring me back a witch!”

“Trixie! You’re scaring him!” Stephanie admonishes.

“If he’s scared he won’t wanna go, right?”

It makes a good amount of sense but Stephanie still doesn’t feel right about it. Luckily Sportacus speaks up before she can make that moral decision. “Do you all have everything?” he asks, looking at everyone in turn. “Maps? Water? Snacks? Bug spray?”

“Check, check, check, and check!” Pixel beams as he holds up his backpack. It’s bigger than everyone else’s and has more wires poking out. “I also have a GPS, emergency flares, gloves, and an extra pair of shoes. And I brought a tent too!”

Stingy huffs. “Pixel, we’re not moving out there.” Then he looks worried. “We’re not, right? I only packed two outfits! Should I get more?!”

“What you have is fine,” Sportacus assures him with a chuckle.

“What you have is overkill,” Trixie mutters under her breath.

Soon everyone is ready. The four friends stand on the edge of the forest, brimming with excitement at their solo journey. Behind them, Ziggy stands with Sportacus and Uncle Milford. All three are waving, even if Ziggy still looks downcast. “Be careful!” Uncle calls.

“We will!” Stephanie promises. Then they are off.

The Lazytown Forest is immense. Tall trees thick with squirrels and birds tower above the kids, casting interesting shadows. At one point a groundhog ambles by, paying them no heed. Pixel takes a couple photos and Trixie tries following it before Stephanie reminds her to stick to the group.

Their trail briefly follows a creek before it curves away from them but that doesn’t stop Stephanie from leaning over the water to see if there are any fish. They spent a good while trying to catch minnows. By the time they hit the trail again, everyone is soaked to the knee. Pixel swaps out his shoes with a smug expression.

For a few hours it is very relaxed. Trixie catches bugs, Stingy keeps picking up branches to use as walking sticks and declaring them his and his alone until discarding them for another ‘better’ branch, Pixel tries to identify birds that pass overhead, Stephanie leads them all in song every once in a while.

Around midafternoon, the sound of animals fades until they don’t even hear birdsong anymore. It also begins to get cold. Stephanie rubs her arms and pulls out a light jacket she had packed. Pixel slips on some gloves with a prideful smirk.

They start to see their breath in the air. Little by little, snow appears in the forest around them until the trail is covered in the stuff. The trees are bare and don’t look anything like the early summer trees the kids had seen at the entrance to the woods.

Stingy has his arms wrapped around himself, staring around in a mix of awe and alarm. “Should we go back?” He asks, looking to Stephanie. 

“No way!” Trixie interrupts. “I wanna see where this snow is coming from!” She charges ahead, stumbling very so often on the icy snow. The path has started to slope upward.

Pixel had pulled out his maps once they saw their first snow flake and now is flipping through them wildly. “I don’t know where we are. And my GPS isn’t working.” He taps the screen on his wrist with a frown.

An uneasy feeling is creeping up Stephanie’s spine but then Trixie stops in her tracks at the top of the hill and breathes out a “Wow…” Stephanie jogs up the meet her and freezes at the sight below them.

The forest ends there, at the top of the hill, and opens up to an enormous castle. It looks like it leapt out of one of Ms. Busybody’s fairytale books: pointed turrets, a door that Sportacus’ airship could have fit through, more windows than Stephanie can count; and in front of it all, a sprawling garden covered in snow.  In the sun, it looks almost like crystal. There are small archways, low hedges, and wide staircases leading up to the castle. 

The boys catch up to Stephanie and Trixie and then they too are staring opened mouthed at what looks like a snowy kingdom.

“It’s like a movie set!” Pixel exclaims, running down the hill.

“Do you think the forest is like Neverland?!” Stephanie starts after him with an excited grin. “All the season all at once?!”

“Maybe it’s like Narnia!” Stingy says, running to keep up with them. “Maybe we can be royalty here for real!”

Trixie sprints far in front of them all. “Who cares?! I bet I get there first!”

That starts them on an honest race towards the open gate to the castle grounds. It’s not so cold out here where there aren’t any trees to block the still-warm sun. There are hundreds of hedges, marking where the front garden raises or lowers. The children have fun running between them. After a while they beg Pixel for some of his spare gloves, which he gives them in exchange for their promise to let him pick teams for a snowball fight.

Trixie and Pixel soundly beat Stingy and Stephanie. Covered in snow and cold, Stingy bites out a command for everyone to have lunch. They eat their snacks quickly. The novelty of snow in summer has yet to wear off and they go back to playing right away.

It isn’t until the sun is low in the sky that Stephanie ventures closer to the castle. She stares up at its large metal door, its stain glass windows, its wide staircase. The door looks partially open, revealing a messy looking room. It doesn’t look like anyone lives there.

Unnerved, Stephanie hurries back to her friends. “Maybe we should get going,” she says, coming back to them in time to watch them finishing a snowman.

Trixie looks at the sky. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” She knocks the head off the snowman and turns towards the forest.

Stingy glares at her before kicking snow in her direction in revenge. “Do you think we should bring back snow for Ziggy?” Stephanie asks Pixel. Trixie and Stingy are now snow wrestling beside him, which is the same as regular wrestling only with more snow being stuffed down shirts.

Pixel frowns. “How could we do that?”

“Oh, yeah. It’ll melt once we get back to summer.” Stephanie scratches her head. “Is there anything else we can bring back?”

Leaving the other two fighting on the ground, Pixel and Stephanie split up. As far as Stephanie can see, there is only snow, snow, some hedges, and more snow. On the left side of the grounds, she spies an archway that leads to a small area with four low walls. Frost covered vines stretch from one end of the walls to another, as well as over the archway. Something in the vines glimmers in the dying sun.

A single rose. It is small, but the color is so eye catching Stephanie finds herself staring at it. Maybe that would be a good souvenir! Ziggy likes growing sports candy but doesn’t think flowers are worth it. Maybe this would change his mind. Standing on her tip toes, Stephanie reaches up and plucks the rose. She brings it close to inspect it, mindful of the thorns.

“You brats,” growls a voice. Stephanie jumps, turning in a circle to try and locate the voice. “First you disturb my garden, then you make all that noise, and then you steal from me?”

“I-I wasn’t stealing!” Stephanie says, voice high and scared. She backs up until she’s against the archway. Someone lands in the snow in front of her with a crunch. In the shadow of the arch, she can’t make out a face. But the being is tall, covered in fur— and mad.

“Don’t lie to me, brat!” The creature spits. “You took something from my land. What do you call that?!”

Stephanie is too terrified to answer. Tears are welling up in her eyes and she screams as the creature grabs her arm. She can hear her friends calling for her; they’re close. Too close. Stephanie kicks at the creature, calling back behind her as loud as she can. “RUN! GET SPORTACUS!”

Chapter Text

The sun is nearly below the horizon and a tight knot of worry has long since settled in Sportacus’ gut. He has wondered, more than once, what the range of his crystal is. If something happened to the kids in the woods, would he know? He looks down at his crystal’s casing and taps it. Nothing.

“And— done!” Ziggy declares next to him. Sportacus snaps back to the moment at hand and smiles down at Ziggy’s progress. Being the only child in Lazytown for the day, he let Ziggy pick all their activities. Currently they were weeding the kids’ gardens. Ziggy seems to enjoy the repetition as well as the feeling of being helpful.

Ziggy claps his hands together to get rid of the dirt and looks around the darkening sky. “Do you think they’ll be back soon?” he asks with a frown.

Sportacus ruffles his hair reassuringly. “I’m sure they are on their way back now.” Ziggy grins and starts to clean up the gardening tools.

Sometimes Sportacus finds himself wanting more excitement in Lazytown. It’s good to help the kids stay active and he’s glad he can be there to stop them skateboarding into fences or falling out of trees. But he always feels like he can do more. That his life can be part of something bigger.

Just then, there is the crunch of leaves under sneakers and Sportacus and Ziggy turn to find three figures running at them. Stingy stops when he gets close enough and leans against a tree, panting for breath. Pixel stumbles to the ground, clutching his side. Trixie runs straight at Sportacus and wraps her arms around his middle. She cries into his vest, shaking, and he holds her automatically. Her out-of-character behavior makes the knot in his chest heavy. 

“What’s happened? Are you okay?” He looks at Stingy and Pixel. Pixel gives a thumbs up. Stingy seems too concentrated on catching his breath to answer. The nod against his chest tells him Trixie is okay.

“Where’s Stephanie?!” Ziggy squeaks next to Sportacus.

“S-she— Something t-took her!” Trixie wails.

Sportacus gingerly pries her arms off him and kneels down to her level. “Tell me what happened,” he states gently but firmly.

Trixie rubs her eyes before replying. “W-we were playing, and it was really cold, and she was screaming, and she told us to run, and-and—” New tears well up in her eyes. Sportacus puts his hands on her shoulders and tells her to breathe. He stands up, letting Ziggy take over the job of comforting her.

Pixel has finally stood up. Sportacus addresses him and Stingy. “Stephanie was taken?” He prompts.

Stingy is wringing his hands, casting worried looks off towards the forest. For the first time, Sportacus notices the children’s attire. They are soaked from the knees down. All three are wearing the spare gloves Pixel had shown him before they left. “We followed the path,” Pixel explains. “We found this… cold place. It was really cold.” He frowns, like it’s a memory that’s hard to recall. Then his eyes light up. “It was in front of a big castle.”

“A castle?” Sportacus looks at the other two. Trixie is nodding, Ziggy’s arm around her. “A castle in the forest?”

“Yeah!” Stingy says, now bouncing on his toes in urgency. “Yeah! It was a huge castle! And we were playing in front of it! It was snowing!”

Ziggy gasps. “Snowing? In summer?! I wish I coulda gone!”

“We were just looking for something to give you,” Pixel says, “but then Stephanie— she was screaming. We ran over to her and this… this thing grabbed her and she told us run.”

Well, that confirms Sportacus’ fears about his crystal. “I’m going to find her.” Sportacus says.

“I’m coming with you!”

“No, Ziggy, you stay here.”

“But I had to stay behind this morning!” Ziggy whines. “Can’t I come just this once?”

Trixie clutches Ziggy’s arm, eyes wide with fear. “You do not wanna mess with this thing, Ziggy.”

Sportacus orders everyone to get back home and stay inside. Pixel lives closest to the Meanswell house so Sportacus asks him to tell the Mayor what happened before going straight home. Then he takes off into the woods.

The approaching night has turned the forest into a den of shadows and glowing animal eyes. Sportacus tries not to pay attention to this as he speeds along the trail. There is no hint of the cold the kids spoke of. It may be evening but summer heat continues to saturate the air. Sweat trickles down Sportacus’ neck as he runs, jumping over roots and rabbit holes.

After passing a stream, he notices the feeling of the forest begin to shift. What was once a calm summer night, though tinged with his anxiety, is now too still. Moss replaces leaves on the tree branches before they are bare entirely. Snow crunches underfoot. The ominous glow of animal eyes is gone and a chill now sticks to Sportacus’ sweaty skin.

Near the top of a hill, the cold becomes more apparent. The trees are gone now. As he crests the top, Sportacus can see what the kids were talking about.

The kids were not kidding about a castle. It’s large and imposing, making Sportacus freeze and stare. What would possess them to play near it? Maybe they couldn’t sense the magic around this place but Sportacus can. It’s subtle, he’ll give it that, but it’s obvious something happened here. The castle itself is almost completely dark, even though night has truly fallen.

A single window at the top of a tower is lit up. Sportacus takes a breath of bracing winter air and runs for the gate. As soon as he steps into the front garden, his crystal blares and flashes. “I know,” Sportacus says, placing a hand over the casing. “I’m coming, Stephanie. Just hold on.”

The front doors are closed but not locked. Sportacus opens them cautiously. The room beyond is dusty; broken bits of furniture are piled on one side, though most things are in working order. Odd. A castle this size would have maids or a butler of some kind. But the room is deserted. There’s no one in the next few halls Sportacus passes by either. He shakes his head. He’s not here to judge a castle. He’s here to save his friend. He needs to head up to that window.

He makes his way to the bottom of a grand staircase. Even with his superior night vision, the stairs fade into darkness. Suddenly, a sconce on the wall beside him flares to life. Sportacus jumps back in surprise as more light up, trialing up the stairs like will-o’-wisps. A slow turn in places reveals nothing; no one is close enough to have lit that first sconce, and there is no movement to suggest someone ran ahead to light the others.

“Thank you,” he says slowly into the darkness. He hears a chuckle but decides not the waste any more time. Quickly but cautiously, Sportacus begins to climb the stairs. He follows the torches floor after floor until they stop at a thick metal door. Thankfully he doesn’t have to figure out how to unlock it— someone has left it ajar so he merely taps it open with his boot.

Beyond the door is a narrow, winding stair that seems to curl up to the top of the tower. After a few steps, Sportacus can see a faint light ahead and slows his pace, ready for anything. He belatedly wonders how he can get Stephanie out of this place. Can he find his way back out of the castle without the sconces lit? Or are they still lit below him?

First things first. Sportacus steels himself and runs the rest of the way up the stairs. It doesn’t take long to reach the window he saw earlier. It’s bracketed by two torches and shows the snowy, moonlit grounds outside. The outer wall is crumbled further up the stairs on the side of the tower Sportacus couldn’t see from the ground. Snowflakes drift in the large gap and dot the steps. Sportacus doesn’t pay it much attention as he realizes what’s across from the window.

Thick metal bars make up a four foot high door. On the other side of the door is a small circular room. There is a figure curled up on the far side of the room, pink and shaking. “Stephanie?” Sportacus kneels and wraps a hand around the bars.

Stephanie lifts her head. Her face is pale, her lips blue, and they crack as she sees him and smiles. “S-Sportacus!”

“Stephanie, come here. Can you move?” He reaches through the bars, holding out his hand. There’s no clear lock on the door and frankly he has no lock picking experience to speak of anyway.

Gingerly, Stephanie crawls along the ground and takes his hand. He pulls her lightly so she’s up against the bars, same as him. “Tell me what happened,” he says, taking both her hands in his. He mutters a spell that got him through the harsh winters of his childhood and hero training as she talks. Apart from the cold, she seems unharmed.

“I w-wanted to take a flower home for Z-Ziggy. It was a really p-pretty rose. Then this… t-t-thing came out of n-nowhere.” Stephanie sighs as warmth spreads from his hands to hers. “It told me I was stealing. I warned the others and then it dragged me up here.”

“Have you seen anyone else?”

“No. It dumped me in here and locked the door and left.” Some color has returned to Stephanie’s face now. The shaking has lessened considerably. Her eyes widen. “Are Stingy, Trixie, and Pixel okay?”

“They are fine,” Sportacus soothes. “They made it back to town safely.”

Stephanie sighs again, sagging against the bars with relief. Then she straightens, alert. “We have to move. It could be back any second.”

“But what is it—”

He’s cut off by a low growl. Stephanie gasps and scrambles back, wrenching her hands from Sportacus’. Sportacus turns and sees the creature further up the stairs.

It’s just far enough from the light of the sconces that Sportacus can’t make it out clearly. But it is tall, with an impressive silhouette and bright purple eyes.

Arms crossed, it says, “Another intruder in my home?”

“Who are you?” Sportacus asks, standing up. He’s nowhere near as tall as this creature, especially when it’s a few steps above him, but Sportacus is confident in his abilities.

The creature scoffs. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You did just break into my home.”

“The door was open,” Sportacus can’t help but point out. That earns him another growl. “I am Sportacus. Stephanie is under my protection. Let her go.”

“This girl and her friends ruined my yard, woke me up with their racket, and she stole from me!” The creature stomps its foot. “I will not be letting her go! Someone has to pay for this.”

Sportacus is about to point out that she’s a child and shouldn’t be held in a dungeon for things like that when an oppressive magic swirls around them. It isn’t just this creature holding Stephanie here. Something in the castle’s magic is interfering.

“Let me take her home. Then we will return to—”

“You will not return. And don’t try to give me your word,” the creature snarls. “I don’t trust the word of an Elf.”

There is a cough from the cell and Sportacus looks down to see Stephanie shivering again. Without Sportacus’ warming spell, she has only her summer hiking outfit for protection. “She can’t stay here!” Sportacus waves a hand at her, glaring up at the creature. “She can’t stay in the cold like this!”

The creature growls again, but Sportacus sees its gaze flicker towards Stephanie and its purple eyes soften slightly. Then it looks away almost mournfully. “That is not my fault.”

Frustrated, Sportacus kneels again and takes Stephanie’s hands. She smiles weakly at him. “I’m sorry for all this, Sportacus.”

He squeezes her hands. “There is nothing to be sorry for.” Squaring his shoulders, Sportacus turns back to the creature. It is watching the pair of them from the shadows, unmoved. “Take me instead.” Sportacus says.

“No!”

“You would trade yourself for the brat?” 

“Yes.” Sportacus forces himself not to look at Stephanie. “I will take her punishment.” 

The creature hums. “If you take her place, you will not be allowed to leave the castle grounds until you’ve served your sentence. You will stay here. With me.” It says the last part like it’s the most horrible aspect of the agreement.

“Sportacus, you can’t!” Stephanie interjects. Her hands tug away from his and she wraps them around the bars, bringing her face closer. “Just go! I’ll be okay!” She is interrupted by a series of coughs.

“Let me see you,” Sportacus says to the creature. After a moment’s pause, it steps forward.

He is tall, very tall, with a long pale face and dark hair obscured by the collar of a fur cloak. He growls again, revealing pointed teeth. His eyes are an unnatural purple. A fine purple silk is tied to one side around his waist and nearly covers the stripped pants underneath. A silk shirt with a striped vest overtop covers his torso. He has high cheek bones, a pronounced chin, and shiny black boots.

He is also clearly Fae. It doesn’t match the magic surrounded the castle but this creature is definitely Fae, wild as he seems. It is unnerving; as far as Sportacus is aware there are no Fae around Lazytown. Sportacus is the most magical creature for miles. He’s checked. It’s one thing for a whole castle in the middle of the forest to exist without his knowledge, but a clearly powerful Fae?

Sportacus chances a glance at Stephanie. She is staring up at the Fae, little quick clouds of cold breath puffing out from her lips. Now is not the time to ponder this. Sportacus lifts his chin. “I will take her place.”

“Done.”

In an instant, the creature pushes past Sportacus and swings the cell open. He grabs Stephanie by the upper arm and whistles sharply. Stephanie is shaking, though whether it’s from fear or cold, Sportacus doesn’t know. She reaches out for him and he takes her hand, starting the warming process again. “D-Don’t do this!” She cries through chattering teeth. “Lazytown needs you!”

“It needs you more,” he says. At the bottom of the stairs, he hears the sound of metal tapping on stone as something bounds towards them. “I’ll be fine,” Sportacus promises, speaking fast. “Tell the others—”

He doesn’t get to finish. Around the corner comes a large mechanical dog. Its back and ears are made with a soft purple material while the rest of it is grey metal. It stops before them. The Fae picks up Stephanie, ripping her from Sportacus, and places her onto the dog as if it is a horse. “Take her to the far edge of the forest,” the Fae orders. The dog lets out a sharp bark, turns, and runs down the stairs.

Sportacus takes a step to go after it— Stephanie is so obviously scared— but the Fae pushes Sportacus backwards into the cell, slamming the door shut.

Chapter Text

Robbie has not had such an exhausting day in years. First the four little intruders, and now a Sports Elf. A Sports Elf who is now practically a permanent guest. How did he even make it this far into the castle?

After throwing Sportacus into the girl’s old cell, Robbie turns and stomps down the steps, intent on seeing Sugar Pie to the gate. He is stopped at the entrance to the tower by a glaring Glanni.

“Move,” Robbie demands.

“Are you seriously going to leave him up there?” Glanni asks, with a tone that suggests ‘yes’ is not the correct answer.

Robbie gestures behind him. “Am I supposed to let him just walk around?”

“We finally have a chance to break this curse and you’re going to leave him up in the prison tower?”

“… I wasn’t going to leave him up there forever.”

“Robbie, you said he had to stay here until the debt was payed,” Glanni says, arms crossed. “He’ll be here a while. Why not give him an actual room?”

“How do you— wait, did you lead him up here?” Robbie sputters.

“Not important.”

From above them, Robbie hears a quiet “I didn’t get to say goodbye…” The broken words echo faintly down the stairs and hit Robbie right in the chest.

He glares at Glanni, who grins. Without a word to his cousin, Robbie turns and marches back up the stairs. Clearly Sportacus thought Robbie had left. It’s obvious he had been crying but as Robbie stops before the cell door Sportacus gets to his feet and stands at the ready, running a hand down his face to chase away the red from his eyes.

Robbie unlocks the door and opens it. He doesn’t wait for Sportacus to move before he starts slowly making his way down the stairs again. “Follow me,” he says.

“Where are we going?”

“Your room.”

“My… room?”

Robbie tosses a flat look over his shoulder. “Unless you’ve grown attached to the tower.”

Sportacus takes the steps two at a time to catch up to Robbie. Without a word, Robbie leads them out of the tower and into the hallway. Glanni is nowhere to be seen. Not to say he isn’t there, just that Robbie cannot see him.

The pair walk along in silence for a time. Robbie goes at a measured pace, letting Sportacus observe the castle around them. He chances a glance out of the corner of his eye. Sportacus is indeed taking in his new surroundings, but occasionally he sniffs. Guilt tries to leak into Robbie but he refuses. It’s hardly his fault the Elf decided to be selfless.

Something pokes him in the ribs and Robbie turns his head to find Glanni semi-translucent beside him. Glanni jerks his head towards Sportacus, a message in his eyes.

With a gulp, Robbie looks back at Sportacus. “I… hope you like it here.” Wow that sounded bad. He keeps going regardless. “Feel free to go anywhere you like. Except for the West Wing.”

Sportacus’ voice is hoarse when he asks, “What’s in the West Wing?”

“It’s forbidden.” Robbie winces as his voice bounces around the empty hall. He hadn’t meant to snap. But Sportacus does not flinch. He simply nods his understanding at Robbie, as if he is a solider accepting orders.

Not wanting to say anything else wrong, Robbie doesn’t speak again until they reach the room he intends for Sportacus. Glanni snickers quietly to himself the whole way. Either Sportacus is too mournful to notice or he simply assumes it’s one of the strange noises in the castle.

“This will be your room as long as you’re here.” Robbie opens the door. The sconces in the room beyond immediately light, making the place look more inviting than the rest of the castle. “My servants will attend you.”

“Thank—” Sportacus snaps his mouth shut and gulps. “Okay.” He steps into the room.

Robbie feels another nudge to his side and shoots Glanni an annoyed look. Glanni, long used to the expression, mouths “Dinner.”

“You— I will send someone to bring you to dinner,” Robbie says in a rush. “Be ready in an hour.” Then he slams the door shut and stalks away.

Glanni becomes fully visible and steps in front of Robbie, blocking his path again. “You’re acting like you want to remain cursed.”

“Give me some credit. I haven’t spoken to anyone but you all in years.”

“But that was abysmal! I refuse to believe any relative of mine can’t be charming.”

“It’s hard,” Robbie whines. And it is. Apart from the girl, he hasn’t spoken anyone outside the castle in a long time. Did he even want to make that Elf like him?

Glanni smacks him upside the head. “You’re over-thinking, I can tell.”  

Robbie rubs the spot and growls. “When will you remember that you’re technically my servant?”

“When you remember that you’re supposed to be a prince.”

“Go get dinner ready.”

Glanni dips into a mocking bow and walks off.

As soon as the door closes, Sportacus sinks against it. Out of sight of the Fae, he lets himself feel his situation.

Stephanie is safe. All the kids are. Once the adults hear what happened to them, they won’t let the kids into the woods alone again. The Fae won’t be able to take any of them again.

Still.

Sportacus is trapped here. For however long it takes to fill the debt.

Which, given how long Fae and Elves live for, can be very long indeed.

Sportacus curls his knees to his chest and lays his head on them. He takes slow breaths, letting out the occasional sob.

“… Hello.”

In one motion, Sportacus jumps to his feet and puts up his hands, ready to be surrounded by more Fae. Instead, in the middle of the room— his room, now— is a girl.

The girl looks to be only a bit older than Pixel. Perhaps 12 or 13. She has short brown hair tied off to one side and wears a dress that falls to her knees, revealing black boots. She watches him, not moving.

Sportacus runs a hand down his face to chase away the last of his tears. “Hello. Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s okay. I was just making sure the room was warm for you.”

“Oh.” For the first time, Sportacus looks around his room. It is circular, with a king sized bed in the middle and an extravagant rug covering the floor. One wall is taken up by windows while the opposite side holds a crackling fire place. The girl stands beside the fire place holding a log. Next to her is a thin set of double doors that presumably leads to a closet.

Before he can ask her name, there is a knock from the closet. “Pen? Is he there yet? I thought I heard Master’s voice.”

The girl closes her eyes and sighs in annoyance before opening the closet. A teen boy stumbles out. He wears green slacks, a yellow long sleeved shirt with a thin green tie, and a green knit hat over blond hair.

“Um, hello,” Sportacus repeats, at a loss.

“Sup,” says the teen, getting to his feet. “Sorry to bust in on you like this.”

“It’s… fine.” Sportacus clears his throat. “Who are you?”

“I’m Jives. This is Penny.” Penny dips into a small curtsey. “We came to see if you needed anything. As our new guest.”

“Well, only guest,” Penny remarks. Jives shrugs.

Sportacus wants to point out that he had his back to the door the whole time and there was no way they could have gotten into the room without him knowing but he lets it go. “I’m Sportacus. Thank you for checking on me but I’m fine for now.”

Penny steps forward and takes his hand with a determined frown. “You’re not fine. You were crying a second ago.”

“N-No, I was—”

But she is already tugging him towards a door behind his bed. “Splash some water on your face. You’ll feel better.”

He is so used to Stephanie bossing him around that Sportacus lets himself be pulled. “Alright. That sounds like a good idea.”

She smiles up at him as they reach the door. Beyond it is a small bathroom. She lets go of his hand. “You clean yourself up. We’ll pick out an outfit for you for dinner.”

Upon hearing the words, Jives grins and runs straight for the tall wardrobe in the corner. “Oh man, we gotta make sure you look good. First impressions are important.”

Penny clicks her tongue. “Little late for first impressions but you’re right. Better to get them started on a better foot.”

Sportacus steps into the bathroom and takes a look at himself in the mirror. He looks about as bad as he feels. No wonder Penny pushed him in here. His eyes are red, both from crying and rubbing them. His cheeks are red as well from running through the cold. The hair visible from under his hat is wet with melted snow. Frost still clings to his goggles. Leaning down over the sink, he splashes himself with warm water, washing away the drying tear tracks and forcing away his anguish for the moment.

A few minutes later, he steps back into the room to find Penny and Jives arguing over a belt. They are older than the children of Lazytown but he still feels a pang of longing, thinking of Trixie and Stingy bickering the same way.

He steps forward and gently takes the black belt from them. “Thank you both, really. You have been very helpful and welcoming.” He sets the belt down on the bed. “But I will not be going to dinner.”

They stare at him. Then they stare at each other. Then back to him. “B-But you gotta eat!” Jives cries.

“Master Robbie said you had to go!” Penny points out.

“If you don’t he’ll be real mad.”

“And if he’s mad he breaks things.”

“He hurts you?!” Sportacus asks in alarm.

Penny and Jives both look surprised. “What? Never,” Penny assures him.

Jives shrugs. “He just knocks over stuff or sulks in his room. He’s not fun when he’s in a bad mood.”

Relief courses through Sportacus. He sits heavily in the bed. It’s soft, probably softer than the bed in his ship. His chest tightens, thinking of his airship sitting up above Lazytown waiting for him.

“If you two don’t mind,” he says, “I would like to be alone. It’s been a long night.” They exchange glances again.

Jives nods. Penny curtseys again. “We’ll see you at dinner,” she says. Her tone begs him not to argue so he lets them leave without comment. “Pay up,” Penny mutters to Jives once their backs are turned. “I told you.” Jives grumbles and hands her a few coins.

As soon as the door shuts behind them, Sportacus lays down on the bed. He really doesn’t feel like eating. He’s worried about Lazytown. He’s mad at the Fae. He’s confused as to how two teens started working in this big empty castle.

Needless to say, his stomach is in knots. He doesn’t even feel like having an apple.

Alone, he lies on the bed— his bed— and lets himself think.

The robot-dog runs fast through the cold night. The wind whips snow in Stephanie’s face and she shuts her eyes tight. Tears freeze on her cheeks. If only she hadn’t picked that stupid flower! If only they hadn’t found this castle! If only they hadn’t gone on that dumb Lazy Scouts hike!

She should be at home in bed right now, tired from telling Uncle about their adventure over dinner. Instead she is sitting astride a massive dog, tired from escaping a monster in a castle. And Sportacus…

Suddenly, the dog leaps. Stephanie wraps her arms around its neck to stay on. When it lands, the air feels warmer. The summer forest melts the snow that had covered her back during the ride. Ripe green leaves replace barren tree branches, the hard icy ground turns into soft soil and a well-walked path.

Still the dog races on. Stephanie tries to look behind them to catch one last glimpse of the castle, of Sportacus’ new prison, but it is gone too quickly. All she sees is thick woods.

By the time they stop at the end of the trail, Stephanie is too exhausted to cry anymore. She expects the dog to just dump her there and run off. Instead, it lets out a howl. It keeps howling until the light in her uncle’s house turns on. As soon as the door flies open, the robot-dog crouches down so Stephanie can climb off.

“Thank you,” she finds herself saying. The dog licks her face, turns, and takes off into the forest.

“Stephanie?” A flashlight shines on her. Uncle Milford stands in his pajamas, dark circles under his eyes and disbelief on his face. “Stephanie!”

“Uncle!”

She takes a step forward, sees him lower the flashlight and run towards her, hears other voices crying her name as more flashlights join them—

Then everything goes dark.

Chapter Text

Robbie paces before the hearth in the small dining room. The fire is crackling merrily in sharp contrast to its owner’s mood. Robbie had pulled on what he considered his best fur cloak but other than that he looks much the same as an hour ago. The table behind Robbie is littered with food; warm stew, fresh bread, various jams, a few bottles of cream, and a bowl of cut peaches. In the middle rests a sizeable cake topped with chocolate frosting. Not knowing what his guest liked, Robbie had asked his cook to provide lots of different foods so there would be at least one thing Sportacus would eat.

Except Sportacus has yet to arrive.

Robbie whips around to look at Glanni. “I said an hour, right?”

Glanni, leaning back in a chair with a boot propped on the table and examining the nails on one hand, nods.

“So where is he?!”

“Maybe you can take this time to chill?” Jives suggests casually. When Robbie glares at him, he takes a step back. “I mean, you want him to like you, right? You might not wanna be mad when he shows up.”

Next to him, Penny brightens. “Jives is right!” She marches up to Robbie with her typical lack of fear. “Stand up straight!” She orders. “But smile, like you’re welcoming him in.”

“Try and say something funny too,” Jives suggests. Robbie nods, still trying to figure out how to smile without looking like shark.

“But nothing too snarky!” Adds Penny.

“Laugh at his jokes.”

“Try to understand his position.”

“Yeah, don’t make him talk if he doesn’t want to.”

“Be yourself!”

“But not… too yourself.”

“Most importantly,” Glanni says without looking up, “control your fucking temper.”

Robbie, who has become increasingly frustrated with the directions, stamps his foot and all but roars as his cousin. Is it really his fault he has no idea how to act with people since the curse?!

Well— yes, but that’s beside the point.

Across the dining room, the door creaks open. All eyes turn towards it. Panic thunders through Robbie and he pins up what he hopes looks like a welcoming smile.

His face falls when Ella is revealed. The girl is wearing her favorite purple dress and lavender tights. Today she went with her black ballet flats. She stares around at them, then waves hello.

Robbie marches up to her, his cloak billowing dramatically. “Where is he?” He demands.

Ella’s eyes dart behind him to Jives and Penny before she signs two words: “Not coming.”

“WHAT?!”

The doors fly back open as Robbie races through them. He doesn’t usually run around his castle. He doesn’t usual run period but this Elf has officially pissed him off. Robbie was making an effort for Spirit’s sake!

He can hear hurried footsteps behind him but doesn’t slow down until he reaches the door. He pounds hard against it three times. “I thought I told you to come to dinner!”

The muffled reply is a stubborn, “I’m not hungry.”

“Of course you’re hungry!” Robbie yells back. “And you will come to dinner right now!”

“Master, stop… stop yelling!” Jives calls at the others catch up. Jives and Penny are out of breath. Glanni strolls up at a leisurely pace. Ella simply stands stone faced.

“You should… you should try being nicer!” Penny gasps out.

Robbie takes a deep breath and casts his eyes to the ceiling for a moment. “But he is being annoying.”

Penny leans a hand against the wall. “Just… just act like… like a gentleman.”

Robbie huffs. He looks at the door. With a long-nailed hand he reaches up and taps lightly at the door. “Will you come down for dinner?” He asks softly.

“No.”

Robbie doesn’t need the meaningful look from Jives to follow up. Even though the Elf can’t see it, Robbie dips into a low bow. “It would be my honor if you would join me.”

“Please,” signs Ella.

“Please,” Robbie repeats.

“No thank you.” The Elf stresses the last two words like he’s mocking Robbie and that’s the last straw.

“FINE!” Robbie shouts. “FINE! You know what?! Stay in there and starve!” He slashes at the door, digging five long scrapes into the wood. 

He whirls around, gritting his teeth in anger. Jives and Penny jump backwards in fright. Even Ella takes a step back. Behind them, Glanni sends an annoyed look at the door. Whether he’s annoyed at the occupant or the damage, Robbie doesn’t care. “He’s going to eat with me or not at all,” he declares in a growl. “Let me know the minute he tries to leave. Even Elves have to eat sometime.”

Jives, Penny, and Ella all nod at him. Robbie stomps past them down the hall. As he rounds the corner he can hear Glanni say, “Well that went about as badly as it could have.”

Robbie marches all the way back to the small dining room, takes the chocolate cake, and makes his way to the West Wing of the castle.

Sportacus doesn’t leave the room that night. Or the next night.

The third afternoon, there is a soft knock at the door. He expects it to be Penny or Jives, who are taking turns convincing him to come out. To his surprise, he hears the gruff voice of the Fae.

“You really aren’t going to come out, are you?”

Sportacus doesn’t answer. Currently, he has just finished 1,000 push-ups and is laying on his back as far from the fireplace as he can, letting sweat soak into the rug.

Outside, he hears an annoyed growl, then a sigh. “Can you at least say something so I know you haven’t died in there?”

Sportacus considers it. “What is your name?” He asks.

“He speaks!” The Fae says mockingly. “Have you found your appetite as well as your voice?”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I will if you eat with me.”

“No.”

“I will not ask nicely again.”

“I do not care.”

There is silence. Sportacus is sure he is about to hear more nails on the door, but instead he just hears stomping down the hall. Still a sign of a strong temper, but curbed somewhat. Whatever that means.

That night, Sportacus receives another visit.

“I’m Robbie.” The voice says in greeting.

Some of Sportacus’ stubbornness fades, surprise taking its place. A Fae giving their real name isn’t common outside their own circles. He hadn’t expected the Fae to actually answer him. ‘Robbie’ sounds like the name of a spoiled child, not a malicious Fae. He gets to his feet, moves over the door, and addresses the handle. “Robbie,” he says, testing the name. “Thank you for visiting me but I am not eating with you.”

“Why not?”

“Because I do not want to.”

“Why don’t you want to?”

Sportacus has to bite his tongue against the dozen or so answers that spring to mind. Robbie kidnapped Stephanie, locked her in a freezing cell, gave Sportacus no choice but to lock himself away instead, told Sportacus to starve when Sportacus wouldn’t cooperate— and he was asking why Sportacus wouldn’t want to eat with him?!

But Sportacus refuses to lose his temper first. “I’m not hungry.”

On the other side of the door, Robbie snorts. “You’re lying.”

Sportacus absolutely is, not that it’s any of Robbie’s business. He rests his head against the door and closes his eyes. “Just leave me alone to starve in peace.”

For a while, Robbie is silent. Sportacus almost thinks he left. Then his hears Robbie mumble something almost too quietly for Sportacus’ ears. It’s soft enough that Sportacus thinks maybe he wasn’t meant to hear it.

“I don’t want you to starve.”

Sportacus doesn’t answer. After a long moment, he hears footsteps fade down the hall outside. Sportacus sinks to his knees and runs a hand through his sweaty hair.

What a confusing creature.

“If he doesn’t give up tonight,” Robbie says the next morning over breakfast, “I’m breaking down the door.”

Jives snorts and covers his mouth.

Robbie narrows his eyes. “What.”

“Nothing just—” Jives giggles. “—the idea of you being able to break down a door.”

Robbie grumbles and swipes a chocolate croissant from the teen’s plate. Jives makes a noise of protest but Robbie stuffs the pastry whole into his mouth. “Mean servants don’t get croissants,” he says, spraying crumbs over the table.

Jives eyes Penny’s plate. She scoots it away from him and resumes eating her eggs. “Can’t we bring him food?” She asks.

“No. I want him to eat with me. Glanni’s right about trying to break the curse. This won’t work if he hates me.”

Ella does not have any food on her plate, though Penny always pours her a glass of orange juice in the mornings. Sometimes it goes untouched. Sometimes Jives drinks it throughout the meal to give the illusion that Ella has had breakfast with them. She signs, “How will starving him make him like you?”

“I don’t want to starve him,” Robbie says. “But otherwise what’s going to motivate him to come out?”

“You could try being nice,” Jives points out.

“I did,” Robbie grumbles as he sips his chocolate milk. He sits at the head of the table with Penny and Jives on either side of him. Jives sits next to Ella. Glanni sits on the other end of the table. His plate is empty but he clutches his coffee mug like he’s trying to strangle it. Glanni is not a morning person.

Glanni snorts. “I wasn’t there yesterday but I highly doubt you were.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Past experience.”

“You went to see him yesterday?” Penny asks, eyes round.

Robbie doesn’t look at her, choosing instead to give his full attention to cutting up his chocolate chip pancakes. “Not really. He won’t open the door.”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing mean.”

“But what did you say?” She presses.

Color tinges Robbie’s cheeks and he makes a show of pouring syrup all over his plate. “I told him my name.”

There is a clatter as Jives and Penny both drop their forks. Robbie only looks up when he hears a thunk, a splash, and then Glanni yell, “Fuck!”

Apparently, Glanni had dropped his mug in shock and is now fanning his crotch as hot coffee seeps into his pants. Penny and Jives, long since versed in Fae culture, are staring at Robbie with open mouths. It’s not a flattering look on Jives, whose mouth is full of toast. Ella is giving him a dear-in-the-headlights expression that Robbie rarely sees on her.

Glanni races around to Robbie’s side of the table and grabs his face. “You gave him your name?!” He cries, grinning from ear to ear.

Robbie’s blush deepens. “I-It’s only polite!” He explains quickly. “He told me his and I’m his host or captor or whatever and—”

Glanni squeaks and lets go of Robbie to clap in downright glee, bouncing on his feet. “There’s hope!” He cheers. “You have a soft spot for him! I was ready to give this up but there’s hope!

Robbie covers his face with both hands and groans as his cousin goes on. He can hear Penny and Jives joining in, expressing their happiness that Robbie could be reacting like this to someone.

In truth, Robbie had felt bad about yelling at Sportacus that first night. Recent events being… well, recent, he probably had not liked Robbie too much then. That’s why Robbie had gone to speak with him, thinking Sportacus had maybe cooled off. Elves were friendly creatures that warmed up to people quickly. At least, that’s what Robbie had been taught.

But Sportacus was stubborn. He hadn’t even opened the door a crack! How was Robbie supposed to “woo” Sportacus if the stupid Elf wouldn’t even look at him?!

He lets his hands fall and heaves out a sigh. Penny, Jives, and Glanni are all talking rapidly beside him. Ella’s face has fallen into a soft smile aimed at Robbie. Robbie grimaces back. “Talking to—” she signs a word he doesn’t recognize. “— is a good idea. You should do it again today.”

Robbie raises an eyebrow. “What’s this?” He mimics the sign. The other three are paying attention now as well.

Ella grins. She does the sign again, slowly. She makes the sign for “S” with both hands, then the sign for “Elf”. Then she spells out “S-P-O-R-T-A-C-U-S.”

Now Penny does the clapping thing. “I love that name!” Now all four of his servants are giving Robbie encouraging or hopeful smiles. He doesn’t blame them; this is the best shot at breaking the curse they’ve ever had. That doesn’t stop him from dramatically pushing away from the table and stomping from the room.

Giving one’s real name, especially so easily, was a huge gesture among Fae. Robbie doesn’t know what had possessed him to give Sportacus his but it had gotten the Elf talking so he won’t complain.  Robbie hates the idea of having to open up more to get Sportacus to warm up to him.

No one could survive without food this long. A stab of guilt flares in Robbie’s full stomach. He would be impressed by this show of total stubbornness if it wasn’t totally annoying. If Sportacus doesn’t leave his room today, then Robbie will send breakfast up to him tomorrow.

At the door to Sportacus’ room, Robbie knocks. “Good morning,” he calls. He presses his ear to the door and tries to hear what he can. Ideally the sound for the lock gears moving.

But no, just Sportacus calling back, “Good morning.”

“Sleep well?”

“Yes.”

Robbie hadn’t exactly planned conversation topics so he asks the first thing that comes to mind. “What do you do in there all day?”

“Exercise.”

“Ew.”

There is an abrupt laugh from the other side of the door. “I didn’t ask you to join me!”

“I wouldn’t’ve anyway!”

“Why not?”

Robbie scoffs. “Who needs to get all sweaty and gross? No thanks.”

“Then what do you do all day?”

“I… I mind the castle!” Robbie says. “And I put things together!”

“Put things together?”

“I invent!”

“What do you invent?”

Robbie opens and closes his mouth a few times before giving up. In truth, he hasn’t really tinkered much lately. The weight of the curse is starting to stifle his creativity. “I can show you if you join me for lunch,” he says, trying to steer the conversation to where he wants it.

There is silence on Sportacus’ side. Robbie holds his breath. He made Sportacus laugh, surely that means something.

“No, Robbie.”

Disappointment tempers the anger that rises towards Robbie’s words. “Fine,” he spits, sounding more upset than he would like. “I’ll leave you to exercise then. If you pull a muscle or something, call for me so I can say ‘told you so’.” He waits for a chuckle but there is no sound from the room. With a sigh, Robbie turns and walks back down the hall.

At the top of the stairs, he finds Glanni leaning against the bannister with a fresh cup of coffee in his hands. He raises an eyebrow as Robbie approaches. Robbie shakes his head. “It’s hopeless.”

Glanni narrows his eyes. “You mean you’re hopeless. I’d pour this on you but enough coffee’s been wasted today.” He takes a sip and looks in the direction of Sportacus’ room. “Does he seem familiar to you?”

“Not at all. Why?”

“His accent reminds me of someone…”

Robbie waits but Glanni doesn’t volunteer any more information. He just stares down the hall and flexes his left hand. After a few beats, he shakes himself and smirks at Robbie. “So how did you mess up this time?”

“I did not mess up!”

“Oh my mistake— of course you didn’t mess up! That’s why he’s on your arm waiting to be escorted to the dining room!” He pats Robbie on the back. “Good show, old boy!”

With a growl, Robbie takes off up the stairs towards his room.

Chapter Text

From Sportacus’ room high in the castle, he can look up at the stars and almost pretend he is looking out his airship’s window. Enchanted location or not, the sky at night still looks the same as in Lazytown. It had been a comfort to Sportacus the past few nights. Now however, clouds clog the air. Thick snowflakes fall and cruise the high winds. Even Sportacus, with a natural resistance to the cold, keeps his window shut against the gale. The sheet of grey night outside makes him feel more cut off from the world than ever.

As the clock strikes 8:08, his resolve brakes.

Slowly, trying to minimize creaking, Sportacus opens his bedroom room. Unlike last time, the torches along the hallway don’t ignite to lead the way. They are already lit, as if they have always been waiting for him.

Sportacus softly closes the door behind him, absently noting the claw mark. It feels strange to see surroundings that aren’t his room. Even staring out the window and doing floor exercises has not curbed his restlessness at being cooped up. Everything in the hall, from the rug to the wallpaper, is a welcome sight.

The air in the castle is still and slightly dusty. It could really use a good airing out; though the castle and grounds are in deep winter despite the summer sun hanging over Lazytown, so maybe opening all the windows for a breeze isn’t a viable option.

Sportacus makes it to the bottom of the first staircase before he’s noticed. As he reaches the last step, a mirror beside the stairs swings open to reveal Penny. She closes the mirror with her elbow, her arms busy carrying a basket of what appear to be dirty dishes, and spots Sportacus.

For a second, she looks like she’s about to drop the basket. Then she squeaks, sets the load down, and jumps at him, hugging him around the middle.

“You’re okay!” She cries. “And you’re out!”

Her relief and excitement confuses Sportacus but he pats her head anyway. “Please don’t tell Robbie you saw me,” he can’t help but say.

Penny giggles. “I won’t. I figured you wouldn’t want him to know. And I’m too worried to care about that right now! How are you not dead?!”

“Dead?”

“You haven’t eaten anything in almost four days!”

“Oh. Actually…” he rubs at the back of his neck, suddenly ashamed he had caused her stress. “I had a few extra apples in my backpack so I still ate something. I ran out this morning.”

Penny looks up at him, still hugging him tight. “You like apples?”

Sportacus nods. “They are my favorite.”

A smile lights her face. She steps back, hands behind her back. “Good to know!” Without elaborating, she turns around and picks up the basket. “Follow me. We’ll go to the kitchens and get you a proper meal. I’m so glad you had food in there. I was ready to use the secret passageway to leave food around your room.”

Sportacus, remembering the mirror, wants to talk more about secret passages— but first he lifts the basket from her hands. “Let me.”

“I’ve got it!”

“Consider it a thank you for not telling Robbie about this.”

The smile is back as she leads him down another flight of stairs. “It’s so weird to hear you call him that.”

“Robbie is his name, right?”

“Yeah but the rest of us usually call him Master Robbie. The only one who just says ‘Robbie’ is Glanni.”

“Who?”

“Glanni Glæpur! At your service!” Says a voice to his right.

This time, it’s Sportacus who almost loses his grip on the dishes. He stumbles down two steps before steadying himself and looking around. Beside him stands a tall, thin man. He has a similar chin to Robbie, but with short black hair and hazel eyes that turn a dark shade of purple towards the center. He appears to be wearing a thin, long sleeved black shirt with a pair of dark jeans.

What stands out most is his open pink coat.

Penny stamps her foot. “Don’t scare him like that!”

Glanni lets out a chuckle that makes Sportacus’ ears perk up. “You lit the torches that helped me find Stephanie!” Sportacus says.

“Aw, he remembers me!” Glanni slings an arm around Sportacus’ shoulders. “So as I hear it, we’re not telling Robbie about your breakout, right?”

It is hardly a breakout since the door was unlocked and there were no guards outside but that is beside the point. “How do you know that? And how did you come out of nowhere just now?”

“As head of staff and right-hand Fae to “Master Robbie”, I have to know everything that goes on around here. Sometimes the best way to do so is to remain unnoticed.” He pulls the fuzzy pink coat tighter around himself. “Let’s get going, I could use a hot chocolate.”

The two lead Sportacus down the last of the stairs, around the corner, and through a short hallway. At the end is an open door leading into a dining room. Most of the room is taken up by a long rectangular table surrounded by matching wood chairs. A fireplace sparks to life on the left side of the room. At the other end is another door with a small window; obviously leading to the kitchen.

Penny takes the basket from Sportacus and crosses the room to enter the kitchen. Sportacus follows, Glanni close behind him. The kitchen looks pretty modern compared to the rest of the castle.

Jives is at the sink, scrubbing away. Penny sets the basket down on the counter next to him and he groans. “Come on, Pen! I just finished the pots and pans!” He gestures to his right, where a stack of cookery is precariously balanced. It’s piled comically high to almost brush the ceiling.

“You know they get moldy if we leave them in Master’s room too long,” Penny says, dumping plates and silverware into the sink. “It’s not much tonight anyway.”

Still grumbling, Jives places a frying pan on the stack. The tower sways dangerously. Sportacus hears a familiar chirp and doesn’t even need to look down to know what it is. He dashes forward, grabs Penny and Jives by the collars of their shirts, and pulls them back. The three of them go sprawling to the floor, Glanni jumping backwards out of the room to avoid being knocked over. Pans, pots, mixing bowls, and muffin tins all tumble to the floor. Lids roll away, a stock pot instantly dents upon impact right where Jives had been standing, a cast iron skillet cracks the tile inches from Penny’s foot.

After everything settles, Glanni pokes his head in. “How’re we doing?”

“Fine,” Jives says in a high pitched voice. He gets up and stares at the mess. Then he looks down at Sportacus. “Thanks. That… that was awesome.”

Sportacus stands up and bushes himself off. “You are welcome. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Penny?”

She springs to her feet. “Yup!” With awe in her voice, she says to Sportacus, “That was so cool! You moved so fast!”

Jives sighs heavily, taking in the state of the kitchen. “I’m gonna have to wash it all again, aren’t I?”

“You were going to re-wash some of them anyway,” Penny informs him, walking over to a tall, thin door beside the stove. “We have dinner to prepare!”

Without warning, she pulls the door open. Out slides a man as tall as the door. He looks like a three-dimensional version of a child’s drawing of Robbie in a white apron. His movements are stiff, as robotic as the dog that carried Stephanie away.

Sportacus squints at him. Wait. Is he also a robot?

Glanni rests his elbow on Sportacus’ left shoulder casually. “Yup. He’s a robot. Meet Robo-Rob. Our cook.”

Robo-Rob grins at them all. His teeth are too white, his arms just a bit too long. “Good evening!” He says, his voice coming out a beat after his mouth form the words. “Did someone say dinner?”

“We need dinner for everyone, Rob,” Penny instructs him. “Stoke the fire and break out the silver!”

Alarmed, Jives runs up to Penny. “Remember what Master Robbie said?!” He hisses in her ear. “About Sportacus not eating unless he’s here?”

Penny shrugs him away. “Shut up. I’m not letting him go hungry again.”

“Okay but, do we have to make a big deal out of it?” Jives asks with a pointed look at Robo-Rob, who is getting fine china out of a cabinet.

“Yes we do, Jives,” Glanni says suddenly. He ruffles Sportacus’ hair. “We haven’t been taking the best care of our guest. We must make him feel welcome.”

Before Sportacus knows it, he is turned around and led back into the dining room. Glanni sits him at the head of the table, tells him to relax, and then disappears back into the kitchen. Sportacus contemplates sneaking back inside to watch the robot chef at work but a little thinking space is just what he needs right now anyway.

He glances down at his vest, fingers gliding over the 10. “So you still work?” He asks it. “Well, at least I will not be worthless around here. I can help keep these kids safe.”

Unless Robbie confines him to his room again after this. Sportacus actually shutters at the idea of being locked up again. Sports Elves are not made to stay in one place for long. Even with the half dozen apples he’d found in his pack, staying in that room had been unbearable.

Behind him, the door to the hallway clicks shut. Expecting Robbie, Sportacus jumps to his feet and whips around. Instead of the feral looking Fae, a girl stands just inside the dining room. She is maybe Penny’s height. Her black hair is done up in pigtails. She wears a lavender shirt, a purple mini skirt, white tights, and black flats. She doesn’t look surprised or alarmed by Sportacus’ presents.

“Hello,” Sportacus says. “I’m Sportacus!”

She makes a series of gestures with her hands and then looks at him expectantly.

“Ah, sorry. I don’t know human sign language.”

She nods and walks past him into the kitchen. Moments later, she reenters with Jives. Jives does not seem to be a willing accompaniment. The girl has an iron grip on his sleeve and he is scowling.

She lets go long enough to sign something at Jives. Jives sighs. “Fine but ask next time, ‘kay? You can’t just drag people away.” He turns to Sportacus and clears his throat. “This is Ella,” he says with a wave at the girl. “She welcomes you to the castle and wants to know if she can join you for dinner.”

Sportacus smiles gently and addresses Ella. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I would be happy if you joined me.”

Ella dips into a small curtsy. Sportacus feels compelled to bow in return. The pair sit down at the table, Ella in the second seat on Sportacus’ right. At that moment, Robo-Rob and Penny come out of the kitchen with plates of food.

There’s more than Sportacus thought there would be. But it all looks delicious. Thick slices of baked ham that drip with honey, potatoes with bubbling cheese on top, a bowl of steaming broccoli, two frosted pitchers of cranberry juice, apple tart with a perfect crust, and a three tiered chocolate cake edged with strawberries.

The sight of the table full to bursting with food makes Sportacus’ mouth water. He stares at it all as if he can consume everything with his eyes. A finger poking the side of his head snaps him out of it. Glanni pushes a clean plate into his hands. “Are you waiting for a musical invitation or something? Dig in. Be my guest.”

Sportacus doesn’t need telling twice. He piles his plate high with ham, potatoes, and a generous heap of broccoli. Everyone takes what seem to be their usual seats: Glanni at the opposite head of the table, Jives on Sportacus’ right between him and Ella, and Penny on Sportacus’ left. He belatedly wonders where Robbie usually sits when the first bite of ham hits his tongue and he forgets everything else. He’s not sure if it’s because he hasn’t had real food in almost a week or if Robo-Rob is a fantastic chef but either way he is tempted to asked if he can have a boat of the honey glaze.

Around him, the others take food. Glanni cuts himself a large slice of cake. Jives takes broccoli but everyone else ignores it. Penny pours Ella some juice.

“So?” Penny asks when Sportacus is halfway does with his plate. “How is it?”

Swallowing his mouthful of broccoli, Sportacus manages to say, “Delicious!”

Jives looks smug as he takes a sip of Ella’s juice. “Rob is the best chef. He can make anything.”

“How does he work?” Sportacus asks. “Is he really a robot that just cooks?”

“You’ll have to ask Master if you wanna know exactly how he works but yeah, Rob just cooks.”

Sportacus looks up at the closed kitchen door. “Robbie made him?”

Penny nods. “Yup. He made Sugar Pie too.”

“Who?”

“The dog you met that first night,” Glanni answers. He points under the table as he says that. Sure enough, when Sportacus pulls back the flap of the tablecloth, the mechanical dog is sitting under the table. He has his paws crossed, ears up and alert, looking for all the world like an innocent animal waiting for table scrapes.

Glanni watches Sportacus carefully, as if waiting for a reaction. The memory of Stephanie being taken away on that dog is not a pleasant one. Knowing its name is Sugar Pie does make it seem less fearsome. He just wishes he could tell Stephanie. She might find it funny.

Pushing that aside for now, he takes another spoonful of broccoli. “Who named him Sugar Pie?”

Ella signs something Sportacus still can’t understand. To Sportacus, it looks like she crosses her first two fingers and taps the thumb of the same hand against her forehead. Jives translates before Sportacus can ask. “It was Master. He named all the robots.” He snorts. “At least ‘Ella’ is better than ‘Robo-Rob’.”

Sportacus drops his fork and stares at Jives. “Ella’s a robot too?”

“She was the last one,” Penny says. “Master says he’s run out of parts for more big inventions.”

“Which sucks ‘cause he used to invent stuff all the time,” Jives says. Penny glares at him and he gulps. “N-Not that I’d trade Ella for anything!”

Sportacus looks at Ella. “And… what do you do, Ella?” Robo-Rob cooks and Sugar Pie obvious acts as a guard dog.

Ella just offers a sly smile and twirls her fork around her empty plate. She doesn’t seem offended, to Sportacus’ relief.

Penny answers, “She sometimes helps with chores but she mostly hangs out with us. Or does her own thing.” Penny shrugs. “She doesn’t do anything. She’s just Ella!”

Sportacus cuts his eyes to Glanni, wondering if that’s true or if Ella has a purpose the other two aren’t aware of. But Glanni, finishing off his third slice of cake, just smiles fondly at Ella.

Hoping he is not crossing a line, Sportacus addresses Ella again. “Is that why you cannot speak? Did something happen when you were being made?”

Ella shakes her head and looks down the table at Glanni. Obviously it’s his turn to explain in her place. Sportacus really needs to learn human sign language.

Glanni doesn’t protest. “She can speak; her voice box and vocal parts are in working order. Robbie checked a week after making her, just to make sure.” He waves a hand at Ella. “She just chooses not to speak.” Suddenly, Glanni smirks. “You should have seen him that whole week. Poor Genius Prince Robbie thinking he’d made a mistake.”

Had he been drinking, Sportacus would have sprayed the potatoes before him in shock. “Robbie is a prince?!”

Ella covers her mouth, shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Jives hits his chest as he tries to laugh around his full mouth of food. Glanni is the only one not holding back. He is pounding the table with his fist and holding his gut. At all the noise, Sugar Pie runs around the table, barking in alarm

Penny is trying very hard not to give in but the corner of her mouth keeps twitch up. “Y-You didn’t know?” She struggles to ask. 

“I—” Nothing Robbie had ever done in Sportacus’ presence would make Sportacus think he was a prince. But then…

Glanni gasps for air. “D-Did you just think there was some weirdo living out here in a random castle?!” He cries, nearly sliding off his chair. “No, he’s just gets called Master and has all these expensive things because of his charisma.”

Embarrassment colors Sportacus face. Okay, when put that way, maybe it was a little obvious.

Eventually, everyone calms down. Ella stops Sugar Pie and gives him reassuring pets. “Sorry to laugh,” Jives says, not looking it. “Here, have some dessert.” He slides the apple tart and cake down towards Sportacus.

Sportacus cuts himself some tart and starts separating the apples from the sugary insides. “How long have you all been here then?” He asks causally. “No one in Lazytown has ever mentioned there being a castle…” He stops when he notices all eyes on him. They are staring as if he’s committed a crime. “What?”

“What are you doing?” Penny asks, eyes on his plate.

“Um, I don’t really like sweet things and I cannot have artificial sugar so—”

Again, Glanni is the loudest to voice his opinion. “Of course you don’t like sugar,” he grumbles, leaning forward until his forehead rests against the table. “This is just our luck…” The others look a bit worried.

“What is wrong with that?” Sportacus asks.

They all exchange glances. “Not a damn thing,” Glanni says after a pause, reaching over to pull the cake towards his side as if protecting it from being mangled by Sportacus. “It’s not going to get you points with Robbie but what does that matter?”

His tone leaks sarcasm and Sportacus narrows his eyes. “Why should I care about ‘getting points’ with Robbie?”

“No reason,” Glanni says flippantly, picking his teeth with his nail.

Silence reigns for a while as everyone eats dessert. Ella’s glass is nearly empty when Penny asks if she wants more juice. She nods. Sportacus is starting to understand why Jives has been drinking hers the whole time.

Sportacus helps himself to more of the tart. “How long have you all been here?” He repeats.

Penny and Jives look at each other. “Uh…”

“We don’t know,” Glanni says, now on his sixth serving of cake.

“You don’t know?

Glanni clears his throat. “I’m sure even a Sports Elf like yourself can sense the magic in the castle.” He waits for Sportacus to nod before continuing. “Long story short, a curse was put on this place. Time runs differently here because of the curse’s magic. It’s the same magic that keeps you here, actually.”

“The magic keeps me here?” Sportacus tilts his head. “I thought it was Robbie.”

“It’s a little bit his fault but… let me see if I can explain— The curse is the reason none of us can leave the castle grounds and the reason Lazytown forgot about us. Robbie dragged your friend in here, you exchanged places willingly, and now the curse’s magic is keeping you here too. Robbie could, in theory, release you since you’re not bound completely by the curse but I have no idea how.”

After his explanation, Glanni sits back in his chair and sips his hot chocolate, once again watching Sportacus carefully. So is everyone else, in fact. Except Ella who twirls her cup and watches the juice spin inside.

The bit of apple Sportacus pops in his mouth is cold. He chews thoughtfully. The image of Stephanie sitting in his place jumps into his mind. Stephanie having magic explained to her in the company of two older children and a robot. Would she have stayed in her room for three days? Would Robbie have told her his real name?

Shaking his head to ward off other pointless scenarios, Sportacus asks, “How can you break the curse?”

“Ah-ah.” Glanni wags his finger. “That’s the one thing we can’t tell you!”

“What? Why not? I could help!”

“No, we literally can’t,” Jives clarifies. “One of the conditions of the curse. We have to break it ourselves.”

“But it’s nice of you to offer,” says Penny with a small smile. “It’s not really that bad. We get to play in a huge castle all the time!”

Jives rests his elbows on the table. “You mean we get to clean a huge castle all the time.”

Ella signs something and Penny jumps to her feet in excitement. “Great idea!” She turns to Sportacus. “Ella says we should give you a tour of the huge castle!”

“Not a great idea!” Jives challenges, standing as well. “What if we run into Master Robbie?! He’ll be pissed if he finds out we fed him!” He gestures at Sportacus like he’s a pet they’re trying to hide. “We should get him back to his room.”

“Don’t be rude, Jives. It’s his first time out of that room since he got here. We should show him around!”

Jives still looks torn. Sportacus, wide awake now with food in his stomach, stands up. “I bet no one knows the castle like you two,” he says with a smirk at Jives. “I would get lost on my own but with you two, I’m sure I could see some cool things.”

At this, Jives brightens a little. “I guess a short tour wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“You all have fun,” Glanni says with a yawn. “I’ll stay here. Someone has to start on these dishes.”

Penny glares at him. “By which you mean you’re going to take a nap in the kitchen and let us deal with them later.”

“Don’t let anyone tell you you’re stupid, Miss Penny,” Glanni says with a wink. He snaps his fingers and the plates on the table fly over to stack neatly in front of him. He picks them up, calls “Hurry back or they’ll get crusty!” and disappears into the kitchen.

Penny, Jives, and Ella escort Sportacus from the dining room. He is shown the whole of the bottom floor; a dusty ballroom, the entry way, two sitting rooms with unlit but grand fireplaces, and a formal dining room for larger gatherings. Ella makes a point of saying any coins he might find in the various couch or chair cushions is hers for her collection. He agrees quickly while Jives rolls his eyes.

All the while, a storm rages against the windows. Once or twice Ella and Jives have to wrestle a window shut when it pops open with a gust of wind.

They hike up to the second floor and Sportacus finds his eyes trailing up to the West Wing. He knows they are supposed to be avoiding Robbie but his curiosity is not easy to quell.

There is a tugging on his sleeve. Ella gives him a sharp look when he turns to her. The message is clear, even if Sportacus wants to object. She must have read his face correctly because she gets Penny’s attentions and signs.

Alarmed, Penny shouts, “Let’s show Sportacus my room next!”

“No! He should see mine. My room’s better!” Jives interjects immediately.

“Is not! Mine has a shiny coin collection. Yours is covered in dirt.”

“It’s not dirt! It’s plants, stupid!”

“Whatever it is smells!”

They start off arguing down the hall, Ella in their wake grinning at their antics. Sportacus hangs back. A nagging thought has just occurred to him.

He waits until the kids have ventured ahead a bit more before backtracking to the bottom of the staircase leading to the third floor. Penny had appeared from behind a mirror with dishes from Robbie’s room. If Sportacus could open it from this side then…

The mirror opens with little effort after he finds a ridge on the underside that he can get his fingers under. He quickly gets inside and shuts the door, hoping none of the kids saw that. Maybe it was impolite of him to leave in the middle of the tour but he really wants to see why he is forbidden from the West Wing. Robbie has free reign of the castle and has been bugging Sportacus at his door for days. Sportacus wants to return the favor.

The passage, made mostly of stone, leads him up sharply until turning right and ending in a wooden wall. Pushing it open, Sportacus is treated his first look of the West Wing.

It’s a mess.

The wallpaper is torn as if a wild animal had been using parts of the wall as a scratching post. Tables are broken apart around the room. Picture frames on the wall are either beyond recognition or have been knocked to the floor. The only furniture untouched is an armchair beside the fireplace.

On the far side of the room is a balcony with its doors wide open, letting the snow and wind into the room. Just before the doors sits something else in perfect condition: a glass cloche on top of an ornate, pale blue table.

Sportacus closes the portal behind him carefully and discovers that he has come out behind another mirror that stretches from floor to ceiling. Transfixed, Sportacus moves closer to the table and realizes the cloche is covering a flower.

The sunflower is full, bright yellow, and seems to glitter even in the darkness of the room. A handful of petals have fallen to the table but the flower looks healthy otherwise. Why would Robbie keep a single sunflower hidden away in the West Wing? In a trashed room no less?

Sportacus reaches out a hand. His first impression is that the glass of the cloche is oddly warm for sitting next to an open door. The second thing he feels is a sting of magic not his own. It’s similar to the magic he had felt when he first stepped onto the castle grounds. Did this flower have something to do with the curse Glanni mentioned?

His only warning is a growl. Then someone shoves Sportacus away roughly, sending him stumbling out onto the balcony. Robbie, eyes glowing a bright piercing violet, stands in front of the table like a guard. “Why are you here?” He says through gritted teeth.

“I—”

“Do you have any idea what you could have done?!” Robbie takes a step forward and Sportacus steps back on reflex. “I told you not to come here!”

“I was just curious,” Sportacus tries to explain. “I did not mean any—”

“Get out!” Robbie roars. “GET OUT!”

At his words, Sportacus feels a crack in the magic around the castle, like wood splintering. Robbie’s magic, fueled by his fury at Sportacus, flies out like a whip as he again yells, “OUT!”

Sportacus doesn’t want to miss this chance. He turns and jumps off the balcony.

Chapter Text

The drop down to the snow-covered ground is four floors. Sportacus’ airship is parked much farther up than that, so Sportacus has no trouble using magic to soften his landing. As soon as he hits the dirt, he takes off for the gate. He expects the magic in the grounds to block his path but the gate swings open at his touch and he doesn’t slow for a moment. It’s worth leaving his backpack behind for this freedom. He’s missed the wind in his ears, the sounds of the night.

Guilt snaps at him like a cold gust as he realizes he’s leaving Penny, Jives, Ella, and Glanni without saying goodbye. Surely they would understand. They had fed him dinner against Robbie’s orders— they must be on Sportacus’ side. He wishes he could go back and get them out too but there’s no time to even entertain a plan. He can feel the magic growing strong again, like ice reforming over the surface of a lake. Maybe Robbie’s own magic and rage wasn’t enough to completely break its hold.

But Sportacus still has to try. Has to get to Lazytown.

He runs into the forest. Instead of coming upon the summer woods he had traveled through a few days ago, snow and wind keep pace with him. The forest is covered in winter, just like the castle grounds. Sportacus can hear twigs snapping nearby and he stops to stare around.

He has no idea where he is. The forest is unfamiliar. Everything is cold and it takes him longer than normal to summon the focus to warm himself. He can see a dozen pairs of glowing eyes in the trees but has no idea what could be following him. Robbie? The robot-dog Sugar Pie?

A wolf jumps out of the bushes and Sportacus takes off running again.

He can hear them; paws crunching against the snow, barking as they grow in number. Somewhere far away, he thinks he hears the sound of a gate creaking. Then a pair jump out ahead of Sportacus and he makes a sharp turn. Almost too sharp— he slides a little in the slush.

Íþró would have made some comment about forgetting how to handle snow. “We grew up running in snow, Sportacus, why are you having such a hard time outrunning these dogs?” Sportacus can imagine his brother saying.

“We were not running for our lives, Ferðamaður,” Sportacus snaps at no one. Where is the forest around Lazytown? Where is summer?

A root catches Sportacus’ foot and the world spins. When he opens his eyes, he’s on his back in a clearing with pain shooting through his ankle. He gets to his feet, breathing heavily. The pack has caught up to him.

Favoring one leg, Sportacus takes a stance. The wolves stop a little ways away. They start to circle him, teeth bared, eyes flashing.  One leaps out and Sportacus ducks smoothly. Two more go for his legs but Sportacus flips up, lands on one hand, and lowers himself into a crouch so his back is to a tree. All the wolves growl at him, advancing slowly now.

He should never have promised Stephanie he would be fine.

One wolf much larger than the others steps forward, regards Sportacus, then pounces. Sportacus braces himself.

Something charges out of the woods beside Sportacus and catches the wolf before it can reach him. Fear shoots through Sportacus at the thought of a bigger opponent.

But then he catches sight of two shining, purple eyes in the stormy darkness.

“Robbie…?” He whispers through chapped lips.

Robbie stands before him, holding the wolf in the air by the neck. The wolf growls and Robbie roars in its face. With a hand against the tree behind him, Sportacus stands in time to see three wolves ready to spring. “Behind you!” He sprints forward and kicks out with his hurt foot. The wolves all tumble into each other. Robbie tosses the large wolf down, then spins to face Sportacus. He doesn’t say anything but for a second, Sportacus could swear his eyes soften.

Then they brighten with magic again and Robbie pushes Sportacus aside. A wolf, aiming for Sportacus, catches Robbie’s forearm instead and clamps down hard. Robbie screams but manages to kick it off.

The wolves must think they gained the upper hand by drawing blood first because they all launch at Robbie. Sportacus is ignored even as he shoves and grabs at the pack. Robbie is a whirlwind of limbs and fur. Occasionally he cries out and Sportacus redoubles his efforts to help.

There is a snap in the air, similar to when Robbie cracked the magic around the castle grounds enough for Sportacus to flee. Then a loud bang, followed immediately by a bright flash of violet. Sportacus shields his eyes with his arms. 

When he lowers them, Sportacus smells brunt hair and all the wolves are run off. Some are whimpering, some are limping, but most bolt into the woods without a backward glance. With them gone, Sportacus can see Robbie more clearly. Currently the Fae’s back is to him. He’s kneeling in the snow. In front of him, on its side, is a wolf. Its tongue is lolling out of its mouth, its eyes staring straight ahead. Whatever Robbie did, the wolf is dead.

Slowly, Robbie stands. Sportacus has to swallow his shock. Blood is trickling out the side of Robbie’s lips. There is a claw mark down one cheek and, revealed by a torn pant leg, marks down his right leg as well. His waistcoat is stained on one side by what Sportacus realizes is Robbie’s blood, as it grows larger under Sportacus’ horrified gaze. The fur cloak is so torn it is sliding off one shoulder.

Robbie opens his mouth, then his eyes dull and he falls forward in the snow.

At first, it’s all Sportacus can do to stay standing. Then he turns his back on Robbie, looking out towards the forest. His hat is gone, he realizes. Snow is gathering in his hair. The forest is dark and cold. Guilt reaffirms its presents, now with the fresh image of Robbie lying bleeding in the snow.

This might be Sportacus’ only chance to leave. His only chance to see the kids again, to see his ship and Lazytown and summer. 

He sighs, breath turning white in the snowy air. Not like this.

Squaring his shoulders, Sportacus turns back to Robbie. Robbie is still breathing and cracks open an eye as Sportacus kneels beside him. Sportacus hauls them to their feet, Robbie’s arm around his shoulders, and Robbie lets out a gasp of pain.

“I know, I know,” Sportacus mutters. “Come on.”

Sportacus starts walking, ignoring his own ankle. Around them, the storm seems to ebb. The wind dies down, the snow stops swirling through the trees, and the forest is quiet but for the two of them shuffling towards the castle.

“Trixie?”

“Yeah, Pinky?”

“Are you sure you don’t remember anyone named Sportacus?”

Trixie looks at Stephanie with an expression Stephanie has been seeing a lot these past few days. Its pity mixed with annoyance with just a dash of “please let this go you’re making me uncomfortable”.

Ever since Stephanie had gotten back to Lazytown, everyone acted like she was crazy. No one seemed worried about Sportacus, or about what had snatched Stephanie, or about why Stephanie had been nearly frozen in the middle of summer.

Uncle Milford had been the most patient. He nursed Stephanie back to health and smiled kindly when she told him about the beast and the castle and the robot dog. But he had just assured her it was a bad dream and that she was safe with nothing to worry about.

But there is a lot to worry about, in Stephanie’s opinion.

Because no one remembers Sportacus.

“Yes, Pinky, I’m sure I don’t know anyone named Sportacus,” Trixie says. She passes the basketball to her and frowns. “Why do you keep asking?”

Stephanie bites her lip. She has asked all her friends and no one seems to know who Sportacus is. Not even Ziggy, and he still has his Sportacus teddy bear on his bed.

“You remember when I first came to Lazytown and you guys stayed inside all the time? And none of you were interested in playing with me?”

Trixie shrugs. “A little.”

“Do you know who finally got you outside and taught you games?”

“…You?”

Stephanie sighs and shoots for the hoop. She misses and watches Trixie race for the basketball. When Trixie gets back, Stephanie tries a different approach. “Hey, how fun was that hiking trip, huh?”

Trixie is openly relieved at the apparent subject change. “It was great! We gotta do that again soon!”

“Do you remember what we saw?”

“Yeah! I caught a bunch of bugs, and we sang songs, and we played in the water! I still think Pixel packed too much.”

Stephanie forces out a laugh. “Yeah, probably.” She swallows. “Do you remember seeing anything… weird?”

Trixie dribbles the ball, thinking. “Hmm… no?”

“How did you lose me, then?”

“Well, we—” Trixie freezes. She is holding the ball with both hands, staring off into the middle distance. Stephanie keeps quiet. Maybe if Trixie can realize she’s missing memories, she can start recovering them. She just needs to see the gaps in the story. The gaps in the Lazy Scouts hiking trip. She watches Trixie, willing her to just see. To think.

Shaking her head, Trixie shoots for the basket. “It was a bear. It chased us away and we lost track of you.” She doesn’t run after the ball this time as it rolls away.

“Then why did I come back almost frozen?” Stephanie asks, fists clenching at her sides. Trixie had been so close.

“I don’t know!” Trixie yells, glaring at Stephanie. “ ’Cause you’re weird?!”

“I’m not weird!” Stephanie grabs Trixie by the shoulders. “Think about it! Whose airship is that?!” She points to where Sportacus’ ship is still floating above Lazytown.

Trixie struggles in her grip. “The Mayor says Number 9 left it here! You know that!”

Uncle had indeed told Stephanie that when she had asked him but she still shakes Trixie and cries, “No it’s not! It’s 10’s! It’s Sportacus’! Why don’t you remember?!”

“Get off me!”

“Trixie, we played in the snow in the woods! We found a castle and it was old and I picked a flower and the beast caught me and I told you all to get Sportacus and—”

“STOP IT!” Trixie shoves Stephanie so hard that Stephanie goes flying backward and lands on the blacktop. Tears are falling down Stephanie’s face but she doesn’t care. Tight lipped, she looks up at Trixie, who is glaring at Stephanie. “You should go home, Pinky,” Trixie says in a low voice. “And stay away from me until you stop talkin’ weird!”

With that, she takes off away from the playground. Stephanie wipes the tears, frustrated at Trixie for not understanding and even more frustrated at her actions. Around her, the evening is warm. Fireflies flicker between the houses. A few birds sing to each other. It’s hard to believe that there’s a patch of winter in the woods.

Is there, though? No one else seems to think so. Stephanie looks down at her arm. The adults can say it was a fever dream. Her friends might not remember a thing. But there are bruises on Stephanie’s arm from where the beast grabbed her. There’s a bear in Ziggy’s room that looks like Sportacus. There’s an outfit in Stephanie’s closet that is a pink replica of Sportacus’.

Something brushes against Stephanie’s legs and she jumps. It’s the kitten. It mews up at Stephanie. Stephanie pets its head. “You remember him, don’t you?” She says. It purrs. “He saved you a few times. I bet you miss him too.” It keeps purring.

Stephanie sits like that for a long while, soaking in summer air and spending time with the only one who seems to want to listen.

It’s Penny who answers the door. “There you are!” She says when she sees Sportacus. “We were looking all over the castle for you and then Master came running down the steps—” She then catches sight of the figure in Sportacus’ arms. “Master?!”

“Get the others,” Sportacus orders, limping through the doorway. Penny runs out of the entryway. The storm is over but it is still bitterly cold. He takes a moment to relish the warmth of the castle walls before setting Robbie down on the floor. During the walk, Sportacus had tied the cloak around Robbie’s middle to put pressure on his side wound. Robbie looks paler than usual, though he’s still awake. As Sportacus lowers him to the floor, Robbie hisses, “Glanni…”

“He’s coming,” Sportacus says, getting up to shut the doors.

“This is all his fault.”

“How?”

“Don’t know,” Robbie tries to sit up, groans, and lies back down. “I’ll think of something…” His voice is hoarse. He’s holding his side and wincing with each breath. Sportacus sits beside him and takes his free hand. Robbie begins squeezing without prompt. At one point he coughs and blood sprinkles Sportacus’ boots. He squeezes though the wave of pain.

It probably only takes Penny a few minutes to round everyone up but with Robbie bleeding on the floor and Sportacus’ ankle making itself known, it feels like hours. When someone finally does enter the room, it’s Glanni appearing at Robbie’s other side in a puff of grey smoke.

It’s a mark of how bad the situation is that Glanni doesn’t ask any questions or make a witty comment. He holds Robbie’s head and says, “You’re going to hate this but hold still.” There’s more grey smoke, then they’re both gone.

Sportacus’ hand closes on empty air. Without the constant panic of having Robbie’s life in his hands, Sportacus starts to feel every inch of his journey through the woods. His ankle throbs, his ears are cold, he doesn’t realize his teeth are chattering until there’s suddenly no other noise in the room.

“Sportacus!” Jives appears in the doorway holding a bundle of blankets. He hurries forward and throws them around Sportacus. “You scared the crap out of us!”

“You shouldn’t say that word,” Sportacus can’t stop himself from admonishing. He pulls the blankets around him, trying to use his warming spell again now that he can think straight.

Jives snorts. “You sound like Penny. Let’s go.”

“Go where?” The idea of going back to his room now, after his whole adventure tonight, makes Sportacus feel sick.

“To Master Robbie’s room,” Jives stands and extends a hand to help Sportacus up. “Ella suggested you stay there too so we can keep an eye on both of you.”

It seems like a sensible plan until Sportacus is faced with climbing three sets of stairs on a hurt ankle. It’s not broken, and probably not sprained, but running through a frozen forest did it no favors.

Seeing his discomfort, Jives helps support him up the steps. They are silent as they walk. Sportacus can only think of his ankle and getting to Robbie— until he is reminded of the last time he saw Jives. He wonders if Penny, Jives, Ella, and Glanni are mad at him.

“Jives?”

“Yeah?”

“I am… I am sorry I left. You and the others have been so nice to me. It was wrong to run away from you.”

Jives shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it, man. I’d run away too if I could. You probably miss your friends back at home.” He jerks his head towards one of the windows. “But one of you is gonna have to explain why you’re both beat up.”

Sportacus offers a smile. “That seems fair.”

Soon they arrive at Robbie’s door. It’s already open and Sportacus is surprised at the room inside. He was expecting to see the West Wing; the ruined wallpaper and balcony and sunflower. Instead, he sees a pristine rectangular bedroom. One whole side is windows. Opposite that is a grand fire place with two plush chairs facing one another. The bed is about twice the size of Sportacus’.

Only a few of the sconces are lit. There is a roaring fire in the hearth. Lying before it on a rug, between the armchairs, is Robbie. He has been stripped of his cloak, vest, and undershirt. Glanni is seated next to him, both hands on Robbie’s side. His hands glow a faint indigo. Sugar Pie stands ridged beside Glanni and only turns his head when he spots Sportacus and Jives enter the room. Sugar Pie ambles over to sniff cautiously.

“I didn’t hurt him,” Sportacus feels compelled to say.

Penny is sitting in one armchair, legs curled under her, clutching what appear to be bandages. “Sugar Pie, down,” she orders. Sugar Pie backs away, padding over to Glanni again. Sportacus sits in the free chair and finally leans over to take off his boot. As expected, his ankle is mostly purple with bruises.

At the sight of it, Penny stands up. “Jives! Go get some ice!” Without arguing, Jives leaves the room. Penny’s hands are shaking. It’s clear she’s overwhelmed.

“Elevating it will help,” Sportacus suggests gently.

Nodding, Penny races to the windows and comes back with a footrest. She hesitates. Sportacus doesn’t blame her; Robbie is lying right where the footrest would go.

Apparently Robbie is still awake and aware because he lets out a low growl. “Am I in your way?”

 “… A little,” Penny admits.

“Tough luck. I was here first.” Robbie opens his eyes and rolls them to look at Glanni. “Your hands are freezing.”

“My apologies.” Glanni pulls his hands away to inspect his work. “Next time I’ll just let you writhe in pain a bit longer.”

“Don’t say that!”

The three of them look up at Penny. She’s glaring at Glanni, her lips trembling. “Don’t even joke about stuff like that! Master Robbie coulda… coulda…” She sniffs and rubs her eyes, voice starting to tremble. “We— we couldn’t find Sportacus, then you ran downstairs and didn’t say anything to us, then you finally do come home ‘nd you— you’re all covered in blood ‘nd—” She’s sucking in quick breaths, hiding her face in her hands.

Sportacus turns to the other two, wondering how best to handle this. Without a word, Robbie slowly sits up. Glanni shoots Robbie a look but Robbie waves him away. Grunting and wincing, Robbie crawls onto the armchair Penny had vacated. He lounges on it like the whole night never happened. “I’m fine, Pen,” he says with an awkward smile. “See? Everything is fine, no lasting dam- ouch!”

Penny lets out a watery giggle as Glanni, who had poked Robbie softly on his clawed cheek, smirks mischievously. “He’ll be okay,” Glanni says, getting to his feet. “Geez, seeing you cry makes me wanna cry and I don’t want my makeup to run.”

Robbie opens his mouth but is interrupted by Penny hugging him around the neck. Alarmed, he holds her back. His eyes flicker between Glanni and Sportacus as if asking for help, but Sportacus can only smile at the sight, snuggling into his blankets.

“Aw no, Pen, don’t cry!”

Jives is back, holding a tray of ice cubes. Behind him, Ella is holding a serving tray with two bowls balanced on top.

Penny pulls away from Robbie and sniffs. “Sorry. I’m okay.” Sugar Pie lets out a whimper and she pats his head soothingly.

Jives doesn’t look convinced but enters the room anyway. He passes the ice cubes and a rag to Sportacus. Wiping her face with her sleeve, Penny pushes the footrest between the two chairs. Sportacus puts his leg up and is immediately blocked by Robbie’s leg. The claw marks below his knee still ooze a bit. He smirks at Sportacus. “Trouble sharing?”

Sportacus chuckles and moves his leg over so they are side by side. “It’s your room. You are the one sharing.”

“Then I demand soul use of my footrest.”

“No,” Sportacus says simply, leaning forward to put the rag of ice around his ankle. Robbie groans dramatically about how rude Sportacus is to injured people and Sportacus can’t hold back a smirk. This is much more fun than talking through a locked door.

“Alright, love birds, settle down,” Glanni says. He takes the tray from Ella and passes them both a bowl each of what smells like tomato soup but is the wrong color. “Eat this and get some sleep.” Sportacus takes the bowl, deciding to ignore the love bird comment. “You three, let’s leave them alone. They need rest. Come on, Sugar Pie.”

Jives, Penny, and Ella all turn to leave. Sugar Pie sniffs at Robbie, licks his hand, and follows the others out. At the door, Ella looks back and signs something to Sportacus. Glanni closes the door before Sportacus can ask for a translation.

That leaves him and Robbie alone.

Sportacus looks hesitantly at Robbie, wondering if he also suddenly feels tense. Mostly, Robbie looks exhausted. All the pep he had shown Penny is gone, replaced by a tired creature that only has eyes for the soup. Not bothering with a spoon, Robbie tips the bowl and gulps down its contents.

Tentatively, Sportacus takes a small sip. It tastes like tomato soup. It’s warm and soothing, and Sportacus drinks it relatively quickly. The ham and broccoli seem like they were days ago.

The two stare into the fire for a while. Sportacus can feel his eyelids drooping. The chair is soft and comfortable. Even the cold on his ankle doesn’t bother him much. He steals a glance at Robbie. With his shirt off, Sportacus can see a large bruise on the side Glanni was mending. The bite mark on his arm doesn’t look bad in comparison. His eyes are closed now, hands folded on his stomach.

Sportacus can feel himself slipping too, but he wants to say one thing first. “Thank you. For saving my life.”

Robbie doesn’t stir.

Sportacus settles back against the chair and lets his eyes shut.

Before he can drift away completely, a “You’re welcome” floats to his ears. He smiles.

Chapter Text

The first thing Robbie tastes when he wakes up is chocolate. He smacks his lips and looks around. Did he fall asleep in a chocolate cake again?

Nope. He’s in a chair. In his room. Why does he have a fresh memory of Penny crying? She never cries. His left side is killing him, there’s a sleeping elf in the other chair, and sunrise is peaking through the window on the opposite side of the room.

Wait.

Sleeping elf?

Sleeping elf in his room?

Robbie would assume this was a dream if his ribs and leg didn’t hurt so badly. He struggles to sit up and take in his surroundings more properly. Glanni’s Special Healing Potion™ tastes like chocolate to Robbie, which explains that.  It’s also usually laced with a sleeping draft. Which, Robbie cuts his eyes to Sportacus, explains that.

As if sensing eyes on him, Sportacus shifts. Robbie forces himself to look away as Sportacus stretches and looks around. He’s probably even more confused about his surroundings than Robbie was a moment ago.

The lucky jerk stands up, wincing slightly when he puts pressure on his ankle but is otherwise fine. Robbie feels too stiff to move, too achy to be awake. Grumpiness sets in quickly and he addressed the fire when he says, “I didn’t literally mean ‘get out’.”

Though he feels Sportacus’ eyes on him, Robbie doesn’t look away from the fire. “Glanni told me about the magic keeping you – keeping us here,” Sportacus says. “I felt it get weaker. I had to try.”

“You really didn’t.”

“I did.”

“Look, I’m sorry you miss your daughter but that’s no reason to risk your life trying to—”

“My what?”

Now Robbie does turn to Sportacus. He has to lower his eyes slightly, for Sportacus is in the middle of a handstand. “Your daughter. What are you doing?”

“I need to keep pressure off my foot. Stephanie is not my daughter.”

“There are other ways to do that.” Robbie shakes his head. “You traded yourself for some random kid?”

Sportacus sends him a glare and, keeping eye contact, switches to a one-handed handstand. Robbie rolls his eyes, trying not to be impressed. “I saw the way you were with Penny last night,” Sportacus says. “She is not your daughter but you do care for her.”

Robbie chooses not to answer that. What a naive assumption. Penny just never cries and the sight had made Robbie’s chest hurt. That’s all. She and Jives were good servants.

The image of someone capturing and imprisoning them jumps into Robbie’s imagination and he shakes his head as if to knock it away.

Sportacus is still staring at him so Robbie says, “What else did Glanni tell you?”

“You are all trapped here. You have been for a long time.” Sportacus finally lets himself down onto his feet. “He also said you are a prince.”

Robbie snorts. “You’re not going to start bowing to me, are you?”

“He said you could break just me out of the curse but he doesn’t know how.”

“Neither do I.”

“You almost did it last night.”

“Please don’t try and make me angry just so I’ll do it again.” Robbie leans forward, intent on standing up to find a shirt. Watching Sportacus has made him very aware of his appearance. “It barely made a scratch and that was when you really pissed me off.” He freezes, realizing he has just invited the subject of the flower and how Sportacus had pissed him off. Sportacus’ eyebrows furrow like he’s about to ask.

Saved by the door opening. Jives and Glanni poke their heads in. “Don’t move!” Jives orders Robbie, who is about to attempt to stand. “We need to check you over first!”

Resigned, Robbie slumps back in his chair. “You better have breakfast.”

“Nope. Purely a medical visit. Food is later.” Glanni pushes the door wide so the two can enter. He beelines for Robbie and crouches next to him. “First question, do you still have your ribs on your left side?”

“They hurt like hell so they must still be there.”

“Terrific. Hurting means healing. Sit up so I can check your back.”

Glanni gives Robbie’s torso a full examination before pronouncing him “good enough” and letting him stand. Across the room, Sportacus is having his own examination done by Jives. “Why do you need to look him over?” Robbie says as he passes them to get to his dresser. “He wasn’t mobbed… by…”  He stops cold, staring in a very unsubtle manner.

Sportacus’ shirt and vest are on the floor. His chest is on full display as Jives circles him slowly. No wonder Sportacus could do a handstand for so long; his abs are a work of art. Two identical pale scars run under his pecs. Robbie’s eyes trail down to his belly button, where his pants, unfortunately, begin. Robbie’s imagination, which he cursed moment ago, now offers him the image of what Sportacus’ thighs might look like; thick and just as muscular, if that run last night was anything to go by.

“He doesn’t like sugar,” Glanni hisses in his ear, suddenly at his side. Robbie jumps, realizing he was staring much too long.

Turning a scarlet face towards his dresser, Robbie hisses back, “Nobody’s perfect.”

Glanni hums. “He’s pretty close. And pretty in general.”

“Shut up.”

“Possessive already, are we?”

“Shut up.”

With a snort, Glanni pats his shoulder. “Nothing to worry about. I have my own problems, remember?” He rubs his left wrist, flexing his fingers.

Indeed, Robbie does remember. He lets the subject drop and grabs a shirt and vest at random. Jives calls over that his inspection is finished and Glanni leaves Robbie alone to join him. Trying hard not to peek over his shoulder, Robbie pulls his outfit on, taking care not to stretch his left arm too high for fear of agitating his ribs. So what if Sportacus is good looking? So what if they had just saved each other’s lives? That wasn’t the basis for a relationship.

Behind him, Robbie hears laughter and finally turns around, buttoning his vest. Jives is laughing at Sportacus’ shocked expression as Glanni uses magic to take the mud and blood stains out of Sportacus’ own vest. As the last of the dirt is removed, Sportacus breaks into a huge smile and holds up the vest, babbling about how it looks better than new. Glanni is beaming with smug pride.

The sunlight cutting through Robbie’s bedroom windows lights up Sportacus’ face and blond hair. He catches Robbie’s eye and the smile shrinks slightly, but the excitement doesn’t. Robbie’s chest tightens. He blames it on the wolf attack, which he knows is bullshit but still. Best not to delude himself.

“Alright!” Jives claps his hands. “Let’s go, guys! Robo-Rob, Ella, and Penny probably have breakfast set up by now and I’m starved.”

“Agreed,” Glanni says. “I could use a fifth cup of coffee.”

Some of Sportacus’ amusement fades. “That much caffeine is not good for you.” Glanni waves the comment away as he and Jives disappear into the hallway.

Robbie moves to follow him but stops just outside the doorway. He and Sportacus are the only two left in the bedroom. Sportacus, clothed once more, is watching him. “I know how you feel about eating with me,” Robbie says softly. “So if you want your breakfast separately, I’m sure we can arrange that. Or, really, Jives and Penny can do it. You know.”

Badly phrased. Robbie hopes his ears aren’t pink. Why is he not better with words?!

“I don’t mind.” Sportacus’ response is just as quiet. He walks forward so he is next to Robbie. “Let’s get breakfast. We both deserve some good food.”

Robbie smiles without thinking. Not wanting to mess things up with more words, he simply nods and leads Sportacus down the hall.

Sportacus quickly turns into the leader when it’s clear Robbie’s having trouble walking. He had put on a great show that morning but now it is clear he’s hurting more than he wants Sportacus to know. Ahead of them, Glanni and Jives are already at the foot of the first flight of stairs and are proceeding down the next one. Robbie is leaning heavily on the rail. Sportacus’ ankle is still tender but much improved with rest and ice.

Without hesitating, Sportacus takes Robbie’s arm and tries to help guide him down the steps. Robbie rips his arm away. “I’m fine.”

“You are not fine.”

“I’m fine enough to walk around my own castle.”

“I can help you and we can catch up to the others, or we can go at this pace and arrive in time to help clean up breakfast.”

At the mention of food, Robbie stops. He closes his eyes and sighs. Then he holds out his arm. Grinning in triumph, Sportacus takes it again and together they make it down the first set of stairs. By the time they reach the ground floor, Glanni and Jives are not so far ahead. Sportacus is almost sure they slowed down but keeps it to himself. Sugar Pie sits at attention by the dining room door. If a dog could look paranoid, Sportacus imagines that was what it would look like. Perhaps Sugar Pie’s master coming home hurt put him on edge.

The four enter the dining room together and Sportacus freezes. The table is a veritable buffet of food. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, toast, eggs, oatmeal, French toast, cut fruit, juice, and even a plate of blintzes at the far end. Robo-Rob steps out of the kitchen holding a carafe of coffee, sees Robbie, and runs back in again. He reappears with a, if possible, bigger smile than before and holds up a tall glass of chocolate milk.

“Welcome home, Master,” he says, setting the glass down in the spot Sportacus had sat last night. Penny is pouring Ella juice and grins when Glanni ruffles her hair as he passes her on his way to the other head of the table. Robbie gingerly lowers himself in front of the chocolate milk. Jives takes a seat beside Ella. Sportacus wonders where he should sit for all of a second, then Penny tugs at his sleeve and points at the chair next to her. Gratefully, Sportacus sits.

“Good! You’re both okay,” she says with a stern look that would make Stingy proud. Crossing her arms, she sits in her chair. “Now you can tell us what happened last night.”

Robbie and Sportacus look at each other. Robbie shrugs and breaks eye contact to drink his chocolate milk. Everyone is staring at Sportacus now, waiting. No one has touched the food. Even Glanni is raising an eyebrow at him. Sportacus desperately wants to kick Robbie under the table for abandoning him but he’s a seat too far.

So Sportacus takes a deep breath, and explains.

He tells them about sneaking away up the secret passageway he saw Penny come out of, about finding the West Wing, Robbie yelling—

“I told you not to go up there!” Robbie interjects at that point.

“Well… yes—” is Sportacus’ amazing argument, “—but you did not have to react like that.” Thinking of the scratch marks on his bedroom door, he adds, “You should really learn to control your temper.”

That shuts Robbie up. He slumps in his seat, scowling at nothing in particular.

Sportacus continues; telling them about the magic weakening, jumping out the window—

“You can just do that?!” Jives cries with wide eyes.

Sportacus chuckles. “If I’m prepared, yes.”

“That’s so cool!”

“We’re never getting through this,” Glanni mumbles into a mug of coffee.

There are no more interruptions after that as Sportacus explains the forest, the wolves, Robbie finding him, and their walk back to the castle. Then there is silence.

Ella is the one to break it. She raps her knuckles on the table to get everyone’s attention and signs something.

“There are wolves to stop people from escaping,” Robbie says. Sportacus can guess the question. “They aren’t real— they’re magic. Just like the snow. Once the curse is broken, they’ll go away.” He takes a sausage and it’s the signal for everyone else to start eating too.

“I’m sorry I abandoned you,” Sportacus says, looking at Jives, Penny, and Ella in turn. “It was rude of me.”

“It was,” Penny agrees with a huff. She scoops out some scrambled eggs. “You scared us.”

“We didn’t think to check the West Wing when we went looking,” Jives adds. “We couldn’t figure out how you would’ve gotten up there so fast. If you used our entrance then it makes sense.”

“You’re still not allowed up there,” Robbie says firmly.

Sportacus nods. “I am sorry I invaded your privacy.”

 “You’re sorry you got caught,” Robbie snorts.

“Maybe a little.”

Robbie, who until last night was the only person Sportacus had ever disliked, flicks a piece of toast at him and Sportacus has to laugh because this whole situation is absurd.

Jives takes two chocolate croissants, a handful of bacon, and a pancake. He and Penny argue over the syrup, which Penny apparently likes to pour over her eggs. In the confusion, Ella swipes it and hands it down to Glanni who winks at her before pouring it over his bacon.

It’s then Sportacus notices Glanni is wearing a gold ring.

On his left hand.

He clears his throat and looks awkwardly down at his empty plate, mentally tallying up everyone in the castle. There’s Robbie, Glanni’s cousin, the kids, and Robo-Rob. He saves his sanity by not counting Sugar Pie.

Who could Glanni possibly be married to?

Clearing his throat again, Sportacus spoons some fruit onto his plate. “Is there anyone else in the castle?”

Ella shakes her head.

“Just us.” Jives takes a large gulp of his milk before sipping from Ella’s glass. Robbie swipes a piece of bacon from his plate.

“So just you four looked after this place? Even before the curse?”

“Oh there were lots of others before the curse,” Penny clarifies. She passes Sportacus the eggs and he takes the syrup from Glanni to give to her. “But they ran away before the curse could take full effect.”

Sportacus takes some eggs, wondering if taking oatmeal would be too much for breakfast. No one else seems worried about portion control. Or a balance diet, he realizes, as he watches Jives make a sandwich with his remaining bacon and pancakes. “You knew it was happening then?”

Glanni dunks a blintz into his coffee. “The person who cast it made it very clear what they were about to do.” He nudges the oatmeal at Sportacus.

“Do you know what happened to everyone?” Sportacus asks.

“We don’t remember them,” Robbie states without looking up.

“You don’t?”

“Remember how I told you Lazytown doesn’t remember us at all?” asks Glanni. “It’s the same with us. We don’t remember who else used to live here. And they can’t find their way back until the curse is broken.”

“Oh.” Sportacus’ eyes flicker to Glanni’s ring before falling to his plate, which is fuller than he thought it was. “I’m sorry.”

Glanni looks a little startled before giving him a halfhearted smile. “It’s fine.” He flexes his hand, looking down at the wedding band. “But thanks.”

Things are far from quiet after that. Jives tries to beat Penny to the last sausage and ends up knocking Robbie’s chocolate milk over. Robbie lurches back, curses, clutches his side, and reaches over to flip Jives’ plate over. Penny snags the sausage and she, along with Ella, watch with grins as Jives complains about having to clean the carpet later. Glanni pours himself another cup of coffee, adds syrup, and laughs almost maniacally when Sportacus’ faces scrunches in disgust.

All in all, it’s a far cry from the dinner Sportacus experienced the night before. This was a meal with people who knew each other well. Who knew how to get on each other’s nerves, who could ask for the salt with a look, who ate off someone’s plate without thinking twice. Sportacus is perfectly happy to sit back and watch with a smile.

When everyone has eaten their fill, Penny and Jives start gathering plates. Robbie stands but leans heavily on his chair. Shaking his head, Glanni stands and makes his way to Robbie. “Come on. Back to bed. I’ll take you up.” He wraps an arm around Robbie’s shoulders.

Robbie shrugs him away. “No way. You know I hate your teleporting. Makes me dizzy.”

“It’s teleporting or climbing those stairs yourself. I drew the short straw, I need to be back down to help with dishes today.”

“I’ll take him up.”

Everyone turns to look at Sportacus. He gets to his feet, ignoring them, and meets Robbie’s eyes. Robbie seems just as surprised but holds out his arm again. Sportacus comes around the table to take it. “I will help with cleaning up next time,” he promises over his shoulder.

Penny shakes off her shock and waves a hand. “Don’t worry about it. You’re our guest. You don’t have to clean.”

Jives resumes stacking cups. “But if you happen to be near the sink after a meal I won’t kick you out.” Ella punches his arm. “What?! He offered!”

“Get him straight to bed,” Glanni orders with a small push on Sportacus’ lower back. “No detours though mirrors or romantic walks through the forest.”

“Oh can we joke about that already?” Robbie says with a sneer. “I thought you all were worried sick.”

“We were,” Penny says, “but now you’re okay. So we get to make fun of you to make you feel bad.”

“Wonderful.”

“Come on,” Sportacus chuckles. “Let’s get going.”

They don’t speak until they are at the bottom of the first flight of stairs, far from the dining room. Robbie clutches the railing, eyes on the steps before him, still using Sportacus for support. “Why are you doing this?” He asks quietly as he starts to climb.

Sportacus turns his head toward Robbie but Robbie is still looking ahead. “You need help. I can help. So I will.”

“I mean. Why are you being so nice? To me?”

It’s a valid question that Sportacus has not given himself time to answer. He gulps. Then realizes they are so close that Robbie could probably hear that. “Well, you don’t know this, but I am a slightly-above-average-hero in Lazytown. I could not just let you walk away in pain. It’s against my nature.”

Robbie scoffs. “Why should you care if I’m in pain? I’m a horrible person.”

“Horrible people don’t save prisoners from wolves.”

“Good people don’t have prisoners.”

“Horrible people don’t put on a brave face for crying girls.”

“Good people don’t have curses put on them!” Robbie stops and glares at Sportacus. He’s panting slightly, face flush either with frustration or effort.

They are quiet for a few moments as Sportacus lets Robbie catch his breath. He doesn’t say anything until Robbie starts up the next set of stairs. “Why do you want to be seen as a horrible person so badly?”

“Maybe that’s my nature,” Robbie says with a mocking tone. “If you can be a hero, I can be a villain.”

“Slightly-above-average hero,” Sportacus corrects.

“Then I’ll be a way-above-average villain. I’ll be villain number one. Balance out your goody two shoes attitude.”

Sportacus snorts out a laugh and Robbie cracks a smile. “But really,” Sportacus presses as they reach the stairs to the third floor, “why do you believe you are such a bad person?”

“I…” It’s apparently Robbie’s turn to swallow nervously. “I’m the reason the castle was cursed. I’m the reason everyone’s locked in here.” His smile turns sharp, like he so wants Sportacus to try and twist his actions into a good deed. “What’s more horrible than that?”

There’s no great response to that so Sportacus just keeps walking. Glanni had mentioned yesterday that the curse was ‘a little bit’ Robbie’s fault but no one had gone into detail. Jives had even said they couldn’t tell Sportacus everything. For this reason, Sportacus doesn’t ask Robbie for details. 

Instead he says, “There’s another girl in Lazytown, Trixie. She sometimes plays pranks that make trouble for the other kids. I have had to save them from dangerous adventures many times. But they are still friends with Trixie. Do you know why?”

Robbie lets out a heavy sigh. “Is it because you think she’s a good person?”

“It’s because the children know she is a good person. She makes mistakes and learns from them, then tries to do better.”

“Clearly she doesn’t try hard enough or you wouldn’t have to keep saving everyone. I do like the sound of a prankster though. Maybe you already have a villain on your hands.” Robbie stops at the top of the stairs to catch his breath again.

Sportacus considers this before shrugging. “They all have their faults. It does not mean they are villains.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

They make their way down the hall and into Robbie’s room. Robbie sits gingerly on the bed with a groan. Without thinking, Sportacus start to unbutton Robbie’s vest.

“Uh. Um. Sport? Sportacus?” Robbie takes Sportacus by the wrists and Sportacus stop as realization hits him. “I can— I got this.” Robbie’s eyes are glued to the floor.

“Sorry!” Sportacus steps back. Robbie lets go of him. “I just wanted to check the bite on your arm.”

“Well hang on, then.” Robbie undoes the buttons and shrugs the vest off. Then he rolls up his shirt sleeve for Sportacus’ inspection. The wound doesn’t look inflamed. In fact, while it’s still alarming, the bite looks more like it’s had a few days to heal instead of a single night.

Sportacus stares in awe. “Is that Glanni’s magic?”

“Sort of. That stuff we drank last night speeds up healing. One of Glanni’s potions.”

That explains Sportacus’ nearly-healed ankle and the disappearance of his numerous cuts and bruises. “Why did it taste like tomato soup?”

“Mine tasted like chocolate.” Robbie turns to lie down properly in the bed, tugging the covers around him. “It tastes like whatever food you find comforting. Can’t believe you find tomatoes comforting.”

“I don’t,” Sportacus protests. “Just tomato soup. My mother used to make it when I felt sick.” It seems Robbie finds that more reasonable because he just hums in answer. “I should let you get some rest.”

“Agreed.”

Sportacus watches him for moment before crossing his arms. “I think,” he states with all the confidence he can muster, “that you can be sweet. Almost kind. Someday you will believe me.”

As if he is a child being disciplined, Robbie groans and pulls the quilt over his face. “Go away.”

“Yesterday you were begging me to spend time with you.”

“Yes but now I know you come with lectures. Leave.”

“Are you sure you don’t need any water? Another pillow? Do you want me to lecture you until you fall asleep?”

“How dare you hide teasing under good intentions!”

Sportacus laughs, dipping into a bow. “I shall leave you alone, Prince Robbie.” A pillow is thrown in his direction and Sportacus makes his exit.

At the door, looking strangely shocked to see him, is Penny. She jumps back as Sportacus steps into the hall. “I wasn’t listening!” She cries at once. Then her face turns pink.  Sportacus is still smiling in amusement and it only grows at her obviousness. “I, um, I wanted to ask—” Penny jabs a finger at Sportacus’ vest. “Jives said you have two scars on your chest. Is it from a fight? Did you win?”

It takes Sportacus a second to shift gears from light teasing to a genuine conversation. “No, they are not from a fight.” He tries to remember how he explained this to the kids last year. “Let’s… let’s go for a walk. You can give me an honest tour of the castle and I can explain.”

Chapter Text

Much to Robbie’s frustration, Glanni tells him he is bedridden the rest of the day.

“What was the point of your healing?!” Robbie spits. He has just woken up from an unexpected, though appreciated, post-breakfast nap. Glanni has brought him a late lunch of a large sandwich and more of his healing potion.

Glanni nearly dumps the whole tray into Robbie’s lap in annoyance. “I did what I could. Your body has to do the rest.” He comes around to sit beside Robbie on the bed. “If you want to do something so bad you could go for a run like Sportacus.”

“A run?” A bit of sandwich falls out of Robbie’s mouth. “Where?”

“Outside.”

Robbie flings out a hand towards the window beyond Glanni. The day is gloomy and snow piles on top of already existing drifts. “In this?”

Glanni shrugs. “Said he was used to it. I think most Sports Elves come from way up north.”

Stuffing the sandwich piece back into his mouth, Robbie chooses to ignore this and keep eating. Usually he has no problem staying in bed, but Sportacus is finally out of his room and seemingly willing to interact with Robbie. And now Robbie can’t leave.

Glanni lays his head on Robbie’s shoulder. “This sucks, huh?”

“Very much so.”

“At least you’re alive?” Glanni gestures to the window. “And on speaking terms!”

Robbie grumbles around his food. “He only helped me because he’s a hero.”

“What.”

“He admitted that he’s a hero in Lazytown and he feels compelled to help me. It’s in his ‘nature.’” Robbie is about to go on but one look at Glanni shuts him up. Glanni has lifted his head and is staring into the middle distance, mouthing the word ‘hero’, rubbing his thumb over his ring. The ring is a simple gold band and always seems to shine, though Robbie has never seen Glanni without it. He must clean it often.

Robbie knows better than to talk when Glanni gets like this. It means he’s trying to remember something from Before The Curse. Childishly, Robbie hopes that if Glanni can break through the magic stopping him from remembering his spouse, then the curse will just go away.

After a few moments, Glanni blinks rapidly before shaking his head. “I swear this is getting worse.” He sighs and nuzzles more into Robbie. “Is it because we’re running out of time?”

Robbie leans his head against Glanni’s hair.  “I don’t know.” A pause. “I’m sorry I made you forget. You should have been Prince. This wouldn’t have happened if you were Prince.”

“If I were Prince I would have run away from stress before it could happen.” Glanni reaches over to snag a corner of cheese from the sandwich. “You made a better Prince, cousin.”

“Apparently not.”

“Until a certain point you did.”

Glanni stays until Robbie finishes his sandwich and drinks the potion. Then he gets off the bed and takes the tray away. “Yell if you need anything. I’m going to take Sugar Pie for a walk. He keeps whining and trying to run off into the woods.”

Before Glanni can make it to the door, Robbie calls out, “Wait.” Glanni turns, eyebrow raised. “Tell Sportacus to come here after his run.”

“You’re seriously going to try ordering him around again?”

“Then make it sound like a request. He’ll want to come up. Part of his hero thing— he’ll feel sorry for me.”

“This is not how you woo.”

“I can’t ‘woo’ someone who isn’t here. Just ask him to come up here.”

Rolling his eyes, Glanni nods. “Alright. But once you’re better you and I need to sit down and make a seduction plan.”

“That sounds—” Robbie is about to snap out a sharp remark but really, his progress on the wooing front has been horrible. The only reason he and Sportacus are even talking now is because Robbie had lost his temper. “… Thank you.”

Glanni looks surprised for a moment before turning and leaving the room. Robbie settles back against his pillows and looks outside. To someone who has been stuck inside his room for three days, it probably looks inviting.

With a sniff, Robbie rolls over onto his side. This turns out to be a big mistake, and he lets out a sharp gasp. What was the point of lazing around in bed if he can’t get comfortable? Miserable, he shifts onto his back again and stares up at his canopy. He has no business ordering Sportacus around. Glanni is right about that. But he can’t trust that Sportacus will come to Robbie’s room of his own volition, even with those hero urges.

Hero. Didn’t like sweets. Ran for fun. Robbie scowls at nothing. Sportacus is definitely not someone Robbie would think twice about if not for the curse.

The memory of Sportacus standing in Robbie’s room shirtless makes Robbie pull a pillow over his face. Okay, maybe Robbie would have thought twice about him. Maybe more than twice. 

Sportacus doesn’t think to knock before opening Robbie’s bedroom door. “Robbie! Are you okay?!”

Robbie, still in bed, looks startled by Sportacus’ appearance. He sits up and draws the quilt up to his chin. “What’s wrong?!” Robbie sounds alarmed as well.

Confused, Sportacus cocks his head. “Glanni said you needed to see me as soon as possible. He said you were in a lot of pain and only I could…” He frowns. “He was lying, wasn’t he?”

“Did he somehow convince you that only you could stop my pain?” Robbie drawls. Reluctantly, Sportacus nods. Now he feels a bit silly running up three floors. Glanni had met him at his bedroom door after Sportacus’ run looking urgent. Now that Sportacus stops to think about it, what could he possibly have done if Robbie were in that amount of pain?

Flopping back onto the bed, Robbie lets out a groan. “That’s my fault. I told him I wanted to see you.”

The embarrassment leaves Sportacus and he narrows his eyes. “So you just sent him to order me up here?”

“… I told him not to make it sound like an order.”

Sportacus wants to be angry at Robbie for trying to make demands of him again but lets out his irritation in a heavy sigh. Robbie has been living in a castle solely with people who obey him for years. Before that, he was a prince. Sportacus sets aside his ire and walks over to stand beside the bed. “What do you need?”

“What are you wearing?” Robbie counters, looking Sportacus up and down. Sportacus tugs self-consciously at his shirt. After his walk with Penny, she had demanded he hand over his uniform for cleaning. Apparently Glanni’s magic had removed the stains but he still smelled like he had been wearing them for four days. Penny had supplied him with an outfit from the closet Sportacus had not yet explored. 

Currently, he is dressed in a navy blue shirt with white laces at the neck. His pants are light brown and held up by his own belt. The case that holds his crystal is tied around his neck and hidden under the shirt. Even his shoes were taken by Penny. In their place are brown boots that give Sportacus an extra inch or so.

Sportacus fidgets under Robbie’s gaze. “Penny helped pick them out. I should get back my usual clothes tomorrow.”

“Where’s your hat?”

“I lost it in the woods.”

“Well… good.” Robbie finally takes his eyes off Sportacus. “It looked ridiculous on you.”

“It’s part of my uniform. It does not look ridiculous.” Sportacus crosses his arms, observing Robbie now that the Fae’s attention is off him. There is more color in his cheeks compared to this morning. He is not wincing every half second and the mark on his cheek is nearly gone. Glanni must have given him more of the potion. “Why did you want to see me?” He asks again.

Robbie flexes a clawed hand against the lavender quilt. “I wanted… to hear more about Lazytown.”

Sportacus’ chest tightens. It’s probably his fault for bringing up Lazytown yesterday. He gulps. “What about it?”

“I used to technically be in charge of it,” Robbie says, “even if I never visited. I just want to know more about it. What I’ve missed.”

Knowing Mayor Milford and the relaxed atmosphere of Lazytown, Sportacus cannot imagine it ruled by royalty. Much less a prince looming over it in a castle in the middle of a forest. Sportacus sits down at the far end of the bed, feet flat on the floor. Robbie sits up straighter. “Well, it is not a big town. Everyone knows each other.”

“Who rules it now?”

“Ah— no one? I would not say Mayor Meanswell rules Lazytown but he is in charge.”

Robbie scowls. “And what’s he like?”

“Very kind. A little… clumsy.” He smiles at the memory of Milford dangling from a tree and still calling down a joyful greeting to Sportacus. “But he tries to help everyone with everything, including painting fences and hanging laundry.”

“He sounds like a pushover.”

“Really only Bessie asks him to do things like that.”

“Bessie?”

“Bessie Busybody. She helps him run the town. The two of them are a great team.”

“Do they help you clean up Tricky’s messes?”

Sportacus mouths the name before letting out a laugh. “Do you mean Trixie?”

“Whatever. The one you mentioned yesterday.”

“Sometimes they help. Sometimes they are also in trouble.” Sportacus pulls his legs onto the bed and sits pretzel style before Robbie. “She is not the only one who can cause trouble. There is another child named Pixel who liked to build machines. He’s a genius.”

Robbie wrinkles his nose. “Just because you can build machines doesn’t mean you’re a genius. Do they do anything? Do they work right?”

There is a hint of jealousy in Robbie’s voice that confuses Sportacus for a second. Then he remembers Robbie telling him through the door that he likes to invent things. Sportacus has twice now eaten with Ella at the table, with meals served by Robo-Rob, and with Sugar Pie hanging close. “Sometimes they do, like his machine to make perfect lines for sport’s fields.” Seeing Robbie’s scowl, Sportacus adds, “But he once made a remote to help ‘clean’ his room and all it did was make things invisible. Then it… got out of control.”

Lifting his chin proudly, Robbie says, “Ha! Some genius.”

Sportacus cannot stop himself rolling his eyes. “Yes, Prince Robbie, you are smarter than an 11 year old.” That earns him a kick from under the covers. “Sorry! Sorry,” Sportacus says. But he is giggling and Robbie probably does not believe he is being genuine. Robbie growls, showing off his pointed teeth. It doesn’t unnerve Sportacus anymore but it is a good sign not to joke much farther. “So that’s Pixel and Trixie… let me tell you about Ziggy. I think you will like him.”

“Bold of you to assume I would like any of these brats.”

“He sleeps with a large lollipop.”

“…Go on.”

Sportacus does. He talks about Lazytown for hours. He thought it would be painful to talk about but instead of feeling homesick, Sportacus finds it exciting to tell Robbie about the kids, the curved buildings, the various songs everyone makes up, the park, the birthdays. It almost reminds Sportacus of a slumber party, sitting on Robbie’s bed talking about his first day in Lazytown.

Eventually the sun sets. The sconces around the room light up, though Robbie did not raise a hand. At this point Sportacus is getting fidgety from sitting for so long. Robbie probably would not like it if he started doing exercises in his bedroom. And he is so enjoying seeing this side of Robbie; this Robbie makes quips and asks questions and laughs. It’s like he’s a different Fae entirely from the Robbie Sportacus met on his first night here.

“How can you stand him saying ‘mine’ all the time? How do you not smack him upside the head?” Robbie asks. He has drawn his legs up and folded his arms around his knees, resting his chin there.

“I would never hit the kids,” Sportacus says, offended at the idea. “He will grow out of it.”

At this point, a low bell rings through the room. Sportacus looks up at the ceiling, obstructed by the bed’s canopy. “What was that?”

“The dinner bell.” Robbie is also looking up, frowning. “We used to use it when we had more people in the castle.” He levels his gaze at Sportacus. The frown is gone, replaced with a neutral expression. “I’m probably going to have to eat up here. Want to join me?”

Sportacus takes a deep breath. “No. I told Penny I would show her how to make a ‘Sportacus Special’.”

The last time he refused Robbie, it had not gone well. This morning Robbie had offered him the chance to say no again, but Sportacus did not see a reason to. Now, Sportacus hopes he has not set off another argument. He grips the legs of his pants, trying to hold eye contact.

Robbie shrugs. “Alright. Better get down there then. Not that there isn’t always enough food to choke an army.”

“Oh. Um. Okay.” Sportacus stands up. That went… infinitely better than expected. “Make sure you eat something healthy. Your body needs all the help it can get to heal correctly.”

“Oh sure, tell Glanni to send up a salad. That will make me feel better.”

“It might!”

“I’m sure it won’t.” Robbie waves a hand. “Go. Enjoy the bickering two and their silent enabler.”

Laughing, Sportacus leaves. He stretches and then runs down the stairs to burn off this energy. Next time Sportacus is going to suggest they walk while they talk.

Hopefully there is a next time.

Chapter Text

The next day is almost the exact same diagnosis.

“I never thought I would say this,” Robbie says to Glanni after finishing the breakfast Glanni had brought up, “but can I please leave my room?”

Glanni piles the dirty dishes on the tray. He slips the mostly empty bottle of potion into his pocket. “After you drink your lunch dose you should be good to go. As long as you don’t do yoga or try and bench press anything.”

Robbie huffs. “I’m cooped up. Not insane. And do I really need more of that stuff?” He waves at Glanni’s jacket pocket. “That’ll be my fifth in three days! I never thought I would get sick of the taste of chocolate.”

“Sick of chocolate?!” Glanni recoils as if struck. “That’s like being sick of breathing!”

“Don’t be dramatic.”

“Pot, kettle.”

“Can’t you make it taste like anything else?”

Glanni thrust his nose in the air. “Sorry, my prince, but when I was creating a potion that could heal most mortal wounds I did not consider the taste.”

Annoyed, Robbie gets out of bed. His ribs feel a lot better than they had yesterday. His bites and claw marks are nearly gone as well. Shuffling to the wardrobe, Robbie picks out a fresh outfit. Sure he’ll spend all day in bed but that’s no reason to keep wearing yesterday’s clothes. His joints feel stiff from lack of movement so he rolls his shoulders a little and shakes his legs out.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Glanni says, for all the world like Robbie is some child trying to sneak out of being grounded.

“Up,” Robbie answers simply. He ignores Glanni and makes his way toward a door on the far side of the room, against the same wall as his bed. Through the door is a thin, metal spiral staircase. It is easier to climb these now than it was to climb his castle steps after breakfast but it’s still slow going.

He comes out in the West Wing. The place is as much of a mess as always. Robbie crosses to the floor to ceiling mirror, automatically stepping over or circling around the debris, and lays a hand on it. “Show me Sportacus.”

The image in the mirror changes from Robbie’s pale, beastly appearance to show him the castle kitchen. Sportacus is at the sink with Jives, drying as the teen washes. The two are chatting about something that makes them both laugh. Robbie watches with an emotion close to jealousy as Penny and Ella join them.

This mirror is one of the only things Robbie can still use with any amount of success. The feral form he was cursed with makes it hard for him to control his magic. Usually it comes out in powerful waves. Trying to light up a hallway for the first few weeks after the curse had caused a lot of damage to some priceless artwork. Any spells requiring precision blow up, sometimes literally, in Robbie’s face.

He had only used the mirror to see Sportacus one other time: Sportacus’ first night. The Elf had been a mess, and Robbie was so uncomfortable that he was reluctant to try again. Yet now Sportacus looks at ease in the castle.

Refocusing back on the mirror, Robbie watches Ella place a cup on Sportacus’ head. He balances it perfectly. Penny adds a tray, Jives a plate, Ella a pitcher of water. Robbie turns away, impressed. Glanni is leaning against the doorway.

“We’re a terrible influence on them,” Robbie says. “They’re treating him like a pet.”

“How is that our influence?”

“Who else’s would it be?” Robbie massages his temples. “I want to do something for Sportacus but I don’t know what,” he confesses.

Glanni, helpfully, scratches his chin and hums, “Hm.”

“Don’t you ‘hm’ me!” Robbie snaps. “This is hard! Before, if I wanted to impress someone, I would just tell them I’m a prince!”

“That’s what you did?”

“Shut up. You’re the one who told me we needed to strategize. You said you would help me!”

“You’re the one who talked with him all yesterday afternoon!” Glanni cries, throwing his hands in the air. “You’re in a better position to know what he likes than me.”

Robbie is close to tearing his hair out. “But you know the most about Sports Elves! Tell me what they like!”

“They like getting their heads scratched— it makes the purr!” Glanni shouts. Then he blinks and furrows his brows. “Why do I know that.”

Robbie isn’t sure if that’s a memory trying to break through the curse or something from Glanni’s suspect past. Either way, Robbie doesn’t want to know. “Oh never mind. I’ll come up with something without your help.” Robbie sits heavily in his orange armchair. A glance at the enchanted sunflower does nothing to calm him. More petals have fallen off since he last checked two day ago. The stem is still upright but he can tell it won’t be that way for much longer. “I wish I had more time to get this right,” Robbie says quietly.

He can hear Glanni’s footsteps behind him. “You’ll get there.”

“What if I don’t?”

“You will,” Glanni insists, “but sitting up here staring at that thing isn’t going to help.” He kisses the top of Robbie’s head. “Let’s go back downstairs.”

With a sigh, Robbie allows Glanni to help him up.

Robbie is well enough to come down for dinner, and Sportacus is almost as happy about it as the kids. They huddle around him immediately, all talking, or signing, at once. “Oh I’m sure you all missed me,” Robbie snarls. “That’s why you all visited me.”

None of them seem intimidated. “Glanni said we couldn’t. We had to let you rest.”

“Well when I wasn’t resting I was dying of boredom.”

Ella signs something and Jives and Penny laugh. Even Robbie smiles. Sportacus has been trying to guess signs from context clues for almost two days, to no avail. He did ask Ella to sign out her name for him and, after an explanation from Jives, thoroughly approved.

As Jives, Penny, and Ella help set the table, Sportacus approaches Robbie. “I’m glad you seem to be healing well,” he says. The wincing of the past few days is gone. Robbie holds himself as tall as before the wolf attack, which is still too tall for Sportacus’ liking. Sportacus is tall for an Elf and in Lazytown the only one close to him in height is Stephanie, who is tall for her age. Having to literally look up to Robbie is a little frustrating.

“How’s your ankle?” Robbie asks.

“Like nothing happened,” Sportacus says. He lifts his knee and rolls the ankle to demonstrate.

Unlike last time they all ate together, Penny shifts over one so Sportacus has the seat to Robbie’s left. Robbie raises an eyebrow at this but asks nothing about it, so Sportacus decides not to comment either.

Robo-Rob brings out dinner and Robbie is on his guard right away. “What is all this?” he splutters. Sportacus smirks as Glanni also pushes back in disgust. On the table is salad, roasted vegetables, and mashed cauliflower. There are also juicy sausages and freshly made rolls but neither Fae is staring at those.

“I spoke with Penny and Jives,” Sportacus explains carefully, “and they agreed that we could all use more sports candy in our diet.” It had taken a bit to convince Penny, who thought a vegetable dish every other meal that you had a little bit of was more than enough for a balance diet. “You do not have to like everything but I encourage you to try it.”

“Start again,” Robbie says with hand across his plate like someone might pile it high with salad. “And this time explain what sports candy is.”

“It’s fruits and vegetables!” Jives chirps, pulling the cauliflower closer. “Sportacus explained it’s like candy that gives you energy for sports!”

Robbie glares at Sportacus and Sportacus swears his eyes flash violet for a second. “Do not lie to my servants!”

“I’m not lying!” Sportacus has to bite his cheek to keep from laughing. “It’s true! Fruits and vegetables give you energy to be active.” He takes the bowl of salad and holds it out to Robbie. “Would you like some?”

The glare does not disappear. Robbie slams a fist on the table and calls, “ROBO-ROB!” The kitchen door flies open and Robo-Rob marches through with a glass of chocolate milk. Robbie takes the glass and holds it out to Sportacus. “Would you like some?” He mocks icily.

“No thank you.”

Robbie looks him straight in the eye as he chugs the glass. Sportacus winces. Robbie seems to drink that a lot, which is a ton of sugar even for a Fae. When Robbie’s done he hands the cup back to Robo-Rob with a request for more.

Sportacus knows when to give up a fight. He sighs and asks Glanni to pass the roasted vegetables. He spoons it onto his plate as he watches Robbie ignore every healthy thing on the table and cover his sausage with every condiment one can find in the fridge.

At least the kids seem to be trying it. Ella of course does not eat any but whenever Penny tries to nudge her vegetables off her plate, Ella places them back on. She tries hiding them under her plate, but Ella leans over to drops them into her drink. Jives looks highly amused by the whole thing, though he seems to be struggling too, moving more of his cauliflower around the plate than actually eating any.

Sportacus takes a bite of the roasted vegetables just as he actually looks at them on his plate. He has a moment to wonder how raisins got in there and why are they so smooth— then something sweet hits his tongue and he’s falling backwards.

It feels, to Sportacus, like only a few seconds goes by. But it must have been longer than that because when he opens his eyes, he is lying before the fire, looking up at a panicked Robbie and Jives.

“He’s awake!” Jives yells over his shoulder. Sportacus sits up, blinking back the darkness that comes with a sugar meltdown.

Robbie scoots back, a hand clutching his chest. “What the fuck was that?!”

Sportacus is about to answer when he sees Glanni hanging from the chandelier above the table. “Spirits, you’re alive! Can someone let me down? I didn’t kill him!” Glanni’s face is red from being upside down, dangling with one leg wrapped around the chain. His pink coat is hanging down past his shoulders. The black shirt and pants Sportacus always thought he was wearing underneath appears to actually be a cat suit.

“Why are you up there?”

“They thought this was my fault!”

“It probably was!” Robbie barks up at him.

“So hang the only one who can heal from the ceiling! Makes perfect sense!”

“Nothing you did was working!” Comes Penny’s voice from across the room. She has an arm around Ella, who is shaking.

Robbie stands and doesn’t seem to know whether to look relieved or annoyed. “Answer me!” He snaps, every inch a prince in that instance. “What just happened?!”

Sportacus has to rub at his eyes to give himself a moment to think. “Let’s start from the beginning.” He moves to stand up and Robbie reaches down to lend him a hand, which Sportacus takes even though he feels perfectly fine. “Can someone please get Glanni down? I’m sure he did not mean any harm.”

Penny looks dubious but Ella jumps onto the table and holds out her arms. Glanni untangles his pant leg and lets himself fall. She catches him with surprising strength, lowering him to the ground. Casting Robbie dirty looks, Glanni straightens his pink coat. Ella lands on Glanni’s foot when she hops down from the table.

Penny hurries around the table to get a better look at Sportacus. “We were eating and you just fainted. We couldn’t get you to wake up!”

“Until you fed me sports candy, right?”

Jives, holding up half a carrot, says, “Yeah, I thought maybe you just needed more energy,” at the same time Robbie yells, “So you know what this is?!”

Sportacus addresses Jives first. “Good thinking. That is exactly what happened.” To Robbie he says, “It’s called a sugar meltdown. They happen when I eat sugar.” He notices Glanni has gone pale, despite the fact that blood must have been rushing to his face for a good while. “Who put chocolate chips in the roasted vegetables?”

Everyone at once turns to glare at Glanni, whose guilty expression makes Sportacus chuckle. “How can you laugh at this?” Robbie demands. “He could have killed you!”

“A sugar meltdown can’t kill me,” Sportacus assures. “Like Jives said, all it takes it some sports candy and I’m back to normal.”

Penny is the first to sit back down at the table. “No wonder you don’t like sweets,” she comments. Sportacus nods as he takes his place beside her. The sausages have gone cold but still taste fine. Ella is still standing between Robbie and Glanni. Almost likes she is keeping them from one another.

“I was just annoyed that someone was trying to baby us!” Glanni says to Robbie, who is the only one still glaring at him. “I forgot about the sugar meltdowns!”

Sportacus turns in his chair to regard him fully. “Forgot?”

Glanni blinks before spluttering, “I mean— I mean, I didn’t know! Okay?!” Growl low in his chest, Robbie takes a step towards him. Glanni does not step back but he does lean away slightly. In the firelight their eyes seem to dance with magic. Sportacus puts a hand on his chest. If they start fighting, would his crystal react? Or would he and the kids not be in danger? That seems impossible, given that Ella is between the two Fae, but does the crystal consider her needing protection given that she’s a robot? He has never had to think this much about his crystal before.

After what feels like ages, Ella signs at the two of them. Jives, who had been standing off to the side nervously, nods and quickly jumps to her side. “She’s right! Glanni, apologize!”

The face Glanni makes is akin to the one Stingy makes when asked to let one of the kids borrow something of his. Sportacus hides a snicker behind his hand. “But I didn’t mean to be… mean!” Glanni whines.

“Apologize.” Sportacus feels a jitter down his spine at Robbie’s voice. It is deep, quiet, but commanding. “Now.”  

It should probably be fear Sportacus is feeling but it’s not. The fact that Robbie is demanding this for Sportacus makes his heart skip a beat. He presses a hand to his chest again. What on earth…?

Glanni turns to Sportacus and bows at the waist. “I should not have put something in your food without you knowing. I’m— I’m sorry.”

The tension in Robbie’s shoulders relaxes somewhat, and they relax even further when Sportacus waves his hand at Glanni. “Apology accepted. Maybe I was too enthusiastic with my diet changes. I should not have tried to force foods on you.”

“At least your foods are trying to help us,” Jives grumbles as he sits down. “They aren’t trying to kill us.”

“I would not have died,” Sportacus reminds him.

Ella walks over to Sportacus, pats him on the head, and smiles. He smiles back. “Thank you, Ella.” He says, catching her meaning. Beaming, she pulls up a chair and sits next to him rather than taking her usual place beside to Jives. Sportacus tips the rest of his roasted vegetables onto her plate.

Glanni sits again, dragging the bowl of salad closer to him and dropping some onto his plate. Jives and Robbie both take their seats and it becomes too quiet in the dining room.

Until Jives asks, “So what happens if you eat a chocolate covered strawberry or something?”

“He’d faint, obviously,” Penny says before Sportacus can respond. “The chocolate would hit his tongue first.”

“But once the chocolate’s gone, he could eat the fruit. So wouldn’t he be okay?”

“What if he chews it,” Glanni adds thoughtfully, “and all the chocolate and fruit gets mixed in his mouth? Would they cancel each other out?”

Robbie knocks his hand against the table. “You’re all being stupid. Once the sugar gets in his system, he needs a fruit or vegetable to bring him back, right? So you have to wait for the sugar to be gone. He didn’t wake up just because we got the chocolate chip out of his mouth.” He looks at Sportacus as if for confirmation.

Sportacus can only shrug. “I have never tested my meltdowns.”

At this, Glanni opens his mouth but Robbie says loudly, “We are not experimenting on him.”

“Oh but admit it, you’re curious!”

“Now I wonder how much sugar it has to be,” Penny muses over the two of them. Ella is nodding along. Ella signs and Sportacus looks to Penny for a translation. “She is asking what would happen if you just ate pure sugar.”

“I… I really don’t know?” He replies sheepishly. Should he know this stuff? No one had ever been this curious. Not even Pixel. Though Trixie has slipped him sugar before on purpose so maybe she has been experimenting.

Looking around the table, he notices Jives eating cauliflower without comment. Penny has taken a second helping of vegetables. Both Robbie and Glanni are munching tentatively on salad greens. Sportacus cannot help but grin. Having a positive, though small, effect on their lives makes him feel just a bit more like a hero.

Chapter Text

Milford taps gently on Stephanie’s bedroom door. It’s unlocked, and swings a little wider as he pushes it. “Stephanie?”

His beloved niece sits cross legged on her bed with the kitten in her lap. She is petting it absent mindedly while staring at her diary spread out on the bed in front of her. She doesn’t acknowledge him.

“Stephanie?” Milford tries again.

“Hm?” Stephanie doesn’t look up, but the kitten does. Milford walks over and pets its head. Stephanie flips a page in her diary. It’s a doodle in blue pen of a man with a blue hat and pointed mustache. He doesn’t look familiar to Milford but Stephanie is squinting at his picture.

He clears his throat. “I thought you would be playing with your friends! It’s almost lunch time.”

“They don’t wanna play anymore,” Stephanie says. Her voice is quiet, mournful.

“Why not?” Milford says, surprised. “It’s a lovely day outside! I would have thought you all would be in the park until sundown!”

Stephanie shrugs. “They think I’m weird. They don’t believe me about Sportacus.”

Milford holds in a sigh. That name again. “Stephanie, I’m your uncle. You trust me, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I would never lie to you. Do you believe that?”

She presses her lips together tight, but then says, “Yes.”

Milford stops petting the kitten and rests his hand on her shoulder instead. “I have told you I do not remember anyone passing through here named Sportacus. Long ago we had an Elf in town, but he was Number 9. Not Number 10.” He pauses. “I’m sorry, Stephanie. But Sportacus does not exist.”

He expects her to lash out. To yell at him about this Elf she had made up in her half frozen stupor. But instead Stephanie nods. She turns the page in her diary to another doodle. This one is of the kitten in a tree, with the blue figure flying through the air towards it while the children cheer.

For lack of any better ideas, Milford pats her shoulder and says, “Um, I’m making salad for lunch. Do you want water or juice?”

“… Water.”

With a final pat, Milford leaves the room. The conversation had done nothing to abate his worries for Stephanie. She doesn’t play with any of her friends anymore. She just walks around Lazytown occasionally staring up at Number 9’s airship.

In fact, Milford realizes as he looks out the kitchen window, none of the other kids in town seem to play much. They mostly stay inside, just like before Stephanie came. Scratching his head, Milford continues to make the salad and worry. What Stephanie needs is to stop thinking about this Sportacus person. If Milford could get the others to play with her outside, maybe that would help. But who could encourage them to do such a thing?

The sliver airship floats high above Lazytown. It has done so for as long as Milford can remember. Number 9 had left it there when he left Lazytown.

Perhaps, with a well-written letter, he could be persuaded to return.

The next morning, Sportacus bounds out of the castle wearing the warmest coat he could find in his closet. With the sun shining off the untouched snow, the castle gardens seem to sparkle, and Sportacus could not resist.

“Come on out!” He cries towards the front doors. “Let’s have some fun!”

In the doorway stands the three kids. Jives and Penny are wearing hats and coats and boots. Someone has wrapped a scarf around Ella but she looks largely unaffected by the temperature.

“Why,” Penny says as she crunches through the snow towards him, “are we out here again?”

“Because you cannot spend all day, every day inside!” Sportacus declares. He picks up two handfuls of snow and starts crafting them into a ball. “What should we do first? Snowball fight? Make a snowman? Snow angels?”

“Can we skip right to the part where we go inside for hot chocolate?” Jives grumbles through the thick scarf around his chin. Ella mimics Sportacus’ actions, creating a perfect snow ball.

Sportacus shakes his head with a snort. “I promise you can have hot chocolate later. Let’s have a snowball fight. That will warm you up.”

Penny immediately waves her hands in the air. “I get to be on Sportacus’ team!”

Ella steps closer to Jives and Sportacus nods. “Okay. Let’s go!”

It is the most activity Sportacus has seen in days. It feels amazing to move around and burn off energy. Ella makes a solid snow fort in half the time it takes Penny and Sportacus to make theirs. Jives, as it turns out, has decent aim and almost always hits Sportacus square in the back. Sportacus has to gently but firmly dissuade Penny from putting rocks in her snowballs. She is a quick one, using the various arches and hedges around the grounds to her advantage. Soon the garden is filled with the sounds of shouts of outrage, laughter, and everyone yelling strategy ideas to their teammate.

“How do we know whose winning?” Penny asks Sportacus as the pair create more snowballs behind their fort.

“You don’t. Usually one team forfeits. Or, in Lazytown, the fight would end when someone started arguing.”

“How many kids are in Lazytown?”

“Five. Sometimes the Mayor and Ms. Busybody join too.”

Penny’s eyes widen. “Those must be big teams then! That would be so much fun!”

A spike of sadness hits Sportacus’ gut even as he smiles over at her. Because of the curse, there is almost no chance Penny, Jives, and Ella will ever play in that big of a group. Lazytown had seemed small to Sportacus before but, after being locked up in a castle with only four people for company, Lazytown is starting to seem overcrowded.

A snowball zips clean over their fort. Penny cannot resist peeking her head out the top. “You missed big time!” Another snowball hits her right in the face, making her topple backward. Sportacus can hear Jives cheering across the way. Penny sits right up, wiping her face, and grabs a snowball from her pile. Sportacus cannot hold in a laugh at the rage in her face.

The fights goes on until Jives, jumping out of the way of a snowball aimed by Penny, falls into his team’s own fort and crushes it. In revenge, Ella covers him in an armload of snow. Penny and Sportacus laugh over his muffled apologies.

To make it up to Ella, Jives suggests they all work together to build a bigger, better fort. “Or,” Sportacus suggests, “how about we make an igloo?”

Ella claps excitedly at the idea and signs to Penny. “You got it!” She tugs at Sportacus’ sleeve. “Let’s find a nice flat spot. She and Jives are gonna bring snow over.”

Near the front gate, they find an area big enough for a decent sized igloo. Using a stick from the woods, the four of them map out how big to make the starting circle of bricks. Sportacus packs together a sample brick size. “This would be easier with Pixel,” he mutters to no one in particular.

“Who’s Pixel?” Jives asks, adding more snow onto his brick.

“He’s a boy in Lazytown who’s good at planning things. He would have made a blueprint of the igloo.”

“There’s that name again,” comes a voice behind Sportacus. “If you’re trying to make me jealous again, it won’t work.”

“Master!” Jives says, jumping up with a grin. “Can you help us?”

Sportacus turns to find Robbie looming behind them. He is wearing his thick fur cloak again. It does not look damaged at all by their fight in the woods. Probably Glanni’s magic again. He scowls at the haphazard circle of bricks they have made so far. “What could you possibly be doing?”

“Making an igloo!” Penny explains.

“Why are you making it oval shaped?”

“It’s a circle,” Sportacus says sheepishly.

“It most certainly is not.” Ella holds out the stick and Robbie grabs it, marching over to move their bricks. After a few minutes, he steps back and lays out a better circle. “There! Now let’s try this again.”

And just like that, Prince Robbie is helping them build an igloo.

“I saw you all playing in the snow from my window,” Robbie mentions to Sportacus as the kids gather more snow to their spot. “I was trying to figure out how you got them out here in the freezing cold.”

Sportacus snorts. “It is not that cold. Not in the sun at least.” His warming spell helps as well but he does not feel the need to say so.

Robbie pats more snow together. Apart from his cloak, he is not wearing anything to protect himself from the cold. Not even gloves or mittens. Sportacus wonders if he is also using magic. It’s very likely. Fae magic specializes in manipulating the body, according to everything Sportacus had heard.

“Your home is cold too, right?”

The question snaps Sportacus out of his train of thought. “Oh, yes. It is very far north. How did you know?”

“Glanni said most Sports Elves live up north.”

“How does Glanni know that?”

Robbie shrugs. “I’ve known Glanni my whole life and I couldn’t explain anything about him. Except the coat. He apparently worked hard to steal it and wants to gets the most out of it.” Sportacus should probably find it shocking that Glanni has a criminal past but instead he finds it a little funny that a fuzzy pink coat would be hard to steal. “So you like this kind of weather then?” Robbie asks, changing the subject. “The snow and everything? You seem happy playing in it.”

Jives comes over and drops a bunch of snow beside them. He then takes a few of their bricks and places them expertly on the ever-growing wall of them, exactly how Robbie had demonstrated. “I do like it,” Sportacus says, watching Jives. “But I miss warmer weather. Part of the reason I left home was to be someplace you could keep a garden almost year round. At home we only have a few warm months a year.”

Robbie seems surprised. “You like gardening?”

“It’s my favorite activity after exercise,” Sportacus confesses. “Right above knitting.”

“Knitting?!” Robbie almost drops his snow brick. “Really? It sounds like it would be too boring for you.”

The look of incredulity on Robbie’s face makes Sportacus laugh. “It’s relaxing!” Sportacus says, almost defensively. Robbie still looks like his whole world view has been shifted.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sportacus spots Ella and Penny with armfuls of snow sneaking up behind Robbie. Predicting the mayhem that’s about to ensue, Sportacus scoots back a bit. Sure enough, the girls dump the snow onto Robbie. He shoots up with a yelp and shakes the snow off, jumping and hollering about the wet cold. Then he starts chasing the two around the yard, Penny laughing and keeping a tight hold on Ella’s hand.

How, Sportacus wonders, can this be the same person who captured Stephanie and terrified him a week ago? True, he is no Prince Charming, but the scene before Sportacus was sweet. Endearing.

Robbie had been shocked to hear Sportacus enjoys knitting. Obviously there was a lot they simply had not seen about each other. 

An hour later, the igloo is nearly finished. Ella insists it needs decorations. She, Penny, and Jives take off for the edge of the forest to gather sticks to make a “welcome mat”. Sitting beside the entrance, Sportacus makes a small snowman. “He lives here,” Sportacus explains, which makes Robbie roll his eyes. “You make one. They can be friends.”

“Snowmen don’t have friends,” Robbie points out.

“You just don’t know how to make one,” Sportacus taunts. He adds little eyes and a nose made out of tree bark as Robbie sits next to him with a growl. In moments, Robbie creates a snowman twice the size of Sportacus’.

Smirking, Robbie takes the bark from Sportacus and snaps off pieces for his snowman. His claws, however, make it hard for him to work so delicately. He growls again when the head nearly crumbles as he tries to stuff the nose on. “This is stupid.”

“Let me help.” Sportacus gently takes Robbie’s wrist to stop him. With his other hand, Sportacus packs on more snow to stabilize the head. Together, with Sportacus’ gentle touch, they make a nice face.

Robbie traces the side of the snowman’s head with a claw. “… Thanks,” he says, not looking at Sportacus.

“You are—” There is a shriek from his chest. Sportacus and Robbie both jump. Sportacus scrambles for the cord around his neck. His crystal is flashing and beeping. “Someone’s in trouble!” He cries, getting to his feet. The crystal wills him towards the forest and Sportacus does not hesitate.

With a burst of speed he takes off past the gates. The danger is clear immediately: Ella is holding onto Penny with one hand and a branch with the other, the pair dangling high up in a tree. The branch has almost snapped through the middle; the only thing holding it together is a sheet of ice. Jives is running in circles below them as if ready to catch them both.

Penny sees Sportacus and redundantly yells, “HELP!”

Sportacus pauses a second to take in his surroundings and, with a clear plan, springs into action. First he runs up the side of an equally tall tree and backflips off it, landing on a sturdy branch just below the girls. Then he crouches low and reaches for Penny. She has to swing a bit but she grabs his hand and he pulls her to him. She wraps his arms around his neck, eyes wide. Sportacus holds out a hand for Ella just as the branch snaps. On the ground, Jives shouts in alarm. Holding Penny tight, Sportacus swings so the branch is under the bend of his knee and grabs Ella’s arm. The branch falls into the snow with a thump.

With both girls clinging to him, Sportacus quickly flips around to land feet first on the branch below them. Jives managed to avoid the fallen branch. Robbie is staring up at him in faint amazement.

“That was close,” Penny says, teeth chattering. Ella nods.

As they are only a few feet from the ground at this point, Sportacus does one last flip and lands safely on the ground. He lets Ella and Penny down gently where they are accosted by Robbie.

“What were you two doing?!” He cries, waving his arms. “Why would you climb a half frozen tree?! We’re building an igloo, not a treehouse!”

“We just wanted to get some more decorations!” Penny defends.

Jives runs up and hugs them both before Robbie can get in another word. “You two okay?” He asks.

Penny hugs him back, shaking slightly with the adrenaline wearing off. “Y-Yeah. That was scary.” Ella wraps her arms around the pair of them, looking up at Robbie with puppy dog eyes. Which should be impossible on a robot but Sportacus can think of no other way to describe them.

Robbie heaves out a sigh and tugs his cloak tighter around him. “I’m glad you’re both okay. Let’s get inside. I’m starving.”

“But what about the igloo?” Penny asks as they pass their creation.

“It’s not like it’s gonna melt. You can come back and play in it this afternoon.”

With that reassurance, Penny and Jives run ahead, calling that they will get lunch ready. Ella holds onto Sportacus’ arm with both hands. When he looks down at her, she just smiles and walks beside him.

“I really need to learn sigh language,” he sighs.

“I’ll teach you,” Robbie says quickly. “You don’t want Glanni teaching you. Trust me. Also,” he taps Sportacus’ chest, “what the hell was that?”

Sportacus holds up his crystal. “This? It lets me know when someone’s in danger.”

They stop walking briefly so Robbie can look over the crystal. “What kind of danger?”

“All kinds. I have saved the kids in Lazytown from bruises, breaking limbs, and losing their lives.”

Robbie looks alarmed by that. “How dangerous has Lazytown become?!”

Sportacus chuckles. “Not very. Kids will be kids.”

Chapter Text

That day, a routine was established.

Now whenever the weather isn’t stormy, Sportacus and the kids go out after breakfast to play outside. Sometimes they build. Sometimes they play games. Sometimes they make up games. Robbie finds it doesn’t bother him to have his two servants play around for a good portion of the day. They still keep up with their chores and really, it’s refreshing to see them having fun.

“And I hate to admit it but having a bit more green in our dinners does make keeping up with them easier,” Robbie adds when he brings this up with Glanni.

Glanni hums like he’s maybe not giving Robbie his full attention. He has the end of a pencil in his mouth, staring down at a small notebook intently. “What about a library?”

Robbie looks away from the window. Outside, Sportacus and the kids are building a snowman that looks a lot like Sugar Pie. Refusing to model, Sugar Pie runs around them. Occasionally he causes someone to break part of the snow sculpture. But that only seems to make the others laugh. “What about a library?”

“What if you gave Sportacus a library?”

“I mean. We have a library. Do you want me to make a new one for him?”

“You could show him where it is?”

“He knows where it is. We meet there every day.” With a curse, Glanni crosses something off in the notebook. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to think of things you can give Sportacus!” Glanni explains, exasperated. “We live in a huge castle! We must have something special you can give Sportacus to impress him!”

“Oh. That.”

“Yes that,” Glanni says primly. “I saw the flower this morning and decided to be more proactive.”

“I actually came up with something.”

“And when were you going to tell me that?!”

“When it was closer to being done!” Robbie snaps back. “It needs cleaning first. And I don’t want to ask the kids for help so it’s slow going.”

“Not for long,” Glanni says, pushing off from the wall he has been leaning against and rolling up his sleeves. The notebook and pencil fall to the floor. “What are we cleaning? Lemme at it.”

Robbie places a hand on his shoulder. “I want to do it alone. It’ll be more personal that way.”

Glanni frowns. “He won’t know that I’ve helped.”

“I know but…” Robbie looks away. Maybe this is a stupid idea.

Glanni curses. “Alright. I’ll leave you to it. Just let me inspect whatever it is before you show Sportacus.” He sighs and rests back against the wall of the hallway. “I thought you wanted my help with this.”

“Oh rest assured, I have no idea what I’m doing,” Robbie says. “I’m going to need your help with many other things before this is all done.”

He turns and watches out the window again. The snowdog has been forgotten, replaced by another snowball fight. Sportacus runs around, barely more than a blur, as he dodges snow and lands theatrical hits. He jumps up onto an archway, landing in a handstand. All three kids aim at him but he moves he legs and arms in such a way that nothing hits. Robbie can’t hold in a fond smile at the display.

Standing next to him now, Glanni nudges Robbie’s side. “Ready to admit you have a soft spot?”

Robbie presses his head against the cold windowpane. “Maybe.”

“Why is this so hard for you?” Glanni asks softly in a rare moment of seriousness. “The curse wants you to love someone.”

“Because… what if it doesn’t work? What if I can’t get him to love me? What if I pour in all this emotion and it blows up in my face?” His words puff against the window, making it fog. It blocks the view into the gardens. “I would be worse off than before.”

Glanni wraps an arm around his shoulders, pulling Robbie back up. He uses his free hand to wipe away the fog. “You won’t know until you try. It might hurt, but it also might not. You won’t find out unless you act.”

They stand in silence. Robbie thinks over his cousin’s words. Glanni might not remember being married but he still gives great advice from time to time. If— when— this curse broke, he’s going to make finding Glanni’s partner his new priority.

“Oh shit!” Glanni unwinds himself and presses his hands against the window. “Did you see that shot?! Penny’s got an arm!”

Below them, Penny and Jives are arguing as Jive shakes snow off the back of his head. Sugar Pie is busy demolishing the rest of the snowdog. Ella stands beside Sportacus, who looks to be trying to stop the shouting.

“That’s our cue, I think,” Robbie says, turning to walk down the hall towards the stairs. “Time for lunch.”

Lunch is chicken noodle soup with so many vegetables that Robbie can barely eat it. The broth’s good and the chicken is juicy, but he leaves most of his carrots and celery in the bowl. Those who had been outside cup their hands around their bowls and are over-excited about the fresh, still-warm bread Robo-Rob brings out. As if forgetting he’s made of metal, Sugar Pie curls up in front of the fire place.

Afterwards, while everyone else digs into a small dessert of cookies, Robbie grabs a handful and drags Sportacus out of the dining room for sign language practice. Robbie has been conducting their lessons in the library. It has the luxury of privacy without either of them being uncomfortable in each other’s rooms.

They settle in their now usual spots: Sportacus on the floral couch, Robbie in the armchair across from him, the coffee table between them both. Robbie munches his cookies as he demands, “Go through the alphabet.”

They start every lesson like this, and Sportacus obliges. He still mixes up his S and A but at least he fixes them quickly now. That done, Robbie teaches him a few new words, adding in ones they went over yesterday.

“No, that was ‘please’. ‘Sorry’ is with a closed fist,” Robbie corrects. He makes the sign again.

Sportacus frowns and mimics him. “Like this?”

“That’s better. There’s a few signs that are close like that. You should be able to get them in context. And remember— don’t feel bad if you have to ask Ella to slow down. She knows you’re trying.”

Sportacus nods. He moves through a few more new words before he speaks again. “Ella has been really attached to me recently.”

Robbie stuffs a third cookie in his mouth whole. “You saved her life,” he points out, trying not to spray crumbs.

“Yes, but Penny is acting the same as normal.”

“I think Ella just didn’t expect you to.”

Sportacus sits up straighter. “What? Why wouldn’t I?”

“She’s a robot, Sportacus. If she had fallen, the worst that would have happened is I would have to repair a dent or two. You saved her like she’s a real kid.”

“… She is a real kid.”

“I made her.”

“Human children are made too,” Sportacus argues. “Ella is no less real for how she was made.”

“Ella’s never met other people besides us. Who knows how anyone else would react to her being a robot?” Robbie shrugs. “You asked me why she was clingy. That’s why. You’re her new favorite. Congratulations.”

Sportacus sits back, mulling that over. Robbie takes advantage of the short break to finish his cookies. He feels a bit weird eating sweets in front of Sportacus. There’s no risk of some sugar flying off and landing in the Elf’s mouth or anything, but he doesn’t want Sportacus to think he’s mocking him.

“Does Ella have a… purpose?”

Robbie, who had been shaking crumbs off his shirt, looks up. “A purpose?”

“Penny said she sometimes helps with chores around the castle but otherwise does what she wants.” Sportacus leans forward, resting his chin in one hand thoughtfully while his right hand goes through the alphabet again. “Sugar Pie and Robo-Rob have a purpose. Does Ella have one the kids do not know about?”

A few ways to change the topic come to mind but Robbie shoves them aside. There is no point hiding this, no matter how embarrassing Robbie found it. “Just after the curse,” Robbie begins, “I was too busy sulking to really pay attention to anyone else. Glanni kept the castle going. Penny and Jives were younger and the only children left in the castle. The only people, besides us. So I created Ella to… be their friend, I suppose. Robo-Rob will take orders from anyone and doesn’t have much personality. Sugar Pie acts more or less like a real dog but is under my complete control. But Ella is free to do what she wants. She can disobey, she can make her own decisions.” He waves a hand around them to indicate the whole castle. “Hell, she could technically leave here if she wanted. She isn’t bound by the curse like the rest of us.”

Sportacus hums. “So, she really doesn’t have a purpose. Apart from being herself.”

“Correct.” They have gone completely off topic. Robbie senses a grand debate about ‘purpose’ coming on. “I have a few more common words for you. Ella might not use these much but you might come across them while hero-ing.”

Chuckling, Sportacus holds up his hands like he’s ready to spar. “Okay. I’m ready.”

After a few new signs Sportacus asks, “Wait, that’s the sign for father?” He puts his thumb on his forehead, his other fingers pointing straight up.

“Right.”

“Isn’t that Ella’s sign for you? I have seen her do it a lot.”

“She gives people names based on signs she associates with them. For me, she makes that sign while using her fingers of the same hand to make R.”

Sportacus smiles. “That’s sweet.”

Robbie has no idea what to say to that. He’s certainly not going to tell Sportacus that he nearly teared up when she first gave him that name.

They stop after about an hour. As per the new routine they have all somehow settled into, Sportacus goes up to his room to shower and change from being outside all morning. Robbie goes off on his own to work on his ‘gift’. The kids do their chores around the castle.

They meet up again for dinner. There are certainly more vegetables on the tables than before. Robbie always makes a show of reviewing each new healthy dish, declaring it somewhere between “no better than dirt” and “not an atrocity”. At first he worried about offending Sportacus but Sportacus seems to find these as amusing as the others.

Once he tried a plate of broccoli and couldn’t find a bad word to say about it. So he just glared at Sportacus and took the plate for himself. The recipe has made several appearances since.

After dessert, everyone usually turns in for the night. Robbie paces the West Wing most evenings. He could get used to these days. Watching the kids have fun, spending time with Sportacus in private, eating.

But one glace at the sunflower reminds him not to get comfortable. With every day of fun, another petal seals their fate.

The spare bedroom has always unnerved Íþróttaálfurinn. For all his life it has been either a room for relatives needing to stay the night or storage for Íþró’s parents. Yet the room always feels lived in. Personalized. As if someone has only just moved out and the room still holds some of their identity. Maybe it’s the blue-centric decoration; something not found in the rest of the house. Maybe it’s the bookmarked books on the shelf. Maybe it is the covers that smell like someone Íþró can’t identify.

Whatever the case, Íþró does not stay long in this room. He goes through the closet until he finds the bigger suitcase and all but runs out again. His bedroom is a lot more inviting, though it is currently untidy due to his packing.

Íþró reads over the letter from Lazytown’s Mayor Meanswell again. The man sounds sad about the state of the town’s children, particularly his niece. Stephanie sounds like a delightful child. Íþró cannot imagine why the others would not play with her.

With a thoughtful sigh, he resumes packing. He does remember visiting Lazytown before, yet something else nags at his memory. It makes him think of all those letters in his desk drawer, signed by a name Íþró does not recognize. Has a past mayor of Lazytown written to him before perhaps?

Íþró shakes the feeling away and folds an extra shirt. He is almost ready to go. If the winds favor his hot air balloon, he should be in Lazytown by next month. Maybe upon arriving something will fill the gaps in his memory and some part of this mystery will be solved.

With everything packed, Íþró takes a look around his room. Clothes, toothbrush, snacks, sports equipment; yes, everything looks ready to go.

Except one thing.

Íþró turns toward his dresser where a small, plain box sits. Crossing the room, Íþró strokes his beard and stares at the box contemplatively. Every time he travels he keeps the contents of the box with him. It feels strange to be too far from it; he cannot say why. One day he just woke up with it. No memory attached. This time, for this visit, it feels imperative that he bring the box.

Carefully, as if afraid to break it, Íþró lifts the box and looks in. Relief courses through him upon seeing the object inside unharmed.

Íþró pulls out the gold ring and holds it up to the light.

It shines brightly; as well it should, Íþró cleans it often enough. Though he has no idea how he came by this ring it always feels important that it is cared for.

With a nod to himself, Íþró replaces the band and closes the box. He tucks in securely into the innermost pocket in his bag. Satisfied, Íþró gathers up his things and makes his ways towards the air balloon.

Lazytown needs his help.

And no one knows sports like Íþróttaálfurinn.

Chapter Text

Despite his previous self-enforced isolation, Sportacus does enjoy his room in Robbie’s castle. The windows are tall and give a wonderful view of the grounds. When it is not snowing, stars pierce through the dark winter sky and twinkle like they are begging for wishes.

The room also faces east, which means the sun wakes Sportacus up every morning. Even with the bed taking up much of the middle, the room is big enough for Sportacus to do his warm up exercises. He’s getting used to not wearing his uniform; the variety of clothes in his wardrobe is almost exciting to pick from every day.

It’s well into the afternoon when Sportacus gets back to his room to change. He takes off his puffy vest jacket and peels away the soaked sweater underneath. The kids had gotten the idea to stuff snow down his back. It had been funny at the time, and fun to get revenge, but lunch had been uncomfortable. Now he relishes putting on a fresh shirt and warm socks.

There’s a knock on his door just as he hangs up his scarf by the fire. “Sportacus? Can I come in?”

The voice makes Sportacus smile on reflex. Robbie hadn’t been at lunch, and despite Glanni’s assurances Sportacus had been a little concerned. Without hesitation, Sportacus opens the door. “Sure! Come in.”

Robbie steps inside just as it occurs to Sportacus that Robbie has not been in here since that first night almost two months ago. It looks a bit more lived in now. Books from the library are stacked neatly against the wall. There is a coffee table with various objects on it that Sportacus has been using for weigh training. On his night stand is a bowl of apples.

“Where have you been?” Sportacus asks as Robbie looks around. “We didn’t have our lessons this week. I have barely seen you.”

“I’ve been working,” Robbie says vaguely. He turns to Sportacus with a smile. “There’s something I want to show you.”

After instructing Sportacus to put his boots back on, Robbie leads them out of the room. They go down to the ground floor, down a hallway, and stop at a plain looking door. Sportacus has never been here before. The hallway is a bit cramped and the only other room is a closet, slightly ajar. Perhaps neither Penny nor Jives deemed it important enough to show him on their first tour.

Robbie opens the door a crack before shutting it again with a calculating look at Sportacus. “Close your eyes.”

Sportacus raises an eyebrow.

“Please? It’s a surprise.”

Robbie seems sincere enough so Sportacus closes his eyes. He hears the door open. Then a warm hand takes him gently by the wrist. Robbie’s claws rest lightly on Sportacus’ skin; not painful in the slightest. Robbie is being so careful as he pulls Sportacus forward. It makes Sportacus’ heart flutter.

They step through the doorway. It’s suddenly cold and Sportacus can hear the crunch of snow under his boots. He’s about to ask Robbie if he should have put on a coat when he hears another door open. Robbie guides him through into sudden warmth. Did they double back into the castle?

“Can I open my eyes yet?”

“Not yet. Stay here.” Robbie lets go of Sportacus and he can hear Robbie rustling around. The door behind Sportacus closes.

“Now?”

“What part of ‘surprise’ don’t you understand?”

Sportacus chuckles. “Sorry.”

There is more shuffling. Then, “Okay, open them.”

Another quip is on the tip of Sportacus’ tongue but it dissolves as he opens his eyes. He’s standing in the middle of a greenhouse. Six rows of fresh soil, two against either wall and two down the middle, use up most of the space. Pots hang from the ceiling. The table next to the door holds bowls of seeds, various trowels, and gardening gloves. In the corner are bags of mulch. Inside it is warm, almost humid, and it makes the snow by the windows outside surreal.

Robbie stands off to the side, watching him, holding onto a curtain he had evidently just pulled open. Sportacus does a small turn in the greenhouse, taking in the smell of earth.

“Is… is there where you’ve been?” Sportacus asks, laying a hand on one of the terracotta pots above them.

“Yes,” Robbie answers immediately. “You mentioned you missed gardening and I remembered this place. No one’s used it in a long time, so it needed fixing up.” He seems excited to tell Sportacus; as if he was waiting for this moment. “I had Glanni help me with the finer details and Sugar Pie helped me dig up all the soil. But mostly it’s been me down here setting everything straight.”

Sportacus takes in the new wood on the staging and the fresh paint on the tables. Emotions mix in his chest; joy and awe and the excitement of creating life and gratitude and— “You did this just for me?”

“Yes.” Robbie clears his throat. “Do you like it?”

“I love it!” 

Overcome, Sportacus grabs Robbie around the middle and hugs him tight. It will be so good to work with his hands again! To grow things! He can already picture showing Jives, Penny, and Ella how to care for plants. It will also feel good to have a place of his own besides his bedroom. A place where he doesn’t feel like a guest or in the way.

It takes a moment to realize Robbie isn’t hugging Sportacus back. In fact, the Fae feels stiff. Sportacus looks up and sees Robbie’s eyes are wide, as if he’s being attacked. “Sorry!” Sportacus jumps back. “I should not have—”

“It… it’s fine.” Robbie curls and uncurls his hands, staring into the middle distance. “No one usually… for a long time…” His eyes snap to Sportacus’. He clears his throat and holds up his arms. “Can we try again?”

Sportacus suppresses a laugh. Robbie looks just as lost as when Penny had hugged him around the neck the night of the wolves. With a soft smile, Sportacus steps forward and wraps his arms around Robbie again. Robbie moves slowly but eventually, he’s hugging Sportacus back. Elated, Sportacus rests his cheek against Robbie’s chest. Sometimes Robbie height is intimidating but in this moment it’s a comfort.

After a few moments of listening to Robbie’s heartbeat, they pull away. Sportacus makes a show of looking around the greenhouse some more to give Robbie time to compose himself.

“I—” Robbie coughs. “I gathered seeds from the fruit in the kitchen. And one or two from Jives.” He points to the bowls on the table. “This place is yours now so feel free to do whatever you like.”

“Thank you.” Sportacus keeps his hands to himself and just smiles at Robbie. “Thank you so much. And,” he tries to sound casual so as not to embarrass Robbie further, “you are welcome to come by anytime.”

Robbie’s eyes trace Sportacus before he nods. Then he turns and leaves the room.

After stepping back into the castle and taking several deep breaths, Robbie goes looking for Glanni. It takes longer than it should. The castle is large, sure, but Glanni usually makes an appearance whether you need him or not. For him to not be waiting outside the greenhouse eavesdropping meant he was up to something.

Eventually, Robbie’s feet carry him to the ballroom. It hasn’t been used for anything apart from storage since the night the curse was cast. Now Glanni stands in the middle of it, ordering Penny and Jives.

“You missed a spot over there!” He calls to Penny, who is holding a broom and examining the floor.

“Where?”

“To your left!” He groans. “Your other left!” She scampers over to the spot and sweeps dutifully. It is then that Glanni notices Robbie. “Ah ha! Prince Charming himself returns!”

Robbie’s still a little overwhelmed and lets the comment go. “What are you doing?”

“I have an idea and we need this room.” Without giving Robbie time to ask, he plows on. “So? What happened? Was he happy?”

“He… he loved it.” Robbie has trouble believing it but it’s true. Sportacus seems genuinely excited to be able to grow plants again. “He thanked me. Even hugged me.” The blush that rises to his face feels juvenile. He had romanced enough people as a prince that hugging shouldn’t have seemed so intimate.

And yet, Sportacus had done so without a thought for Robbie threatening appearance. The memory makes Robbie’s heart flip in his chest.

Glanni nudges his side. “You’re adorable. Look at you fidgeting.”

“I’m not fidgeting,” Robbie retorts even as his fingers tangle in his cloak repeatedly. Glanni simply hums. “I’m just happy it worked.”

“You look puzzled.”

“It worked really well. It was really just a room in the castle I cleaned up.”

“Yeah, but you did it on your own. For someone else’s use. It’s cute.”

They are interrupted by Jives calling across the room. “What should I do with this coat rack?!”

“Maybe put it with the dozen or so other coat racks?” Glanni points towards the left side of the room where a small collection of wooden racks has been assembled. As Jives carries it over, Glanni turns back to Robbie. “Why do we have so many?”

“Do I look like an interior designer to you?”

“It’s your castle.”

“What’s your idea?” Robbie asks before they can wander further off subject.

Glanni winks and puts a finger to his lips. “All in due time. Now why don’t you wander around and overthink things for a bit? I’ll calm you down after dinner.”

“Why do you think I came here in the first place? I need help deciding my next move!”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Glanni asks with a wave at the room in general. “Do you wanna stay and help?”

“Not if you won’t tell me what you’re doing!”

“Then off with you, my prince.”

The low bow is enough to make Robbie growl and stomp from the room. Let Glanni keep his secrets. Maybe Robbie does need a moment to process things.

He finds himself walking out the front doors to the gardens. Before Sportacus and his incessant need to be outside, Robbie hadn’t spent much time on the castle grounds. Now it’s almost a source of comfort— the sunshine off the snow and the fresh air reminds Robbie of Sportacus. A few blue birds fly low, peck at a hedge, then take off again. Robbie watches them.

For the first time, Robbie turns his thoughts towards the power keeping Sportacus here. Really it is just due to Sportacus taking that pink girl’s— Stephanie’s— place. Robbie hums and makes his way over to the spot where he had found her. The rose bush is pristine despite the weather. The rose she pulled has long since been blown away by storms.

“Would you go if you could?” Robbie mutters, turning in the direction of the greenhouse. Sportacus often speaks of Lazytown with a note of longing. Of course he would miss his friends there. But is he not happy spending his days with Jives, Ella, and Penny? Aren’t he and Robbie friends now too?

The birds fade into the distance and Robbie’s heart grows heavy. There has to be a way to free Sportacus of their curse. Robbie is a genius; if anyone can figure out it’s him.

But does he want to let Sportacus go?

The question bugs Robbie the rest of the night. He knows he’s quiet at dinner but doesn’t try to do anything about it. The kids don’t notice— Jives uses his spoon to flick peas at Penny and Penny tries to catch them in her mouth. Ella silently keeps track of how many Penny catches. Sportacus somehow berates them for wasting food while simultaneously giving them pointers on aim and agility. Glanni loudly bets with anyone who will answer.

When dessert is done, Sportacus whisks away dishes and retreats to the kitchen. No one protests anymore when he takes a turn cleaning up meals. Penny even admitted once that it doesn’t feel like Sportacus is much of a guest anymore.

“Can he help us with chores then?” Jives had asked. Penny just punched his arm.

Robbie is grateful Sportacus is distracted. It means he doesn’t have to be subtle when he grabs Glanni and drags him into the ballroom. The space is cleaner than before, but still cluttered. The handrails for the stairs on the far side of the room need fixing as well, and Robbie’s pretty sure the dust on the curtains of the tall windows could choke a kelpie.

“Yes, my liege?” Glanni says.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re working on in here?”

“Nope.”

“Then I won’t waste time asking,” Robbie hurries on before Glanni can make a snide remark. “Do you really think Sportacus can fall for me here?”

Glanni narrows his eyes. “Where?”

“Here. In the castle none of us can leave. I mean, is that really a good start to a relationship?”

That seems to actually stun Glanni into thoughtful silence. On the one hand, it’s satisfying that Robbie has finally come up with something Glanni hasn’t considered before. On the other hand, he’s so used to Glanni being able to almost instantly put him at ease that for Glanni to not have an immediate answer is frightening.

Maybe Glanni shouldn’t have sent him off to overthink.

“Uh…” Glanni began after a moment. “I mean… it’s not like you are keeping him here.”

“Am I not?!” Robbie turns away to run his claws through his hair. “He wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been so harsh with Stephanie!”

“She took something from the castle! Without him she wouldn’t have been able to leave! Don’t forget, I eavesdropped on that whole conversation. At no point did you make him swap with the girl.”

That point does abate Robbie’s worries somewhat. Sportacus isn’t even bound to his room anymore or only allowed to eat with Robbie. He has as much freedom as the rest of them.

Glanni puts a hand on his shoulder. “Remember— the curse will be lifted with genuine love. When he falls for you, it’ll be real. Not you tricking him.” He cups Robbie’s face, a soft smile on his lips. “You really care about his happiness, don’t you? You sap.”

Robbie gives him a light shove. “You’re the sap. Speaking of, where’s that list you were making of romantic gestures? I need more ideas.”

“You let me take care of that.”

“… Glanni, it doesn’t have the desired effect if you make the romantic gesture.”

“What I mean is: now that I can cross “calm down idiot cousin” off my list for tonight, I can tell you my master plan!” When Robbie looks as unimpressed as he can make himself, Glanni does a turn in the middle of the room, arms out. “My prince, we are going to throw a ball!”

Chapter Text

A gaggle of children follow Íþró’s air balloon as he hunts for a landing spot in Lazytown. He waves down at them. They wave back. He touches down near the center of town and flips out of the basket. The four children run up to him clapping.

“Who’re you?!” A boy in yellow asks. A boy with orange hair walks clear past Íþró to the air balloon, writing in a small notebook.

“I am Number 9!” He points to the patch on his breastplate. “My name is Íþróttaálfurinn. Your Mayor wrote to me asking for help. But it looks like you are all outside already!”

“Pixel picked you up on his radar,” a girl with pigtails explains. The final child is a boy holding a lollipop. He stares at Íþró, mouth slightly open. Íþró thinks maybe his sudden appearance has scared the boy. It wouldn’t be the first time he has alarmed a child. Fortunately, he knows how to calm them down.

As the pigtailed child joins the boy with orange hair by the balloon, Íþró kneels in front of the younger boy. “Hello. What is your name?”

“I’m Ziggy,” he answers softly, clutching the candy closer like it’s a stuffed toy.

“I have a very special task for you, Sir Ziggy.”

At the title, Ziggy perks up. He smiles for the first time and says, “You do?”

“Yes! I need you to find Mayor Meanswell and bring him here. Do you think you can do that?”

Ziggy salutes him. “You can count on me!”

“Good luck!”

Smile widening, Ziggy takes off. Íþró chuckles, happy he could set Ziggy at ease so fast. He stands up as the boy in yellow clears his throat. “I guess no one told you but I am King Stingy,” the boy says, hand to his chest. “So you have to call me sir, too.”

Holding back a chuckle, Íþró bows low. “Of course, King Stingy. Thank you for being here to welcome me into town.”

Stingy lifts his chin high. “Let me introduce you to my lackeys.” He waves a hand at the two by the balloon. “This is Pixel and Trixie.”

“Hey!” Trixie picks her head up. “I’m not a lackey!”

“Me neither!” Pixel protests.

“What are you two doing?” Íþró asks as Pixel leans over to look at his suitcase. He has the sudden urge to snap at the kid to get away from there; the ring box is inside and something in Íþró is screaming for it to be protected. But that’s absurd. Pixel can’t do anything to the ring. Íþró takes a breath to calm himself.

“I’ve never seen a hot air balloon before!” Pixel says as he scribbles in the notebook. “I’m gathering data.”

Trixie pulls herself into the basket. “I’m just nosey. Why’d you bring so many sports things? Are you moving in?”

“Yes, I use sports equipment in all of my decorating,” Íþró jokes. 

“Hello!”

Íþró turns to find a balding man in a brown suit approaching them. Leading him is Ziggy, looking proud of himself. “Was I fast enough?!” Ziggy asks, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Íþró pats his head in answer.

“Number 9, it is wonderful to see you!” Says the man in the suit. He steps forward to shake Íþró’s hand. “Welcome to Lazytown!”

“Thank you for inviting me, Mayor Meanswell.”

“Oh please, call me Milford. Everyone does!”

Trixie makes a face. “Ugh, if the adults are gonna start talking then let’s go back to Pixel’s place.”

“Yeah, so I can keep beating you all at Super Power Lizards,” Pixel taunts. He closes the notebook and races back to his home, Trixie trailing behind him and calling that she will win this time. Stingy takes off after them, yelling that they wouldn’t dare start without him.

Ziggy alone hesitates. He looks back up at Íþró, spinning his pop. “Are you gonna save the day?”

A little taken aback, Íþró kneels down again. “Save the day how?”

“Talk to Stephanie. Make her happy again,” Ziggy states simply. The anguish in his young eyes breaks Íþró’s heart.

Íþró ruffles the boy’s hair again. “I will do my best.”

With a small smile, Ziggy runs to catch up with his friends. Íþró doesn’t like the idea of them immediately going back inside on such a nice day, but he does have some business to take care of first so he lets the matter go for now. Standing up, he faces Milford. “You also mentioned Stephanie.”

Milford nods and gestures for Íþró to follow him. As they walk, Milford elaborates on his letter. “A few months ago, Stephanie and the others went on a hiking trip through the woods. That evening, she didn’t come back with them. We went looking but couldn’t find any trace of her. Then in the middle of the night she came back half frozen!”

Íþró’s eyes narrow in thought. “In summer?”

Milford nods quickly, as if glad Íþró also noticed the oddity. “When she was well again, she tried telling me all these stories about a castle in the forest, surrounded by snow and guarded by a beast. She— well…” Here the mayor pauses. Íþró waits patiently. It cannot be easy for Milford to talk about his niece this way. “She seems to have invented a hero. An elf in blue who saved her but is still locked up in the castle.”

An image appears in Íþró’s mind’s eye at the description. An young Elf in a blue uniform, successfully flip-kicking a ball into a net, proud grin on his face not dissimilar to Ziggy’s from a short while ago.

He shakes his head. Where did that come from? He doesn’t know anyone in a blue uniform. Number 6 had worn teal but there is no reason Íþró would have a memory of him being so young.

Milford opens the front door of his home and leads Íþró down the hall to a pink door. Milford knocks before peaking in. “Stephanie? There is someone I’d like you to meet.” No one responds. A small cat slinks out the door and saunters down the hallway. Milford pushes the door open more to reveal a small bedroom. Sitting on the bed is a young girl with pink hair who watches Milford come in silently. Íþró stays in the doorway.

“Stephanie, this is Number 9. He wants to help you kids. Will you talk to him for a while?” Stephanie looks between them, dark circles under his eyes accentuated by pale skin. After a moment, she nods. Milford visibly relaxes. “Excellent! I will make us some lunch!” With thumbs up to Íþró, Milford leaves the room.

Íþró is still standing in the doorway, observing Stephanie. Milford had described her in his letter as active, a natural born leader with a big heart. This girl before him is scrunched up on the bed as closed off as a clam. She has her arms around her knees, bare feet pulled to her chest.

Her dull eyes slide over him and she picks her head up. “You’re an Elf. Like Sportacus.”

“I am an Elf, yes. May I come in?”

She nods and unfurls herself. She is still wearing pajamas but doesn’t seem to care. Íþró enters and, for lack of a better place, sits at the far end of her bed.

“I am sorry, but I do not know anyone named Sportacus.”

“What’s your real name?”

“Íþróttaálfurinn.” He chuckles when she frowns. “It is a hard name for most humans to say.”

“Íþróttaálfurinn,” she repeats with perfect clarity. Surprise barely has time to run through him before she continues. “Why does that sound familiar? Are you sure you don’t know Sportacus? Maybe he said your name before…”

The last bit seemed to be Stephanie talking more to herself than Íþró. She stands up and crosses to her desk to pull out a small notebook, scanning its contents. Muttering to herself, she sits back down on the bed.

Íþró clears his throat. “Stephanie, why do you not want to play outside anymore? Your uncle says you love sports.”

“I do,” she says without looking up. “But no one wants to play with me.”

“Because you are mad they do not remember this Elf?”

Ignoring the question, she turns the notebook towards him. “Are you sure you don’t recognize him?”

The page contains a drawing in crayon. A man in blue winks at the artist, leaning on a baseball bat. A pencil-thin mustache covers his upper lip and a 10 sits in the center of his chest. His ears are covered by a blue hat but it is clear this is Stephanie’s imaginary Elf.

“I am sure,” he replies calmly. Though as he says it, he rubs a hand over his left ring finger. Why does it itch suddenly?

“Fine.” Stephanie closes the book. “What about these?” She reaches into her nightstand and pulls out more pictures. These are done in pencil with more attention to detail. The Elf’s eyes are blue, and there are even attempts at drawing muscles; though they are obviously still done by a child’s hand.

Íþró shifts through the papers. Some are of just the Elf. Some include him with one of the kids in town. A few even show him helping Milford and a blue haired woman. Despite his certainty that he has never met anyone matching this description, Íþró gives the pictures their due attention. 

Finally, he shakes his head and hands her back the papers. “You have drawn him a lot,” he points out.

She takes them and carefully reorganizes them in what must be, to her, the proper order. “I want to make sure I don’t forget him too.”

“Stephanie,” he waits until she looks up at him again, “what makes you so certain this Elf existed?”

“He still exists,” she corrects.

“Why are you so sure?”

She waves the book at him aggressively. The dullness in her eyes has been replaced by an intense flame. She looks more like the child he had pictured from Milford’s letter. “Why would my diary be full of drawings of someone who isn’t real?!” Before he can answer, Stephanie springs from the bed and throws open her closet doors. “Why else would I have this?” From inside, she brings out a pink hero uniform. In place of a number, the plate in the middle of the vest holds a pink S. 

“Ah!” Íþró stands up. “You have an almost perfect replica of 4’s outfit!”

The accusation in Stephanie’s face falters somewhat. “4’s outfit?”

“Yes! All heroes have similar outfits, just in different colors,” Íþró explains. The image of 4’s kind, wrinkled face comes to him and he can’t help but smile fondly. “She helped train my father, Number 8.”

Stephanie drops the uniform. “Your dad was Number 8? And you’re 9! Do you have any kids?”

Íþró lets out a laugh. “No, no. I would love six or seven strapping young kids like me someday. But not just yet.”

“What about brothers?” Stephanie presses.

Íþró thinks of the spare bedroom and shakes his head no. He leans down to pick up the pink outfit, hanging it back in the closet. “Stephanie, there have been no heroes since myself. I am sorry. But there is no Number 10.”

Tears start to gather in Stephanie’s eyes. It’s heart breaking to see. Perhaps she had been hoping he would have different answers for her. How he wishes he could tell her what she wants to hear. But there is simply no hero that matches her description.

Just then, the small black cat steps back into the room. It hops onto Stephanie’s bed and meows at the window. With that vigor back in her step, Stephanie jumps onto the bed too. “Is that your airship?!’ She demands, pointing out the window.

Íþró steps forward to look. A blue and silver airship hangs in the sky. It tugs at a memory inside him though nothing clear comes to mind. “It… um, it certainly looks familiar. Perhaps it is an older model I once had.”

“It’s newer than the one you came in!”

He chooses not to take that as an insult. “I will tell your uncle you need some time before coming out for lunch,” he tells her. “Then maybe you will join us outside for a game later.” It would be better to give her time to grieve this imaginary person. With a final pet to the kitten’s head, Íþró leaves the room.

The door slams behind him and he hears the lock click.

With a sigh, Íþró makes his way to the kitchen to talk to Milford. This was not how he had expected his first day in Lazytown to go.

Chapter Text

Snow smacks Sportacus on the back of the neck and he yelps at the cold. Behind him, he can hear Penny giggling. “Bullseye!” She shouts.

He whips around to fire back when Robbie yells, “FREEZE!”

Arm still raised, Sportacus stops in his tracks and turns his head to where Robbie is sitting. Jives, Penny, and Ella all do the same. Robbie eyes them all for a minute before calling, “Flower!”

Luckily it’s a sign done one handed, so Sportacus does not have to give up his perfectly made snowball. “Correct!” Robbie says with an approving nod to Sportacus. “But Jives was faster. Five seconds!”

With a whoop of victory, Jives uses his five second head start to run clear across the garden. Robbie tells the rest of them to unfreeze and they all chase Jives.

It’s a game that has been enjoyable for all involved. Sportacus likes the combination of quizzing and physical activity. Robbie has told Sportacus he likes being able to just sit and yell at them instead of participating, but Sportacus has seen him throw a snowball or two when bored.

Sportacus’ sign language has improved in the weeks since Robbie gave him the greenhouse. He can understand Ella with almost no assistance. Sometimes he even answers her in kind, much to the girl’s delight.

Just then Sportacus’ crystal goes off. Without missing a beat, he scoops up more snow from the ground to pad into his snowball. He pours the slightest bit of magic into the snowball then throws it with all his might.

An icicle that had been about to fall on Jives is suddenly pushed off course by the snowball. Jives looks up just in time to watch the icicle fall far to his right. Frowning, he looks up at the awning the icicle was dangling from. Ella takes advantage of his distraction by aiming her own snowball at his chest.

Sportacus feels his shoulders slump with relief and he hurriedly gathers up another snowball.

“Freeze!” Penny groans in annoyance as Robbie marches through the snow towards them. At first, Sportacus thinks he didn’t notice the icicle. Then Robbie looks straight at Jives and barks, “Buffoon!”

Sportacus wouldn’t have attempted the sign even if he knew it. He is too busy laughing at the dumbfounded look on Jives’ face. Penny and Ella make a sign as if they were grabbing their faces. Jives looks back and forth between the awning and Robbie.

Robbie stomps over and smacks Jives upside the head. “Be careful next time!” He snaps.

“How was I supposed to know that would happen?!” Jives argues, rubbing the back of his head.

“Figure it out!”

Penny and Sportacus share a smirk. Marching back to his bench, Robbie makes eye contact with Sportacus and nods in thanks. Sportacus pats his shoulder as he passes. Little touches like that seem to make Robbie’s face turn red, and Sportacus finds the look endearing. Sure enough, Robbie’s face is flush when he declares, “Penny, five seconds!”

They go a few more rounds before Robbie calls a halt on account of his growling stomach. Ella, who had moments before tackled Sportacus into a snowbank, now stands and offers him a hand up. He takes it and signs thank you. Ella beams. She and Penny race to the castle, Jives trailing after them and calling that they better take off their boots because it’s his turn to the clean the floors.

Sportacus jogs to catch up with Robbie. “How did I do?”

“Seven out of ten,” Robbie says. “I won’t count ‘buffoon’ since we’ve never gone over it and it’s not a word you would’ve seen Ella use.”

“What did I get wrong?”

“You signed ‘make’ instead of ‘coffee’.”

“Really?”

Robbie demonstrates the two signs. “In context you probably wouldn’t confuse them but if you ever sign them yourself just be careful.”

“Ah.” Sportacus repeats the signs. “Got it. And the others?”

They chat easily until they get to the dining room. Lunch is macaroni and cheese. It’s not Sportacus’ favorite but the kids and Robbie love it. Glanni adds a generous amount of hot sauce to his portion. Sportacus fills up on cucumber salad before excusing himself to tend to his greenhouse.

The place is almost overgrown with life. With a little help, Sportacus’ plants show the progress of months, not a few weeks. Geraniums, impatiens, and petunias line one side of the greenhouse. Various vegetables and herbs cover the other half. Some plants even drape along the ceiling. Robbie had supplied Sportacus was a wide selection of seeds, and Sportacus has not wasted any.

Sportacus spends a while talking to the plants as he waters them. “You just need to be a little bit redder,” he tells a small patch of strawberries. “Glanni mentioned Robbie likes you a lot, so be as juicy and yummy as you can.” To the lavender he says, “Tonight’s the big night. I hope you are ready.”

It’s when he stops to smell a stalk of bergamot that he hears someone enter the greenhouse. He doesn’t even turn around as he asks, “Can you hand me the clippers? This wax plant vine is getting a little out of control.”

“Are you just this good at gardening or is it all magic?” Robbie asks flatly, his footsteps indicating that he is approaching Sportacus.

Sportacus looks over his shoulder to wink at Robbie. “Both.” Robbie rolls his eyes. When Robbie hands him the clippers, Sportacus lets their fingers brush ever so slightly. As expected Robbie flushes. “Thank you.”

Robbie grumbles in response and steps away to walk along the row of herb pots. “Is this why the food’s tasted fresher lately?”

“Yes!” Sportacus replies proudly. “Robo-Rob was happy to have rosemary for the meat last night.”

“Leave it to you to weaponize something I gave you,” Robbie complains dramatically. Sportacus chuckles. “Don’t laugh.”

“Well what did you want me to do with the seeds you gave me?”

“Keep them to yourself!”

Sportacus laughs harder. “Food is meant to be shared!”

“Not your ‘sports candy’! You’ve ruined my servants. Jives asks for Brussels sprouts now.”

Sportacus flicks a bit of water from his watering can across the aisle at Robbie. “You don’t complain when Robo-Rob brings out that broccoli dish.”

“See? You’ve ruined me too.”

“You’re welcome.” That causes Robbie to glare and Sportacus steps out of the way as the prince throws a bit of top soil at him.

Robbie often comes down to see how Sportacus is doing with the plants. The kids stop by sometimes too, though only Jives acts excited. He asks question after question about growing fruits and vegetables. The plants in Jives’ room are all flowers. He even considers herbs a challenge.

The two banter until Sportacus starts to feel antsy. “I’m going for a jog,” he tells Robbie as he puts all his tools away. “Want to come?”

“Oh sure.” Robbie’s tone makes Sportacus laugh all over again. “And afterwards we can have a carrot eating contest and get a healthy amount of sleep!” Shaking his head, Robbie leaves the greenhouse.

Dinner, Sportacus is happy to discover, is fish. “My favorite!” He announces as he takes his now usual seat beside Robbie.

Robbie picks up the sprig of dill sitting on top of his lemon salmon and raises an eyebrow at Sportacus in silent question. Sportacus grins triumphantly at him. The dill is indeed from the greenhouse.

Penny and Jives sit a little slumped at the dinner table. “What is this secret project you’re working them into the ground for, Glanni?” Sportacus asks. He never gets an answer but the kids look more tired than usual tonight. Maybe he is close to finding out.

“Don’t worry your little blond head,” Glanni says, pouring maple syrup on his mashed potatoes.

“Maybe he can help,” Jives puts in. Penny shoots him a look, followed by Jives letting out a yelp. Probably the result of someone’s foot connecting with his shin under the table.

As much as Sportacus would love to be of assistance, he’s pretty sure Glanni would turn him down anyway. Whatever the secret is, Sportacus apparently cannot know it. “It’s amazing to see how hard working you both are.”

The pair brighten slightly at the praise. Ella passes Sportacus another piece of salmon with a smile. “I think they always work hard,” she signs. “But then Jives complains and it ruins the image.” They share a chuckle.

Soon after, dinner is done. Sportacus rehearses his lines in his head one last time. Everyone is piling plates and pushing in their chairs. Clutching the back of his own chair, Sportacus turns to the head of the table. “Robbie? Can you meet me in the kitchen after clean up?”

The rest of the room goes silent. Sportacus can feel four pairs of eyes on the back of his head. There’s a creak that can only be Sugar Pie crawling out from under the table to watch too. In front of him, Robbie blinks. “Uh. Why?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Someone behind him drops something but Sportacus doesn’t look away from Robbie. Robbie’s eyes flicker briefly over Sportacus’ shoulder then back again. “Y-yeah. Sure. I’ll see you soon, then.”

Sportacus smiles. “Great!” Then he leaves, perhaps a little hastily, and walks briskly down the hallway.

At the mouth of the stairs, he stops and pulls a sconce. A thin door opens beside it and Sportacus rushes inside.

This secret passage leads right up to his room; specifically into his closet. Which explains a lot about his first night here. Sportacus had discovered it the day after the wolf attack.  

Once inside his bedroom, Sportacus takes a moment to breathe. Why had he been so nervous to ask Robbie to meet up with him? Of course he wants his plans for the evening to go well but that’s no reason for his heart to be beating this fast.

Shaking his head, Sportacus grabs his prepared outfit from the closet.

Chapter Text

“Cookies,” Robbie repeats.

“Yes!”

“You want to make cookies.”

“I do.”

“With me.”

Sportacus huffs with clear put-upon exasperation. “Yes, Robbie.”

Robbie stares at Sportacus, who is standing in front of the kitchen counter. He is wearing a half apron around his waist and holding one out to Robbie.

“You can’t eat sugar,” Robbie informs him, as if this may have escaped the Sports Elf’s notice.

“I’m aware. The recipe I know uses honey instead.”

“And we are doing this because?”

Sportacus cocks his head. “Do friends need a reason to do things together?”

“I—” The question catches Robbie completely off guard. It still amazes him sometimes that he and Sportacus are friends. At a loss for words, Robbie turns away to hang his cloak up. He stays turned away as he says, “My claws don’t do knots well. Can you tie that on?”

“Sure thing!”

After the apron is firmly in place and Robbie feels ridiculous, he faces Sportacus again. “What are we making?”

Sportacus holds up a small bag. “Smell this.”

Coming from anyone else, Robbie would have run away. As it’s Sportacus, and Sportacus is smiling eagerly, Robbie leans forward to sniff. “Soap?”

“Lavender,” Sportacus corrects. “I grow it in the greenhouse. I thought we could make honey-lavender cookies together.”

It’s not a flavor combination Robbie has explored and, truth be told, the idea of baking without sugar sound repulsive. But baking, like inventing, used to be a common past time of Robbie’s before the curse. It would be nice to return to it.

Besides, the flower had drooped to the side that morning. It was time Robbie tried more wooing.

“Let’s get started, then.” Robbie slips off his striped vest and rolls up the sleeves of his silk shirt.

Sportacus nearly bounces with excitement. “Great! I already have the butter out to soften. Can you show me how to preheat this oven?”

Demonstrating how to use the oven turns out to be the easiest part of this whole experience.

“You are supposed to add in the eggs one at a time!” Sportacus says, grabbing Robbie’s wrist as the second egg plops into the bowl.

“What does it matter? They’re going to get mixed together anyway. And aren’t you supposed to be putting the dry ingredients together?”

“I did!”

“You didn’t add the salt!”

“I did!”

“Not enough! You told me half a teaspoon!”

“You always add less salt than called for! Everyone knows that!”

“Oh, everyone knows that!” Robbie repeats mockingly.

Throwing up his hands as if in surrender, Sportacus backs away to get the flour mixture. With Robbie stirring, he pours it into Robbie’s bowl.

Later, Robbie sneers at Sportacus’ baking sheet. “They’re uneven.”

Sportacus drops another rounded teaspoonful of batter onto the tray. “It’s better to make different sizes. Small cookies in case you just want a snack, and big ones if you have a sweet tooth.”

“First of all,” Robbie begins as he rolls a clump of batter in his hands, “everyone but you and Ella have a sweet tooth. Second, if you make them different sizes, they’ll cook unevenly.”

“Yeah, well,” Sportacus nudges Robbie’s tray, “at least I remembered to oil my baking sheet.” Robbie looks down at his perfect rows of even cookie mounds. As realization hits him, he glares at Sportacus, who is smirking triumphantly. “Need help starting over, Prince Robbie?”

In response, Robbie flicks the batter in his hand at Sportacus. It lands in the Elf’s hair and sticks. Sportacus slowly reaches up to touch the sticky batter before turning an unnervingly flat look at Robbie.

“My apologies,” Robbie says, not letting the look scare him. “I was aiming for your face.”

Without breaking eye contact, and moving too fast for Robbie to react, Sportacus grabs a handful of flour and throws it at Robbie. It hits him square in the face and he shuts his eyes on reflex. He coughs out a bit as Sportacus says, “My sincerest apologies. I seem to have hit my target.”

Soon ingredients are flying everywhere. Robbie is fast covered in flour from head to toe and he’s pretty sure there’s honey on the inside of his elbows. Sportacus has cooking oil down his arms, even more batter in his hair, and his boots track eggshells.

Robbie ducks behind the fridge as Sportacus aims a handful of dried lavender at him. He readies his own weapon—a half of a stick of butter— and waits for Sportacus to run around his cover.

Sportacus does indeed run to get a better shot at Robbie. Curiously, even though his legs have stopped moving, Sportacus continues to shoot past Robbie. It takes Robbie a moment to realize Sportacus is gliding on oil splashed on the floor and in that time, Sportacus has careened into the counter and knocked both baking sheets to the ground.

The laugh that rips out of Robbie is raw and unhinged. He clutches his stomach, doubled over with laughter. Sportacus is sitting on the ground, back against the counter, looking quite perplexed as to how he ended up there.

“You—you should see your face!” Robbie is barely able to choke that out before more peals of laughter issue out of him. He lowers himself to the floor across from Sportacus, not trusting his knees in his moment of mirth.

The sound of Sportacus laughing reaches Robbie’s ears and makes him laugh even harder. All thoughts of the sunflower and the curse have left Robbie’s mind. Right now all he can think about his how ridiculous they must look.

It takes a while for both of them to calm down. Even then they only do so because Sportacus tries to stand up and ends up slipping again. Robbie gets to his feet. “Only you could turn baking into a physical activity.” He holds out his hand.

Sportacus takes the hand with a smirk. “It’s the Sports Elf way.”

“The Fae way is to add the full amount of each ingredient.” He pulls Sportacus to his feet.

“That does not sound very fun.”

“You jog for fun. Your opinion means nothing.” 

Sportacus snorts out a laugh and looks down at the baking trays on the floor. “At least the cookies stayed on. I think we can put them in the oven now.”

Robbie nods. “As long as we turn them halfway through the bake time.”

“Well, everyone knows that,” Sportacus says with a roll of his eyes. He chuckles again at Robbie’s annoyed groan.

Neither of them have let go of the other’s hand. Robbie can hear his heart beating in his ears. He needs to ask Sportacus but has no idea how to phrase it. Standing straighter, and hoping to draw confidence from it, Robbie says, “So Glanni and the kids have been cleaning the ball room.”

Sportacus blinks in confusion. “Oh. That’s what they have been working on?”

“Yes. That’s the secret.”

“Um, okay.  Why are you telling me now?”

“We— We are going to have a Ball at the end of the week to celebrate it being clean. Would you like to accompany me?”

The words come out wobbly and he has to ignore his cheeks burning. He tries to remind himself he is a Prince, which is hard with Sportacus’ wide blue eyes on him. What if Sportacus saiys no? Spirits, what if he says yes?

Sportacus lets go of Robbie’s hand. For a sickening moment, Robbie thinks that his answer. Then—

“Yes,” Sportacus says softly. “That… that sounds nice, Robbie.”

“G-Good.” Robbie clears this throat. “Uh, let’s get these cookies done. Then we can get Jives and Penny to help us clean this place up.” He gestures to the kitchen at large. The room is a mess. As well as cooking oil on the floor, the counters are covered in flour and honey. The container of baking soda has been overturned and half a carton of eggs lay broken on the tile.

Sportacus looks around them. “Is there no Fae magic for cleaning up baking messes?”

“If there is I can’t do it,” Robbie says. “Besides, it’s more of a Sports Elf mess, since it’s your fault.”

“My fault? You threw batter at me!”

“I was provoked!”

They bicker even as Sportacus puts the cookies in the oven and sets the timer. They are still bickering when Robbie opens the kitchen door to whistle for the kids.

“Don’t make them come down here,” Sportacus pleads. “It’s our mess. We can clean it up.”

“We’ll be here all night,” Robbie argues. Before Sportacus can contest the point, Jives, Ella, and Penny tumble out of a cabinet by the door. Robbie pinches the bridge of his nose as the pile of children on the ground try to untangle themselves. “You do not have to take secret passages everywhere.”

Penny is the first to jump to her feet. “But it’s faster that way!” She dusts herself off. “What did you call us for, Master?”

Jives, still on the floor, takes one look around the kitchen and groans. “Nooooo. You’ve made more work…”

“We will help!” Sportacus says quickly. “Between the five of us, we can get it done in no time!”

Ella crosses to the oven and sniffs the air. “Soap cookies?” She signs.

Pointing at her, Robbie yells, “AH HA!” Sportacus runs both hands down his face with a sigh. “I told you!”

“It’s not soap,” he corrects. The timer goes off and he crosses to the oven to turn the trays. “They are lavender cookies.”

Jives looks at the cookies over his shoulder.  “Why did you make cookies out of flowers?”

“Lavender tastes good in sweets. You can try one when they are done.”

Looking dubious, Jives steps away to help Penny, who is gathering cleaning supplies. As Robbie starts filling a bucket with soap and water, a puff of smoke appears in the middle of the kitchen. It dissipates to reveal a grumpy Glanni. “You can’t hog the servants,” he says in greeting to Robbie. “I was using them.”

“I can do what I want,” Robbie reminds him. “I’m the Prince.”

“Don’t pull rank with—” Glanni steps forward and immediately slips. He grabs the wall before he can fall but the kids are already giggling. He casts a glare at them.

Rolling his eyes, Robbie carefully walks over and hands him a broom. “If you want them back so bad, help the work go faster.”

Glanni seems to notice Robbie’s appearance for the first time; the lack of vest or cloak, the addition of the apron, the ‘battle damage’ from his and Sportacus’ fight. Glanni quirks an eyebrow in question. Robbie just smiles back.

Taking the broom, Glanni grumbles off to start sweeping. Penny grabs a mop. Ella and Jives are wiping down the counters. Sportacus is at the sink, singing under his breath about cooking by the book. Which he most certainly didn’t do, the short hypocrite.

Robbie can’t hold back another smile at the sight of his small family cleaning up. For the first time, he dares to think that everything will turn out alright.

Chapter Text

Soon, it is the night of the ball. Sportacus begs Penny and Jives to help him pick out clothes.

Soon, it is the night of the ball. Glanni begs Robbie to let him pick out Robbie’s clothes.

Before that, it is the morning Stephanie plans to sneak out of Lazytown.

The backpack is too full but Stephanie refuses to leave anything that could be important behind. There is no telling how long it will take to retrace her steps or what condition Sportacus will be in once she finds him.

“And I will find him,” she says out loud to the kitten who is purring against her leg. With a grunt of effort, she zips the bag closed. She pulls it onto her shoulders and, after patting the kitten on the head in goodbye, pushes open her window.

The sun is just starting to rise. She climbs out the window, cutting her eyes in the direction of the air balloon. So far so good. Hopefully Íþró doesn’t take morning runs like Sportacus.

Summer has well and truly gone. Some trees have started to lose their leaves, which presents an unforeseen challenge in sneaking out of Uncle’s house. It’s impossible to avoid every crunch but Stephanie manages to mostly step on moist leaves that muffle her footsteps. She wears a light grey sports uniform and black shorts with a grey sweatshirt. It’s maybe a bit too light an outfit for early fall but they’re the only clothes Stephanie has that aren’t pink. She can’t afford to be caught before leaving town; best to leave the bright colors behind. 

She makes a beeline for the woods. As she passes the last house out of town, a light tapping makes her freeze. Slowly, she turns around, expecting to see Íþró, Uncle Milford, or even Bessie.

Instead, she sees Ziggy tapping on his bedroom window. When they make eye contact, he waves for her to come closer. Stephanie really just wants to get to the forest before nerves get the best of her, but Ziggy is without his boyish smile and she hustles over to him.

Ziggy opens the window with a yawn. “You’re going back, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Ziggy. Please don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t,” he says earnestly. “I want you to bring him back!”

Stephanie blinks in astonishment. “You remember?”

“Not really.” Ziggy looks sad. “I remember… someone keeping me company while you guys were hiking. And I have that bear that looks like the guy in your pictures.”

“Elf,” Stephanie corrects automatically.

“I believe you, Stephanie.” Ziggy does smile now, though it is small. “I don’t know what’s going on, but good luck out there. Don’t get kidnapped again.”

Stephanie finds it in her to return the smile. She stands on her tip toes to hug Ziggy through the window. “I’ll be careful. I promise.” His small arms wrap around her and for a moment, Stephanie considers just staying home. Staying in the safety of Lazytown and not looking for a snowy castle.

But she lets go, gives Ziggy another smile, and turns away again.

Before too long, she stands at the entrance to the forest. It feels like forever ago that she and her friends marched in here so innocently. She remembers Pixel’s maps, Trixie’s songs, Stingy’s stick hunt; it’s like a dream— though it was really just at the start of summer.

The forest looks much less inviting now. In the low morning light, the changing leaves cast strange shadows and create creatures half from Stephanie’s imagination and half from her nerves. A gust whips at her back and she shivers, zipping her sweatshirt to her chin.

With a deep breath, Stephanie steps into the forest. “I don’t care what it takes,” she tells the trees. “I will find that castle. I’ll get him out of there.”

Chapter Text

After trying on what felt like every piece of clothing under the sun, Sportacus stands before the mirror admiring his outfit for the ball tonight. “Why do we have to get so dressed up?” He asks Penny, who is refolding all the rejected clothes.

“We haven’t had anything to dress up for in a long time,” Penny says as she passes Jives a jacket to hang up. “It’s just for fun.”

“Stuffy clothes aren’t fun,” Jives grumbles. “One thing I liked about the curse was not looking fancy for anyone. We wouldn’t even have to wear our uniforms if Glanni didn’t make us.”

Three months ago, Sportacus might have agreed with Jives. Sportacus usually saw little benefit to being out of his hero uniform. Why would he ever need to be out of athletic attire?

But now Sportacus never puts on the full uniform. The crystal always hangs from his neck, tucked under a linen shirt or scarf. The clothes in his closet feel less borrowed and more his now.

Turning back to the mirror, Sportacus takes in his reflection. He wears grey and white pinstripe pants with black boots. His open, cobalt blue coat extends to his calves, the sleeves stopping at his wrists and displaying silver cufflinks. The shirt under his asymmetrical waistcoat is a lighter blue than the coat. The waistcoat itself is white with a grey collar. Sportacus’ hair is tied back in a small tail for the evening; courtesy of Jives, who had had too much fun playing with the growing waves.

After checking that the necklace is securely tied, Sportacus steps away from the mirror. “You should both get ready yourselves. I will finish cleaning up.”

Jives immediately drops the slacks that Penny had handed him. “You got it.”

As they make their way out, Penny suddenly turns and points a finger at Sportacus. “Don’t you dare exercise in those clothes.”

Sportacus chuckles. “Alright. If you say so.”

“I mean it, Sportacus!”

“Two shiny coins says he does,” Jives challenges. The door shuts before he can hear Penny’s reply but if Sportacus has learned anything, she’s probably raising the bet.

Sportacus paces the room as nerves build in his stomach. He does not start doing cartwheels but it’s a close thing; physical activity is the first thing he turns to when he wants to calm himself down.

Before he can run his hands through his hair, and ruin the styling Jives had done, there is a knock on his bedroom door. Ella pushes it open and steps in with a smile. “It’s time.” She is wearing a lavender dress with a white collar and white tights. Two circles of blush on her cheeks suggest that Glanni did her makeup.

Sportacus breathes out slowly to steady his heart and signs back “Thank you” with a smile of his own. When he reaches the doorway, he holds out his arm to her. Ella’s smile grows as she takes the offer. Together, they make their way out of the room and down the hall.  Having Ella on his arm makes the whole situation feel less formal and Sportacus almost starts to relax.

Then the pair are at the top of the grand staircase. At the bottom, waiting on the first floor, Robbie turns to look up at Sportacus. And all the nerves come back to roost.

Robbie looks every inch a prince now. His mulberry coat is shorter than Sportacus’, stopping just above his black trousers, and accented with gold trim around the buttons and cuffs. His matching mulberry waistcoat is stripped with magenta. The most striking is the gold circlet sitting atop his dark hair, which has been tamed for the evening. The circlet looks simple from afar but as Sportacus and Ella descend the stairs, Sportacus can see it is made up of intricate weaves and spirals.

Robbie’s eyes are tracing Sportacus too. Sportacus’ free hand clenches and unclenches behind his back. He abruptly wishes he was in his old familiar uniform.

At last they reach the final step. Ella lets go of his arm and steps away down the hall. Robbie is still staring at Sportacus, mouth slightly open. Sportacus clears his throat and fiddles with the cufflink on one wrist as he speaks. “You… you look good.”

“T-Thanks.” Robbie stands a little straighter. “You look… a little uncomfortable if I’m honest.”

Sportacus laughs. “You are not wrong! I haven’t worn clothes like this in a long time.” His laughter seems to set Robbie at ease.

With the air of someone who has done this a hundred times, Robbie holds out his arm and bows slightly over it. “May I escort you to dinner?”

Sportacus wraps his arm around Robbie’s. “It would be my honor, Prince Robbie.”

For once, Robbie doesn’t growl at the mention of his station. He leads Sportacus to the right of the stairs. “We’re not eating in the dining room?” Sportacus asks.

“We figured since we’re all being fancy we should eat in the formal dining room. It’s just like the other one, but meant for about two dozen people.”

Sportacus frowns. “That sounds a bit inconvenient for the size of our party.”

Robbie rolls his eyes. “Have you ever tried to talk Glanni out of what he thinks is ‘a grand idea’?”

Snickering together, they entered the formal dining room. The kids and Glanni must have been clearing this room out too, because it is a lot less dusty than when Sportacus was given his tour months ago. The table is indeed long enough for nearly 30 people. Three chandeliers hang from the ceiling and a wide window shows the evening outside. Jives, Ella, and Penny are already sitting and waiting for them. There are no chairs at the heads of the tables, but two seats at the end facing each other have been left open; one next to Penny, the other next to Ella.

Jives is on Penny’s other side. He isn’t wearing his customary hat tonight. Instead he is wearing a moss green suit with a bright yellow tie. Penny is in a rose colored dress with thin white stripes. Her hair is done the same as always, except in place of a blue bow she wears a sparkling red one.

“Where’s Glanni?” Robbie asks as he and Sportacus untangle.

“He was watching your horrible performance just now,” comes a voice behind them. Sportacus and Robbie turn to see Glanni in the doorway. He wears a long black dress that’s slit on one side. Black knee-high boots peek out the bottom. Glanni’s eyeshadow is violet, matching his lips. Gold bracelets dangle from each wrist and the pink boa around his neck matches nothing at all. It’s strange to see him in something other than a cat suit but somehow the look works on him. Sportacus has a feeling Glanni could pull off anything.

“Really? ‘You look uncomfortable’? You really know how to flatter a guy, don’t you?” Glanni mocks as he passes them. He flicks the boa in Robbie’s face before taking a seat next to Ella, across from Jives.

That leaves the empty seats at the end for Robbie and Sportacus. Sportacus sits beside Ella as Robbie says, “He knows what I mean. When’s the last time any of us wore nice clothes?”

“Indubitably!” Jives says, in a horrible heavy posh accent. He lifts his wine glass, which appears to be filled with apple juice. “A toast, old chaps!”

“Yes, yes!” Penny says in a similar voice. “To successful negotiations in Jinoma! May your coffers overflow!”

Sportacus bursts out laughing as Robbie looks between the pair in helpless confusion. “What are you two doing?” Robbie asks as he takes his seat.

Penny grins. “It’s a fancy dinner, my good man! We have to talk of fancy important things!”

“Is that how our dinner meetings used to sound to you two?” Glanni asks, amused.

“Yes,” Jives confirms. “Boring and full of big words.”

Sportacus has to wipe tears from his eyes. “W-where is Jinoma? What negotiations?”

“Well, we gave them a substantial loan and we had to discuss when we would see our returns.”

Her enunciations coupled with Jives’ nod in total agreement with her nonsense thoroughly amuse Sportacus. He joins in with their strange speech to the best of his ability. Even Robbie participates, beginning with a hearty “I say! Jinoma is a fine place this time of year!”

Dinner is served and Sportacus is delighted at the amount of green he sees. Apart from Robbie making a face at a plate of cooked carrots, no one comments on the healthy dishes.

It feels like it could be any other night in the castle; good food, good company, good conversation. There are some differences. Sportacus’ eyes can’t help but linger on Robbie, and he swears they share more secret smiles than usual across the table.

After a dessert of yogurt, fruit, and a chocolate lava cake, the kids and Glanni stand up. “Who’s ready for a ball?” Glanni announces as he wipes chocolate sauce from the corner of his mouth. With cheers, the kids run out of the room followed by a sauntering Glanni.

Sportacus stands and waits for Robbie to do the same. Only Robbie is still in his seat, playing with his napkin. His eyes are on his plate, unfocused and obviously lost in thought. “Robbie?”

“Hm?”

“Are you okay?”

“Just… nervous.”

“About what?”

Robbie doesn’t answer. Instead he stands and pushes his chair in. “Nothing. Let’s go.”

Sportacus frowns as Robbie makes his way towards to door. The candlelight glints off his circlet, and Sportacus notices just how ridged Robbie is holding himself. Robbie usually hates when they refer to him as a prince. Was all this formal talk and dressing up too much for him? Or could it be something else?

Almost jogging to catch up, Sportacus reaches out and grabs Robbie’s hand. A claw drags down his wrist but Sportacus ignores it. “Hey.” He waits for Robbie to turn around. “It’s just us, Robbie. There is nothing to be nervous about. Just be yourself.”

Robbie is still tense. “It’s myself I’m worried about.”

“It’s what we are used to,” Sportacus points out with a smirk. “Don’t change on us now.”

Something in his words seems to speak to Robbie. He tightens his hold on Sportacus’ hand and smirks back. “You’ve been trying to change my diet for months.”

“That is different.”

“In what way, exactly.”

“We should really follow the others.”

“And so the villain has outsmarted the above-average hero.” Robbie’s grin is all sharp teeth and arrogance. “Now I feel better.”

With a cry of mock anguish, Sportacus clutches his chest with his free hand. “I am truly no match for your genius.” Still holding fast to Robbie, Sportacus pulls them from the formal dining room. “As long as you are feeling better, it’s worth it. Let’s go.”

The two make their way further down the hall. A pair of closed double doors greets them; Jives, Penny, Ella, and Glanni are nowhere to be found. Sportacus is concerned at first but before he can voice this to Robbie, the doors open seemingly of their own accord.

The ballroom beyond is resplendent. Clusters of golden wall candelabras line the walls in evenly spaced groups. Marble pillars surround the dance floor, which is so clean it faintly reflects the vaulted ceiling above it. The far side of the room is nearly all windows, with the exception of two tall glass doors that lead to a snow covered balcony. Stars shine in the nearly clear night sky like jewels hanging above the ballroom. 

As Sportacus and Robbie step inside, an ornate chandelier hanging in the center of the room flares to life. Sportacus finally spots the others. They are off to the side of the dance floor, holding instruments. At the sight of Sportacus and Robbie, they grin and begin to play.

Sportacus is so full of questions. How did he not know Jives could play the flute? Was that really Penny on the piano? Ella looks right at home on the violin. Glanni appears to be conducting but there is indigo magic on his finger tips that Sportacus has to wonder about.

The song is a slow waltz Sportacus has never heard. It is pretty, however, and makes him want to move. He turns to look up at Robbie, expecting him to scoff at the dramatics of the others. Instead, he finds Robbie staring down at Sportacus as if getting ready to say something.

“What?” Sportacus prompts after a moment.

“Dance with me?”

“With you?”

Robbie frowns. “It’s fine if you don’t want to, I just…”

“No! I’d love to,” Sportacus reassures him quickly. “I was just surprised.”

Beaming, Robbie leads Sportacus to the center of the dance floor. Keeping his left hand clasped in Sportacus’ right, Robbie settles his other hand on Sportacus’ lower back. Sportacus gulps and rests his hand on Robbie’s arm.

“Further up, if you can reach,” Robbie says teasingly. Sportacus sticks his tongue out at Robbie but does as he’s told, sliding his hand up to rest on Robbie’s shoulder. “Have you never done this before?” Robbie asks as they start swaying to the music.

“My dancing is more… freestyle.”

“That’s a strange way to say you don’t know how to dance.”

“What about you?” Sportacus asks. They start to turn in place. Sportacus is afraid to move his feet too much for fear of stepping on Robbie. “I would have thought this would be too much physical activity for you.”

Robbie snorts. “All Fae can dance. And Fae princes get more lessons than most. It’s probably the only think I’m better at than Glanni.”

Sportacus chuckles. His own movements are stiff. Hearing that this is actually something Robbie is proficient in just makes him nervous. Suddenly Robbie steps away and twirls Sportacus. He’s sure he doesn’t look graceful but it’s surprisingly fun.

Robbie expertly pulls Sportacus back to him and they resume their steps. “Don’t overthink it,” Robbie murmurs with a soft smile. “It’s just me.”  

With that, Sportacus feels himself relax. Behind them, the music seems to swell and pick up pace. Sportacus could swear he hears more than the kids’ three instruments. At the moment, it feels quite unimportant. Robbie glides them around the room with ease. Sportacus almost feels like an expert dancer himself with how many moves Robbie guides him through. Sometimes it’s as easy at letting Sportacus’ feet carry him; sometimes Robbie leans down to whisper cues into Sportacus’ ear.

If Robbie had been like this when Sportacus first came here, would things have been so difficult? Would they have been faster friends? Or even…

Sportacus doesn’t let himself think it. As the song changes, he rests his head against Robbie’s chest. Robbie tenses at first, like when Sportacus hugged him back in the greenhouse. Then he lets out a breath against Sportacus’ hair and slows their paces slightly. There is a small giggle from the other side of the room, but Sportacus has his eyes closed and doesn’t know who it belongs to.

When Robbie next speaks, Sportacus can feel the vibration in Robbie’s chest against his ear and smiles. “Why does your hair smell like lavender?”

“Did you think we had cooked with it all?”

“I thought we’d fought with it all.”

Sportacus lets out a huff of laughter. “What song is this now?”

“Mildin göfgar allt. Glanni loves it, but he can’t remember why.”

“It’s nice.”

Robbie hums in agreement. Sportacus can feel that too. He lifts his head up and Robbie starts them on faster moves again. For a while, the dance and laugh and step on each other’s toes. At one point Robbie even tries a move that lifts Sportacus off his feet.

By the time the song tapers out, the two are out of breath. Sportacus lets go of Robbie to step away, wiping sweat from his forehead. “That was great!” He says, pushing his now untidy hair out of his eyes. When had it gotten so long?

“I think that’s my physical activity for the year all done,” Robbie gasps out. Sportacus rolls his eyes.

“Need some fresh air?”

“I think so.”

This time, Sportacus holds out his arm. Robbie takes it, still panting slightly. Sportacus leads them out the glass doors to the balcony. A few storm clouds linger to the southwest, but for now the night is still.

Chapter Text

The evening is going much better than Robbie had dared hope. Even his moment of nerves after dinner didn’t ruin anything. Sportacus had been so kind, even without knowing the exact reason for Robbie’s freeze up.

Finding out Sportacus couldn’t dance also went a long way to making Robbie loosen up. He had been grateful Sportacus’ eyes were shut when he laid his cheek against Robbie’s chest, as he couldn’t see Robbie blushing. Earlier, as Glanni did, undid, and redid his hair, Robbie had resolved to tell Sportacus his feelings tonight, along with other important things. With every step on the dance floor, every laugh, every smile; the words bubbled in Robbie’s chest.

Now the two are sitting on a low bench outside in the crisp night air. Light streams from the windows of the ballroom, making Sportacus’ blue eyes sparkle. As strange as nice clothes seem on him, Robbie has to admit he looks handsome.

“They did a really good job cleaning it,” Sportacus says with a wave at the ballroom.

“It took them long enough. They’ve been working for weeks.”

Sportacus turns to him. “Did you know what they were planning? With the music and everything?”

Robbie wants to lie but hesitates too long. “I… I did.”

“Why did they do all this?”

Robbie breathes in through his nose and takes Sportacus’ hand gently. “Sportacus, are you happy here?”

“Yes,” Sportacus replies immediately. Then something crosses his face, an emotion too quick for Robbie to identify, and he looks distractedly out over the railing.

“What is it?” Robbie asks.

“It’s just…” Sportacus bites his lip. “I wish I could see Stephanie again And Lazytown. I miss them all. I just want to make sure they are okay without me…”

The words tug at Robbie’s heartstrings. The calm, content mood of the evening is replaced with a heavy blanket of longing. Wind plays through Sportacus’ hair as the storm clouds tumble over the vast forest around the castle.

Robbie rubs his thumb along the back of Sportacus’ hand as decision grips him. “I can show you them.”

Sportacus’ eyes widen. “What?”

“Come with me.”

Neither speaks as Robbie leads Sportacus back into the ballroom. It is deserted, though the instruments still stand in the corner where the kids had been playing. Robbie grimaces. So much for a romantic evening on the balcony. Sportacus’ happiness is more important at the moment.

Robbie takes Sportacus upstairs to the fourth floor and into the West Wing. Most of the wing is trashed to the point that Penny and Jives have given up fixing it. Sportacus lets Robbie guide him and looks around. Under different circumstances, the Elf’s curiosity would probably overwhelm him and he would be off examining every torn painting or overturned vase.

They don’t let go of each other’s hands until they reach the end of the hall. Robbie pushes the door open, stepping in before Sportacus. It’s largely unchanged from the time Sportacus broke in three months ago. Robbie feels his side burn at the thought, as if the memory of that night reopened the claw marks on his ribs.

The sunflower shines under its cloche. Most of the petals have fallen off, and the few that insist on staying attached are becoming brown. Robbie turns his gaze from it for now and looks into the floor to ceiling mirror beside the dead fireplace.

He places a hand on it and gestures for Sportacus to copy him.  “This mirror will show you anything or anyone you want to see.” He explains, removing his own hand.

Sportacus stares at the mirror. “I…. I want to see Stephanie. Please,” he adds, to Robbie’s amusement.

The image in the mirror ripples. Sportacus and Robbie’s reflections fade away, replaced by a forest in the midst of a thunderstorm. Robbie is confused for a second before realization hits him. In horror, he watches as a figure in grey struggle against the high wind. She puts up an arm to shield herself from the onslaught of rain but it does nothing. Mud and leaves coat her pink sneakers and her hair is soaked through.

Stephanie is wandering through the forest in the dark by herself.

Robbie half expects to hear Sportacus’ crystal go off but there is no sound other than a broken “No… Stephanie, no!”

Even as Sportacus speaks, Stephanie trips on a tree root and falls face first to the ground. They watch as she struggles to pick herself back up. In the end, she makes it onto one scraped knee before falling over again.

Robbie has to look away. Sportacus is barely a better sight. He watches the mirror in horror, one hand over his mouth. “I have to help her,” Sportacus states, muffled slightly. “I have to— I have to find her. Why is she alone? What is she doing?!”

He turns desperately to Robbie and Robbie knows what has to be done. It tears him up inside; but Sportacus’ panicked face and eyes half filled with frustrated tears hurts more.

Robbie channels all his rage at the inevitable and, with a roar, punches the mirror, shattering it instantly. Sportacus jumps back. Knuckles bleeding, Robbie picks up the largest piece of mirror and wraps it in a torn bit of curtain.

“Get changed,” he says without looking at Sportacus.

“Changed?”

“For a journey into the woods.”

“Robbie, I can’t. I can’t leave here.”

Robbie slips the bit of mirror into his pocket and rubs his injured hand. “There might be a way. I’ll explain once you’re ready. Meet me by the door.”

Sportacus hesitates, then runs out.

For a few minutes, Robbie just stands in the middle of the room. The image of that girl in the wind and rain won’t leave his mind. He can understand how Sportacus feels. If that were Jives, or Penny, or Ella out there, Robbie wouldn’t stop until they were helped.

Robbie himself feels a little helpless as he leaves the room. He takes the small staircase down directly to his bedroom. Once there, he rummages through a drawer to retrieve a small pouch and a vial. He pockets those, grabs his usual cloak off the coat rack, and makes his way downstairs.

He reaches the front doors and stops to wait for Sportacus. The slam of a door on the second floor announces that it won’t be a long wait.

“What’s going on?” says a voice beside Robbie. “Romantic stroll? It’s going to storm soon.”

“Not now, Glanni,” Robbie hisses.

“What happened? Did you confess? Ooo! Did he confess?”

“Not now, Glanni. I don’t have time for this.”

“You don’t have time to stall. The curse—”

“FORGET THE CURSE!” Robbie yells, whirling around to glare in the general direction the invisible Glanni is standing.

Before Glanni can respond, Sportacus comes down the stairs, taking them two at a time. He is back in his uniform, though now he wears his everyday boots and the hat is still missing. The crystal is hung around his neck. Perhaps he was in too much of a rush to fit it into the vest properly. Or he has been wearing it like that for so long it just feels normal. Over his shoulders is his backpack.

Sportacus runs up to Robbie. “What is the plan?”

The Sports Elf isn’t even out of breath. Unfair. “This way.” Robbie rushes out the door. He could swear he hears Glanni’s footsteps through the snow following them but it’s not important right now.

Robbie goes to the same archway in the front garden where he had grabbed Stephanie what felt like a lifetime ago. Was that really the same girl he was now trying to save? “This is where Stephanie picked that flower,” Robbie explains. He pulls the small pouch out of his pocket and hands it to Sportacus.

Sportacus takes it and looks inside. “A seed?”

“If you plant a rose here, it should balance out what Stephanie took. Then you would no longer be bound by the curse.” Sportacus looks between the seed and the snow covered ground dubiously. Robbie puts a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “I wasn’t going to tell you about this until I was certain. I didn’t want to get your hopes up. But if there’s even a chance it could work, now’s the time.”

Nodding, Sportacus dumps the seed into his palm. He crouches and starts pushing away snow. Robbie kneels to help him dig. Once they reach soil, Sportacus uses his thumb to push the seed in, then covers the spot with both hands. He starts mumbling words Robbie doesn’t understand. It sounds important, so Robbie keeps quiet.

Sportacus pulls his hands away. Where the small mound of seed and dirt had been is a green sprout. Before Robbie’s eyes it grows taller and taller, leaves and thorns springing from the stem. It snakes around a side of the stone archway. A tiny bud pops out, followed by a bulb. In seconds a full, red rose sits amongst the leaves and vines of the other flowers as if it has been there all along.

There is no outward sign that the curse is lifted. But Robbie feels it. It’s like feeling a brick fall out of the castle.

“It’s like…” Sportacus begins beside him, “taking off a heavy coat in summer. Or dropping the weights after training.”

Pride and sorrow fill Robbie in equal measure. “Then you’re free.”

Sportacus turns to him, awe clear on his face. “I can go. I can save Stephanie!” Without warning, Robbie has his arms full of Elf. “Thank you, Robbie.”

Robbie holds him tight. For one selfish second, he considers not letting go.

The second passes, and Robbie pulls away. “Take this,” he says, pulling the vial out of his pocket. “Give it to her when you can. It’s Glanni’s potion.”

The mirror shard is about the size of Sportacus’ palm. Robbie hands it over gently; making sure it’s wrapped around the edges so Sportacus doesn’t cut himself. “And this too. Use it to find her. And maybe…” he struggles to smile. “Maybe you can check in on us from time to time.”

Sportacus take the items and stows them securely in his vest pocket. “Of course I— Your hand!” Sportacus grabs hold of Robbie’s bleeding hand in sudden alarm.

Robbie almost laughs. A girl is hurt and lost in a storm and Sportacus fusses over a little blood on his knuckles. “It’s nothing. Go save the day. You don’t have much time.”

The reminder makes Sportacus look mournful. He brings Robbie’s hand up to his lips and kisses the back of it. “Take care of everyone,” he says, not looking up at Robbie who is suddenly slack jawed. “Tell them goodbye from me. And apologize for having to leave so suddenly.”

“I will,” Robbie is able to say. The bleeding has stopped, the skin stitching itself back together.

Stepping back, Sportacus drops Robbie’s hand. He whispers into the mirror and looks into it. Determination has hardened his face. He cuts his eyes to Robbie. “Goodbye, Prince Robbie.”

“Goodbye, Sportahero.”

With a final grin, Sportacus turns and races away. Robbie watches him run to the gate, which flies open at his approach, and into the forest out of sight. No wolf howls mark his exit from the grounds.

“You fucking imbecile!”

The shout is all the warning Robbie gets before he is shoved into the snow. Glanni is suddenly visible above him, glaring murderously.

“You let him go! You set him free! He was our only chance and you—”

“I had to!”

“Fuck you!” Glanni screams over him. “That was our last chance to break the curse! Now we’ll be stuck here forever and it’s all your fault!”

“You think I don’t know that?!” Robbie gets to his feet. “You think I somehow forgot?! Stephanie’s in danger. I needed to set him free to help her!”

“And what about us?!” Glanni puts a hand to his chest. “Does our danger mean nothing to you?”

Robbie steps right up into Glanni’s face, teeth bared and voice low. “Are you asking me if I considered sacrificing her life over all of yours?”

Glanni sets his jaw and doesn’t answer. Nor does he drop his glare.

“I did.” Robbie’s admission is almost a whisper. “I thought about it for a second. But I couldn’t do that to Sportacus. I love him, Glanni.”

The storm has finally moved in. Snow falls from thick clouds and dots Glanni’s dark hair. He is still in the dress from dinner, though his makeup is smudged. Shoulders drooping in defeat, Glanni steps back from Robbie. “I’ll never seem them again.” His voice is broken as he rubs his left wrist, his gold ring dull in the sudden overcast. “I can’t even remember them enough to mourn.” Tears drop from his eyes and fall silently to the snow.

“I’m sorry.”

Glanni shakes his head and turns away. “I’ll tell the kids. Keep an eye on the flower and tell me when… when anything happens.” He starts to walk away. Before he makes it too far, he looks back at Robbie. “I’m sorry too.”

Robbie can only nod. Glanni leaves. The snow is heavy and incessant. It’s a good while before Robbie makes his way towards the front doors.

Before he crosses the threshold, he takes one look back at the forest. There is no Sportacus; only trees and snow.

“And so the long long nights begin,” he mutters bitterly to himself. With a sniff, Robbie shuts the doors of the castle behind him.

Chapter Text

The crystal bounces against Sportacus’ chest as he runs. It feels more natural there these days. Though, he reflects as he jumps over a fallen tree, ‘these days’ are behind him now. Gritting his teeth against the onslaught of emotion that thought brings up, he sprints through the forest. He stops briefly to scoop up a familiar blue hat from a snowy clearing far from the gates and jams it into his pocket before he runs off again.

Around him, the snow-clogged night starts to dissolve into rain. There are no wolves dogging his every step, no snow crunching underfoot, no towering pines. Now it is fall in the woods. Landmarks start to look familiar to him. Ironically, the last time he had been here, he had also been running at top speed to save Stephanie.

All of a sudden, his crystal starts to wail. He slides to a halt in the mud. Taking out the mirror, Sportacus says, “Show me Stephanie!”

In a blink, the mirror, strangely not studded with raindrops, reveals Stephanie. She is standing upright now, but leaning heavily on a tree. Her hands are scraped, and her once grey sweatshirt is caked in mud. Sportacus tries to ignore that for now. It’s more important to figure out where Stephanie is. A stream clogged with autumn leaves is visible just beyond Stephanie.

Holding the mirror up, Sportacus takes off again. Rain pelts against his exposed hair and arms. He mutters his warming spell absently.

The sound of rushing water meets his pointed ears and he turns sharply in its direction. He bats aside a branch full of colorful leaves, skids to a stop, and looks around. It is indeed the creek. On the opposite bank, now slumped against an oak, is Stephanie. Her eyes are closed but she is clearly breathing. The crystal stops blaring. Sportacus pays it little attention as he leaps across the creek. His panic has slightly abated for finding her, though she is not out of danger yet.

As he rushes to her side, she picks up her head. “Sp-Sportacus?” She mumbles weakly.

“It’s me, Stephanie.” Sportacus cups the side of her face, lifting her head up slightly. Her lips are chapped and there are a few scratches on her face. There are no obvious life-threatening injuries that Sportacus can see. Dehydration and exposure are no laughing matter, but they’re no immediate cause for alarm either. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to take you home.”

Stephanie blinks sluggishly up at him. Then a small smile appears. “Found you,” she says in a hoarse voice. “I knew I’d find you.”

Sportacus smiles back. “You did. Come here.”

He picks her up effortlessly. Has she always been so light? What had happened to her these past few months?

Sportacus starts to turn back the way he came and freezes. No. That is not home. He has to get to Lazytown. Part of him wonders what would happen if he did show up back at the castle with Stephanie. Would they be trapped there again? Could he even find his way back to winter?

Shaking his head, Sportacus instead veers towards Lazytown. He moves slower holding Stephanie in his arms but still with urgency. Her eyes are closed again, her nose pressed against his spell-warmed chest, fingers digging into his shirt. As mixed as he feels about leaving the castle, nothing gives him more relief than knowing Stephanie is alright.

He finds and follows the worn path out of the forest. At the head of the trail, he stops for just a moment. Lazytown is sprawled out before him like he never left. By now the rain has stopped falling, most of the clouds having cleared away. The town is quiet, peaceful. Above it all is his airship. Sportacus had been curious what happened to her when he left. Hopefully none of the kids have tried to get up there to poke around.

“We’re home, Stephanie,” he murmurs quietly. With that, he walks into Lazytown.

The lights in Milford’s house are on so Sportacus doesn’t trouble himself with knocking. He opens the door and makes a beeline for Stephanie’s room.

“Stephanie? Is that you?!” Milford comes running in from the living room. When he spots Sportacus, his jaw drops. “S-Sportacus?”

“Hello, Mayor,” Sportacus greets as he uses his shoulder to open Stephanie’s door. “Can you get a first aid kit? And some water?”

“Of course!” Milford disappears into the kitchen. Sportacus crosses over to the bed and sets Stephanie gently on it. He takes off her soaked sweatshirt and lays her down on the bed.

Propping her head up on a few pillows, he taps her cheek. “Stephanie? You have to wake up now.” She groans in protest but he insists. Gradually, she opens her eyes. Sportacus pulls the vial out of his vest. “I need you to drink this,” he says, holding the open vial to her lips.

She frowns, sniffing. “Strawberries?”

He can’t hold back a chuckle. He really has missed her. “Yes. Drink it all, please.” He tips the potion down her throat. She finishes it in a single gulp. The effect is immediate: her various cuts close up, color returns to her cheeks, and her eyes become more clear and alert.

She sits up of her own accord and looks around, almost panicked. “Where am I? I don’t— Sportacus!” Her eyes find him and she pulls him down into a fierce hug. “Sportacus, you’re okay! You’re here!”

At her first broken sob, Sportacus hugs her back. “I’m here. You are safe now.” He kisses the top of her head as she buries her face in his chest.

Milford steps into the room holding a small white box and a tall glass of water. He stands in the doorway, watching them. “Is she alright?” Milford asks, eyes on his niece.

“Yes. She will be just fine.”

Stephanie pulls away abruptly. “See, Uncle? Sportacus is real!”

Sportacus lets his arms drop and looks over at Milford with a raised eyebrow. Milford looks extremely uncomfortable. “Y-Yes, Stephanie. You were right.” He sets the kit and the water on the nightstand. The small black and white kitten pads into the room and jumps onto the bed, settling right next to Stephanie. It looks up at Sportacus.

“Hey, you.” Sportacus pets the top of its head. It purrs contently.

“I’m so sorry, Sportacus,” Milford says, turning to him. “Now that I see you, I know you’re real. I don’t know how I could have forgotten about you all this time…”

“Forgotten about me?” Sportacus looks between Stephanie and Milford.

“When I got back from the castle, no one remembered you,” Stephanie explains. “I tried to tell them but no one believed me. Everyone thought I was making it up.” Milford tries to place a hand on her shoulder but Stephanie shifts away, not even glancing at him.

Milford sighs. “It seems silly now. How could I forget you? After everything you’ve done for us?”

“I never forgot you,” Stephanie says pointedly. “I kept trying to convince people but no one listened.” The kitten meows. Stephanie gives it a small smile and scratches its ears. “Except you.”

“Is that why you were in the forest?” Sportacus asks. “You were trying to find the castle?”

“I had to save you from the beast!”

“What beast?” Milford interrupts. “What castle? There’s nothing in the forest for miles!” Sportacus opens his mouth to correct him but Milford now turns to Stephanie with a stern look. Well, as stern as Milford can ever hope to look. “Whatever your reasons, you shouldn’t have gone out alone, Stephanie! You had me worried sick! If Sportacus wasn’t there, there’s no telling what could have happened to you!”

“But Uncle—”

“Everyone has been looking for you all day. Including Íþró! You owe him and everyone else an apology when—”

“Íþró?” It’s the last name Sportacus expects to hear right now. “Íþróttaálfurinn is here?”

“Hm? Oh, yes,” Milford turns to the window. “He should be back soon, actually. He left in his air balloon to look for Stephanie.” Sportacus glances out the window, as if Íþró’s balloon will happen by just because of their conversation.

“You know him, right?” Stephanie states more than asks. “I think you’ve mentioned him before.”

It’s Milford who answers. “Oh my! He’s your brother, isn’t he? Yes! I remember you saying so now.”

“I knew it! He said he was the latest hero but I knew he was lying!”

Sportacus shook his head. No way would Íþró lie about that. “He must have just forgotten too. Why is he here?”

“Well, with Stephanie… not getting along with others—” Stephanie glares at Milford. “—the kids weren’t really playing outside. I wrote to 9 asking for his help. He’s been here for about a week now.”

This is a lot to take in. Íþró in Lazytown? No one remembered Sportacus? Stephanie being shunned by the other kids?

Before he can ask for further explanations, a familiar balloon starts to lower itself into Lazytown. “He’s back!” Milford declares in clear excitement. “Stay here and rest, Stephanie. I’ll bring Íþró around so he can see you’re safe.”

Stephanie doesn’t look too happy with the order. Nonetheless, she sits back against her pillows and sips carefully at her water. The kitten crawls into her lap, curling up to sleep. Sportacus gives her an encouraging grin before following Milford from the room.

Outside, the balloon has landed in the middle of town. Íþró flips out of the basket. The other kids and their families are already there to meet him. Sportacus wishes he could properly revel in seeing them again, but it’s important he talk to Íþró.

“I could not see her from above. And now it is too dark to see anything at all.” Íþró looks grim as he spots Milford walking up. “I am sorry, Mayor, but we will have to—” He makes eye contact with Sportacus trailing behind Milford. “Krakki!”

Despite everything he has gone though that evening, Sportacus find himself smiling wide at the old nickname. Íþró moves with purpose through the crowd and embraces him. Sportacus all but sags into his arms. “Good to see you, Ferðamaður.”

“Where have you been?!” Íþró says into his shoulder. “I forgot about you. How could I have done that?”

Reluctantly, Sportacus pulls away. “Íþró, Stephanie is home. I found her in the woods.”

“You have been in the forest this whole time?”

“Not exactly. Listen to me. There’s castle out there trapped in winter.”

“Not you too!” Says a voice from the crowd. Stingy crosses his arms from where he stands beside his parents. “Stephanie keeps talking about a castle too! If anyone is gonna have a castle around here it’s me.”

“But it’s true!” Sportacus insists. He hadn’t intended to have this conversation with the whole town but there was no avoiding it now. Besides, he needs to defend Stephanie’s actions over the past few months anyway. “There is a castle out there. It’s been cursed so no one remembers it or anyone who lives there.

“Did you see the beast too?” Pixel calls out.

He does not sound like he’s mocking Sportacus; just his usual curious self. So Sportacus answers honestly. “I did.”

“Is that why you were trapped?” Íþró asks, his hands squeezing Sportacus’ arms. “This beast kept you there?”

“Well, at first yes.”

There is a fearful outcry from the crowd. “A beast? In our woods?!” Trixie’s aunt gasps in disbelief.

“A beast that steals children!” Pixel’s dad adds, standing beside his terrified looking husband. “We’ve been letting them play in there all this time!”

“H-He could come here any night and take them!” Milford stammers.

“We have to do something about this!”

A general cry of agreement follows Stingy’s father’s words. From behind his mother, Ziggy goes wide-eyed and slips away. Sportacus almost moves to follow him but the stirred up crowd demands attention first. “Everyone, please!” Sportacus shouts above them all. “He will not harm any of you or the children! He’s not a monster!”

The grip Íþró has on his arm tightens and he begins puling Sportacus away from the plaza. “Tell me everything you know about this beast,” Íþró demands as he marches into Milford’s house.

“You have to talk sense into them, Íþró. Robbie would not do anything to the kids.”

“Robbie? Is that his true name?”

“Y-Yes.”

“How do you know? How can you trust him? This thing locked you away for months.”

Sportacus’ mouth falls into a stiff line. “He gave me his name,” he says with gravity.

That makes Íþró pause in the kitchen. “A Fae?”

Sportacus nods. Íþró frowns and continues pulling him down the hall. They enter Stephanie’s room. Stephanie is at the window, watching the mob outside, but turns to them as they enter.

Íþró lets go of Sportacus and pushes him lightly into the room, stopping himself in the doorway. “What else can you tell me?”

With sudden insight, Sportacus pulls out the mirror. “Show me Robbie,” Sportacus tells it.

The mirror glows before settling on the image of Robbie. Sportacus can’t hold back a smile at the sight. It already feels like a lifetime since Sportacus saw him last. Robbie is pacing in his room like a caged animal, occasionally flexing his claws.

Íþró narrows his eyes at the image. “I know he looks vicious,” Sportacus admits. “But he can be kind and gentle. He’s… he is my friend.”

Without warning, Íþró grabs the mirror, steps away, and shuts the bedroom door. The knob glows a brief orange, then orange shoots around the walls of the room, disappearing into a glittering dust. Though he suspects it’s futile, Sportacus grabs the knob. “Ferðamaður! Íþró! Let us go!”

“I do not want a feral Fae running loose!” Íþró yells thought the door. “He has charmed you in some way. I cannot trust your judgment. And I cannot have you running off to warn him!”

“Íþró, please!” Instead of an answer, all Sportacus hears is the front door slam. He joins Stephanie at the window and bangs against it. “No!”

“He did what?!”

“Yes,” Glanni says somberly to Jives and Penny’s chorused question. “I’m afraid it’s true.”

“He left?” Ella signs. Hurt is clear on her face. Glanni nods and pulls her into a hug as her lip trembles. Damn Robbie for making him have to deal with this alone. Though Robbie is in no shape to talk to anyone at the moment. And Glanni had volunteered without being asked. Still, damn Robbie anyway.

Penny stomps her foot in frustration. “But why did he let Sportacus go? We were so close!” Angry tears are welling up in her eyes. “And he didn’t even say goodbye…”

“Why would he?” Jives spits. The teen crosses his arm, glaring out the window. “He can go back to his real family now. He doesn’t have to pretend to care about us anymore.”

“That’s not fair,” Glanni says with a hard look at Jives. “Sportacus saved your lives how many times? Don’t trick yourself into believing he doesn’t care. Would Robbie really fall for someone like that?” Jives bites his lip and doesn’t answer.

Penny wipes her eyes, saying, “Hang on— if Master really has fallen for Sportacus, doesn’t that mean the curse is broken?”

Ella perks up at this observation and looks pleadingly up at Glanni. With a sigh, Glanni shakes his head. “It’s not enough. Sportacus has to love him back.”

“Sure looked like love to me,” Jives grumbles. Ella nods in agreement, stepping away from Glanni to mimic Jives.

“I can’t believe we all practiced those songs for nothing,” Penny adds bitterly.

Glanni looks over all their gloomy faces and claps his hands. “Alright, enough moping. Let’s go get changed and help Robo-Rob clean up dinner.”

The four of them make their way down the hall towards the staircase. As they pass the front entrance, Glanni alone notices Sugar Pie pawing at the doors with a whine. He lingers back from the others and watches them continue on in a dejected march. Damn Robbie indeed.

He looks down at Sugar Pie, who whimpers. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Glanni says. Then he opens the doors and watches Sugar Pie race off into the snowy night. Glanni finds it in himself to smirk. “Good luck, you funky little pupper.”

Chapter Text

Anger courses through Íþró as he stalks away from Sportacus’ shouts. The spell should keep Sportacus and Stephanie from breaking free no matter what they try. Íþró walks back into the plaza where the residences of Lazytown are still gathered. In his absence they have armed themselves with various objects.

A parent he doesn’t recognize holds up a baseball bat. “We’re not safe until he’s dead!”

“We will not kill him,” Íþró states firmly. “But as long as he is free, we will live in fear. It is time to take some action. This is our foe.” With a whisper to the mirror, he holds up the image of the Fae for all to see. Inside, the beast roars. To Íþró, it sounds like agony. The others in the mob, however, step back with frightened shrieks and cover their children’s ears.

He puts the mirror away. “Meet me by the forest. We are not coming home until this beast is captured.”

The crowd cheers. Milford himself leads the families to the forest trailhead. Once they are gone, Íþró jogs over to his balloon. From his suitcase he pulls the ring box.  Íþró, strangely, has been itching to put it on his finger since seeing Sportacus. Once the ring is securely in place, Íþró turns to follow the townsfolk.

Maybe Íþró locking Sportacus away is going too far. But he can’t risk Sportacus trying something stupid.

Íþró had forgotten Sportacus because of this thing. Anything that made Íþró forget his own little brother is too dangerous to leave alone.

It’s Penny who sees the lights in the forest.

She races to the West Wing, where Robbie had ended up secluding himself so he wouldn’t keep flinging things into his bedroom fireplace. Like anything that could possibly remind him of Sportacus.

Penny doesn’t knock; just runs right into the room via the secret passage behind the now shattered mirror. Robbie is staring at the sunflower, his back to the rest of the room. “Master!” She shouts. “There are lots of people heading this way!”

Briefly, Robbie lifts his head to look out into the woods. “I see....”

“Glanni says they’re gonna attack!”

“I know.”

“Why is this happening?! Is it because you let Sportacus go?”

Robbie’s hands tighten on the rim of the table. He forces himself to calm down, least he snap at her for no reason. “Just… let them come.”

“What?”

“Leave me in peace.”

“But— Master!”

“Penny, just,”—Robbie’s claws dig into the tabletop— “go.”

After a pause, Penny leaves through the door. It clicks softly behind her and Robbie lets his shoulders slump. What did it matter now if the castle was attacked? Would it be better to be trapped here for the rest of eternity, or dead?

A petal falls silently from the sunflower. They were too late. Everything was too late. There is no hope now.

Sportacus would have kept pounding at the window if Stephanie hadn’t grabbed his arm. “Don’t hurt yourself! It’s not working!”

“Something has to!” Even as he says that, Sportacus knows it’s not true. He can feel Íþró’s magic around them like an itchy scarf. Nothing short of Íþró’s return would set them free. The plaza is now deserted, everyone having gone off into the forest. There is no way to leave, and no one left help them.

Heavy with defeat, Sportacus slumps to the floor with his back against the bed. Stephanie sits beside him. The kitten has taken to pawing at the door.

“I don’t know what has gotten into Íþró,” Sportacus mutters with a sigh. “He is not usually so quick to judge others.”

Stephanie brings her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them. “He’s your big brother. That beast locked you away all summer. He just wants to protect you.”

“But he’s not listening to me. Robbie used to be a heartless prince but he’s changed. He’s a good teacher, considerate with gifts, and he’s really smart. As smart as Pixel!” He looks wistfully up at the window, unconsciously mimicking Stephanie’s sitting position. “No one out there believed me. And now they are too riled up to listen.”

Silence follows his words. The only sound is the occasional meow from the kitten. Stephanie lays a hand on his arm. “For what it’s worth, I believe you.”

Sportacus shakes his head. “You don’t have to. You more than anyone else deserve to be angry with him. I know how he treated you and him changing doesn’t excuse that.”

“No one has believed I word I’ve said for three months,” Stephanie says stubbornly. “So if you say Robbie’s good, then he is.”

In spite of everything, Sportacus finds himself smiling. He wraps an arm around Stephanie’s shoulders and pulls her into a hug.

Stephanie is in the middle of asking “Wait, he’s a prince?” when there’s a loud thud on the window. They both scramble to their feet. The kitten jumps onto the bed, fur standing on end.

Outside in the light of a streetlamp is Ziggy. He’s holding what looks like a handheld pitching machine. As they watch, Ziggy adjusts something on the side and fires another baseball. Sportacus tackles Stephanie and the kitten out of the way just in time— the baseball flies though the glass and hits the wall opposite.

“Wowie!” They hear Ziggy cheer. “It really works!”

Two more baseballs crack the window before the whole thing shatters. Sportacus is able to shield the other two from the glass that falls to the carpet. The kitten wastes no time and jumps out the window, running roughly in the direction of Bessie’s house.

Stephanie and Sportacus climb out carefully, mindful of the jagged edges of the window frame. Ziggy’s grin is wide and triumphant. He holds up the pitching machine. “You guys gotta try this thing!”

“What is that?” Stephanie asks, jogging forward with Sportacus for a better look.

“Pixel made it! I think he and Íþró were trying to make a new version of baseball.”

It is very much up Íþró’s alley to take an already existing game and make it more intense but Sportacus can’t think about that just now. “Did Íþró go with the others?”

“Oh! Yeah.” Ziggy’s grin falls into an expression thick with worry. “Do you really mean it, Sportacus? That it’s not a monster?”

Sportacus claps a hand on his shoulder and kneels down to look Ziggy in the eye. “Robbie wouldn’t hurt anyone. He’s too lazy.” Ziggy giggles.

“We have to catch up to them,” Stephanie says. She looks off towards the forest. The potion has done her wonders; apart from the tears in her clothes, she looks fit for anything.

“We?” Ziggy repeats in a hopeful tone. Stephanie looks at him and nods with a soft smile. Ziggy jumps in the air and lets out a “Yippie!”

Sportacus gets to his feet. “We will have to move fast. If Íþró couldn’t see the castle from his air balloon, we can’t use my airship. Maybe if—”

“What’s that?!”

Sportacus looks in the direction Ziggy is pointing. Bounding out of the trees and heading towards them at top speed is a large, mechanical dog.

Stephanie gasps at the same time Sportacus yells, “Sugar Pie!” The dog stops in front of Sportacus, tongue lolling out of his mouth. Sportacus scratches behind his ear and the dog pants happily. Behind him, he can hear Ziggy whispering “Wow…!”

Before he can speak in Sugar Pie’s defense, Stephanie steps forward. “H-Hi, again.” Sugar Pie moves slowly towards her, ears lowered and head down in submission. “Um, thank you for taking me home. And making sure someone came for me.” She holds out her hand.

Tail wagging, Sugar Pie leans up into the hand and pants again as she pets his head. Ziggy comes over as well and starts rubbing Sugar Pie’s back. Some stress leaves Sportacus. At least that’s one resident of the castle he doesn’t have to vouch for.

All at once, Sugar Pie shakes the kids away and barks urgently up at Sportacus. “They’re in trouble, aren’t they?” Sportacus asks grimly. Sugar Pie barks again. Sportacus jerks his head towards the other two. “Can you carry them both?”

In answer, Sugar Pie bends all four legs so he’s low enough for the kids to mount. Stephanie doesn’t wait to be told and jumps right onto his back. Ziggy climbs on in front of her. “Let’s go save a castle!” Ziggy cheers.

The four of them race off out of town, down the path, and into the dark forest.

As a general rule, Glanni does not run. It’s faster to teleport or use other magical means. Plus he doesn’t get as sweaty.

But it’s a time for everyone to make sacrifices it seems, and so Glanni is running around the castle in his best cat suit and black combat boots commanding anything vaguely sentient. “Would you lock already?!” He snaps at the wide windows in the kitchen. With a wave of his hand, indigo magic shuts and latches shutters that hadn’t been there a second ago.

“That’s not enough!” He barks at Jives as he skids to a stop before the main doors. “Where’s the armchair from the third-floor sitting room?! If it’s solid enough for me to trip over every night on my rounds it’s solid enough to stand a mob!”

Jives and Robo-Rob prop more dining room chairs against the door handles. Panting, Jives asks, “Why are we doing this? I though Master said not to.”

“Robbie is being irrational and in the event the Prince cannot defend the castle that duty falls to me.” With that, Glanni takes off again. He jumps up the steps three at a time and has to stop on the fourth floor landing to clutch a stitch in his side. “Oh this is the worst.” Breathing hard, he runs up the final flight and flings open the door to the ramparts.

The snow has not slowed down the clump of flashlights approaching through the night. Half of them have reached the front gates and are trying to break through. Penny and Ella stand solemnly right against the rampart wall, watching the crowd. “I can’t remember the last time I saw that many people at once,” Penny says, a hint of awe in her voice. She looks up at Glanni. “Literally.”

With a great creak, the gates give way. Ella sucks in a startled breath as people pour into the garden. Chants of “Stop the beast!” echo around the grounds. As the townsfolk march for the castle, Glanni sees something orange flicker out from the main column.

“Did you see that?”

Penny peers down the wall. “See what?”

“… Nothing. Forget it.”

His left hand twitches. Eyes trained on the ground for another speck of orange, he rubs the finger sporting his golden ring.

Ella startles him out of his thoughts by tugging on his sleeve. “We have a few tricks we can try out,” she signs.

“Tricks? We?”

Penny grins slyly up at him. “Jives, Ella, and I used to pretend we had to defend the castle against witches when we were first cursed. We came up with a lot of tricks would use to defend ourselves.”

The same mischievous look takes over Ella’s face. “Can we test some?” she signs with an innocent tilt of her head.

A thrill of pride leaps up Glanni’s chest. “You have my full permission.”

The girls giggle together and duck back inside the castle. Glanni follows. Shaking snow from their hair, they kids whisper and sign together such a unique collection of words that even Glanni cannot fathom their plans.

At the third floor, Glanni leaves them and turns to continue down the hall. Ella stops and grabs Penny’s hand to hold her back. Penny calls out to him, “Where are you going?”

“Don’t worry about me. Get yourselves ready,” he answers with a flippant wave of his hand.  “Tell Jives to do something with those millions of coat racks we own. They have to be good for something.”

At a light jog, Glanni makes his way down the hall to a large window. It is in fact the very same window he and Robbie once stared out from, watching the kids play in the snow with Sportacus. Now the world outside is dark save for a few pinpricks of light from the hands of their invaders.

Pulling a tube of lipstick from his pocket, Glanni applies it with an expert hand using his reflection in the window. “You shut, too,” he orders the window when he’s done, clenching his fist in its direction. Shutters appear and snap closed. The mob is gone from Glanni’s sight, but a tense air still fills the castle.

They are ready.

Chapter Text

“Remember to let me handle the beast!” Íþró commands the townspeople. They cheer and hoist up their various weapons in response. They make for the front doors of the castle. With a muttered spell, Íþró streaks away unnoticed. He has no idea who else the beast has trapped inside the castle but he’s sure the mob will be enough distraction for them. The town is under strict instructions to not harm any inhabitants unless it’s out of self-defense; there is no telling who else may be charmed like Sportacus.

Íþró’s plan is to sneak in and head right for the beast. He doubts a haughty Fae would want to be at the frontlines. They are clever creatures, good at using their surroundings to their advantage, and their eyes, which normally appear dull and unassuming, turn colors when they use magic.

Íþró stops with his back to the castle wall. How does he know that? He also recalls that they startle easily. Was this part of his hero training way back when?

Shaking his head, Íþró assess his surroundings. Snow is quickly filling in the footprints he left behind on his way here. In front of him is a greenhouse in surprisingly good repair. To his right is what appears to be a backdoor into the castle. Perhaps used by staff when attending the greenhouse.

The door is unlocked. Íþró slips in soundlessly. There is a commotion further down the hall that he assumes is the crowd confronting the castle’s defenses. Hopefully they are careful.

The first floor is chaos. What part of the floor isn’t slicked with oil is covered in marbles. Those who don’t lose their footing find themselves getting pelted with snowballs from all sides. A few rakes from the long-abandoned garden are scattered throughout the hallway. Anyone foolish enough to try climbing the stairs is fended off by Jives sliding down the banisters with practiced ease, wielding a mop.

Both servants make use of the many secret passageways they grew up with, which tricks the mob into thinking there is more than just four people currently defending the castle. Glanni himself is observing this from a few floors up. There are a few children in the crowd, though Glanni can tell they seem to be enjoying the activity instead of running around in fear like the adults. He chuckles.

Since it doesn’t look like the kids need his help, and in fact they seem to be having fun, Glanni continues his search for the orange thing. He can feel something lurking around the castle. The place is too big for its own good; there’s no way he can search every bit of it himself. The magic feels familiar, which is impossible. Yet he doesn’t feel threatened by its presence. Merely confused and curious.

Glanni drags his fingers along the wall as he turns a corner and comes to another window. This one also faces the forest. He is snapped out of his semi-meditative state by the sight of Sportacus tearing out of the forest, Sugar Pie behind him with two small passengers.

“Hello?” Glanni presses his face to the glass for a better look. “Oh Sugar Pie, you beautiful robotic boy!”

The snow leading up to the castle is all churned up. Sportacus and Sugar Pie follow the footprints, slowing down from their mad dash through the woods as they reach the doors. All the lights on the first floor are lit, revealing the silhouettes of the whole town running amuck. There are shouts and jeers and other worrying noises. “Go in and try to stop the town,” Sportacus instructs Ziggy and Stephanie. “There are two kids a little older than you in there. Find them and help them.”

As he says that, Trixie’s aunt falls backwards out of the open front doors and stumbles down the steps. Close behind her is Trixie, who trips over her aunt. At first, Sportacus thinks they are hurt. But as he gets closer he realizes they are both covered in honey and pillow feathers. With a manic battle cry, Trixie’s aunt jumps to her feet, picks up the chair leg she has been wielding, and runs back into the castle. Trixie mimics her actions with a tennis racket, laughing at the top of her lungs.

“Well,” Sportacus says after a pause. “That… explains a lot.” With a shake of his head he turns back to Stephanie. “Keep each other safe. No one seems to be in their right mind tonight.”

“What about you, Sportacus?” Ziggy asks as he and Stephanie slide off Sugar Pie.

“I’m going to find Robbie.” A horrible feeling is crawling up Sportacus’ spine that he has to hurry.

Íþró has to check the mirror only once before he can locate the room the beast is in. He cannot begin to fathom why he can find his way around this foreign castle so easily, in the dark no less, but now is not the time for introspection. Perhaps it is just a common layout for a castle.

The beast stands at the far end of the last room in the westernmost wing surrounded by ruined furniture and decoration. Behind him is a balcony with its doors open, snow drifting in lazily. Íþró walks in, stepping carefully around shards of broken mirror and not taking his eyes off the Fae.

“Welcome to my home,” the beast says without turning around. “Are you here to kill me?”

“No,” Íþró answers honestly. “I am here to capture you.”

“Is that so?”

“You are too dangerous to leave alone.” The magic in the air is feral, unhinged. There is also a second kind of magic that Íþró has noticed throughout the castle. There are strong powers at work here, and it makes Íþró uneasy. “You made me forget my brother ever existed. And then you held him and a child captive.”

Now the beast does turn around. Instead of a boastful prince, Íþró sees a hunched figure wearing a heavy cloak. Prince Robbie’s outfit underneath is clean and fit; black pants and a neat grey undershirt. He looks as if he has just tasted something sour. “Yes. I did.” His words reveal pointed teeth.

Íþró stops a few feet from the beast. “I do not want to hurt you.”

Robbie gives a hollow laugh. “I doubt you could.” Waving a hand dismissively, Robbie turns and walks out to the balcony. “Just leave me in peace.”

Íþró’s blood boils at being dismissed but he calms himself before silently following Robbie. A plan is forming in his mind as he comes to stand next to Robbie in front of the railing. Robbie lets out a growl. “Are you still here? If you’re not going to kill me, then—”

His words are cut off by what is an almost comical screech as Íþró pushes him off the balcony. Robbie doesn’t fall too far; an orange-magic net of Íþró’s own making stops him after a few feet. Íþró jumps down to the rooftop below and grins mockingly up at the captured Fae. The shingles of the roof are thick with snow but Íþró was raised in snow. He keeps his feet. “I said I would not kill you,” Íþró reminds him. “But you are coming with me.” 

Robbie glares murder down at him. “I won’t and I can’t.”

“Do not underestimate what I will do to protect those I love,” Íþró says, all mirth falling from his face. “I will make you if I have to.”

With a snarl, Robbie’s eyes glow violet. The net bursts apart like a bubble and Robbie lands on all fours on the roof in front of Íþró. The resulting impact shatters the shingles under Robbie and makes the whole rooftop tremble. Robbie’s clawed hands clench and unclench as the bright light of magic leaves his eyes. “Why won’t you just leave me be?” Robbie barks. “I sent Sportacus away myself. I don’t mean anyone any harm. Except maybe you.”

The hurt in Robbie’s face looks real enough but Íþró is wary. If he is charmed the same way Sportacus was, Lazytown will be doomed. He fires out another net but Robbie dodges. Despite his vague threat a moment ago, Robbie seems to be mostly interested in avoiding Íþró or trying to get away rather than attacking.

They continue in this pattern across the roof; Íþró flinging nets of magic at Robbie and Robbie jumping out of the way. This is Robbie’s home and he knows how to run around its roofs. Once or twice, Íþró nearly gets him and Robbie’s eyes glow when he tosses out magic to rip the net to shreds.

Before too long, Íþró can tell Robbie is getting tired. Robbie leads them back around towards the roof just under the balcony as if he plans to climb back up and leave Íþró behind. Íþró’s not about to let that happen. He throws out an arm and fires a net in such a way that Robbie will run smack into it. Robbie backpedals so quickly he falls back and lands in a flash of purple. The roof shakes under them again.

Snow falls over Robbie’s form as he raises himself up on his elbows. His hands are cut up from the tiles breaking under him, and there’s a new dullness in his eyes Íþró has not seen before. The look he sends Íþró is between acceptance and deep sorrow. “Go ahead. Try and drag me from here. Or kill me first, I don’t care.”

Sympathy tugs at Íþró’s heart. Nevertheless, he raises his hand to cast a final, more powerful net.

Sportacus takes the side entrance by the greenhouse and runs up a secret passage that spits out near the kids’ rooms. As he races up the steps, the sounds of the fighting downstairs fades, replaced with different battle sounds above him. Sportacus races down the West Wing. He flips and spins around discarded objects until he reaches the final door.

The sunflower inside the room is still shining under its cloche, though it is duller than earlier that evening. The low rumble of Robbie’ voice reaches Sportacus’ ear and he all but jumps over to the balcony. Below, he can see Robbie on his back, staring up at Íþró, whose hand is raised and glowing orange.  

“Íþró, stop!”

At the shout, Íþró turns his head towards the balcony. Standing there, leaning half his body over the railing, is Sportacus. Íþró is briefly stunned as to how his brother broke free from Stephanie’s room. Then he realizes he has just looked away from the enemy and fires off a net as he whips back around. Robbie rolls out of the way of the shot and gets smoothly to his feel in the same motion. His eyes aren’t trained on Íþró; they are fixed on Sportacus like he has just seen a ghost. “Sportacus…”

Íþró flings out both hands and tries for another net. Before he can, Robbie grabs both his wrists. There is sudden determination in his features. The passive creature of a second ago has been replaced with someone with new motivation. He roars in Íþró’s face, the tips of his claws piecing Íþró’s arms. A shiver of fear grips Íþró’s entire being for the first time since coming to the castle. He pushes that aside and gathers magic to his hands again, rising to the new challenge in Robbie’s gaze.

“Don’t hurt him!” Cries Sportacus.

Robbie blinks a few times. The anger on his face melts away, replaced by genuine confusion. Íþró must admit that even he is unclear on the instruction. They both look up at Sportacus. “Who was that to?” Robbie asks, still holding Íþró.

Sportacus gapes at them, dumbfounded, before spluttering, “To— to both of you, you buffoons!” He makes a hand gesture along with the word that Íþró doesn’t recognize.

Sportacus is not one for name calling, unless it’s at Íþró in jest of course, so to hear him yell insults is surreal. Even more surreal is the bark of laughter that leaves Robbie. The Fae lets go of Íþró and signs something up at Sportacus. Whatever it is makes Sportacus laugh and call down, “It’s good to see you, too.”

Something about that exchange sets Íþró at ease. The smile on Sportacus’ face, the first true one he has seen since their reunion in town, might have something to do with it. Íþró steps back from Robbie and gestures for him to go to Sportacus. “You climb up first,” he says, “so I can keep an eye on you.”

Robbie finally tears his eyes from Sportacus to give Íþró a suspicious look. “You’re not going to try to capture me?”

“We are all going to talk about this inside. Then we will see.”

With a nod, Robbie starts to climb up the wall towards the ruined room. Sportacus leans down further to offer his hand.

It’s then that the poor abused rooftop gives way.

Íþró doesn’t get much warning beyond the lurching feeling in his gut that comes from the ground vanishing beneath his feet. He tumbles backwards through snowflakes. Acting on pure instant, Íþró fires off a bolt of magic he means to work as a grappling hook. But there is too much panicked magic behind the unformed spell, and it goes wide. With horror, Íþró realizes it’s going to hit Sportacus.

Robbie sees the jagged, flame-colored magic speeding at them. He is almost at the balcony, hand griping Sportacus’ tightly. He can see where the shot is going to strike. And he can’t have that, not after everything that’s happened tonight, not after all this time.

Swinging upwards, Robbie gets between Sportacus and the magic. The bolt hits him square in the back. Pain courses through him as if he were struck by lightning, so fast and all-consuming that Robbie doesn’t make a sound. But someone is screaming. Someone is screaming a desperate, horrified scream.

Chapter Text

Íþró is just able to register that Sportacus was not hit before a veil of indigo takes his vision. He stops falling as suddenly as if someone has just grabbed his hand. Then he finds himself floating towards a castle window. Someone is there with their hands out to Íþró, magic covering both hands like gloves. As soon as Íþró floats through the window, the indigo surrounding him vanishes and Íþró lands on his back. The person gasps and falls panting to their knees.

“T-Thank you,” Íþró is able to say through shock.

His savior looks up at him, still gasping for breath, and says, “Knew I needed to save my magic for something big. Just thought it would be for Robbie. Fuck, you weigh more than you look. Is it all muscle?”

Íþró can’t hold in a chuckle. The person is wearing a black cat suit, black boots, and flawlessly applied maroon lipstick. It is interesting attire for defending a castle but Íþró finds it suits the stranger perfectly. “You work for Robbie directly then?” He gets to his feet and holds out his left hand to the stranger. “Your master and my brother are up a floor. We should join them.”

The stranger scoffs. “He’s not my master.” He reaches out his left hand to take Íþró’s. “He’s my—” He freezes. Íþró sees it too.

This stranger wears a gold ring identical to Íþró’s own.

For a moment, Íþró forgets about the feral Fae upstairs. He forgets Sportacus might be in danger. He forgets about the shot he didn’t quite see land.

All he can do is stare into this stranger’s hazel eyes as they go wide.

The scream from Sportacus’ throat is raw and shocking even to him. Beyond the crumbled roof, he can see Íþró stop falling as an indigo light catches him. Sportacus is confident Glanni can handle that. Robbie’s mouth is grit in silent agony, eyes squeezed shut, and then he starts to fall backwards.

Sportacus grabs Robbie’s limp body with both hands and pulls him over the railing. Thankfully, Robbie is still breathing. Sportacus lays him down, supporting his head, muttering his warming spell when he feels how cold Robbie has become. Wind has extinguished the sconces in the room; the only light now comes from the flower on the table beside Sportacus. From its waning glow, Sportacus watches Robbie’s eyes open ever so slightly.

“Did… did you get to Stephanie in time?” Robbie manages to ask. His voice is almost a whisper.

“Yes, I did. Thanks to you.” Sportacus takes Robbie’s hand and squeezes it. “Can you walk? We have to get you to Glanni. I can’t fix this. I—”

“It’s too late.” Robbie’s eyes flicker briefly to the flower. “It’s too late. Just. Stay here, please.”

“I will.” Tears are trailing down Sportacus’ face but he ignores them. “I’m not going anywhere anymore. You’re not going anywhere either.”

Robbie shakes his head weakly. “Can you tell the kids… I love them? And Glanni too. He won’t believe you but I’ll get hell if… if I leave him out.”

His breaths are becoming more labored. “Don’t be dramatic. You can tell them yourself,” Sportacus says. He’s leans down so his face is inches from Robbie’s. He needs Robbie to hear this. He needs Robbie to know everything is going to be fine.

But Robbie’s blinks are getting slower. He reaches up a trembling hand and wipes tears from Sportacus’ cheek with his thumb. “I’m glad I… got to see you one last time, Sportahero.” Then his eyes fall shut, the pained smile drops from his face. He goes slack in Sportacus’ arms. The light in the room goes out as the last of the petals fall from the flower.

Now the pale pink predawn sky outside is all that saves Sportacus from total darkness.

Sportacus removes his hand from behind Robbie’s head and covers his own mouth. A sob is caught in his throat, one he refuses to unleash. He can’t give up hope yet. That’s what he does, he hopes. Shaking, he squeezes Robbie’s hand with both his own. “No, Robbie, please—” He looks around wildly. There must be something he can do. Things can’t end just like that. “Robbie, you can’t go. What about Penny and Jives? They love you. And Ella too— you’re all she’s known.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a wisp of gold curl around the wilted sunflower. As suddenly as it appeared, it vanishes. Sportacus looks frantically between it and Robbie. “And Glanni. You’re family! Of course he loves you, in his own way.” The gold is back. It surrounds the flower like smoke, though the flower itself is not glowing. “And…”

There are words Sportacus has only thought in passing. He usually pushes them aside, calling them foolish or even misplaced. But sometimes, when Robbie joins him in the greenhouse, or takes his hands to correct a sign, or laughs along with the kids, or even just when he smiles; the words do flips and cartwheels in Sportacus’ chest.

Never before have they seemed truer, and he lets out a sob as emotion he kept locked up for so long comes out. “I love you, Robbie.”

There is no pause. Between one blink and the next, the golden light doesn’t just flow into the flower— fresh petals popping up as it does so— it shines from of the flower as brilliantly as the sun. The snow outside stops and wind rushes into the room. Like a cyclone of magic and air, golden wind wraps around Robbie’s body, lifting it from the ground. Robbie’s expression remains peaceful as the magic covers him like a cocoon.

Sportacus jumps to his feet, ready to catch Robbie at a moment’s notice. He watches the magic swirl around the room. The glass cloche that had housed the sunflower lies broken, unable to contain the still blooming petals. Threads of gold sprout outwards from the whirlwind and lace across the walls of the room. They shoot out the balcony, the door across the room, and seem to spread throughout the castle. Outside, the sun peaks above the horizon, bathing the grounds in a golden light.

No one listens to Ziggy and Stephanie when they try to stop the fighting. While Sugar Pie runs up to a teenage boy in a green hat, Ziggy begins throwing snowballs at random into the crowd. Stephanie joins him, not flinching at all when a robot that looks a lot like Robbie comes over to deposit fresh snow onto the existing pile. He gives them a thumbs up and runs off.

All the fighting on the first floor comes to a halt when everyone notices the gold lines creeping along the walls. They watch in silence as the gold spreads along the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and even down the steps outside, which they can see through the open front doors. The sun is rising slowly. The snow has stopped.

The adults look around in confusion. Pixel, Trixie, and Stingy slowly edge towards Ziggy and Stephanie, staring at them as if waiting for an explanation. Silence takes the field. Glances are being exchanged. Sugar Pie trots down the steps calmly with a perplexed looking pair of girls behind him.

The crowd of townsfolk begin to file outside to watch the gold race along the grounds. The snow has not just stopped falling, it is gone entirely. Grass now covers the front garden. The forest in the distance displays a beautiful rainbow of fall leaves instead of bare branches. Before their eyes, a line of sunflowers of various hues and heights spring out of the ground to line the front path. Even the storm clouds have vanished, allowing sunshine to warm everyone as they stand bewildered on the castle steps.

The gold had become so blinding that Sportacus resorted to putting up an arm to cover his eyes. But now the light is fading, and he lowers his arm to find Robbie’s cloak on the floor. Under it is a moving shape. Sportacus takes a few steps back as the figure beings to rise.

They stand up, the cloak sliding off them. Sportacus watches as the person seems to study their own hands before turning around.

It is Robbie, though his features are different. Smoother. His skin has a healthy tint of color now, his claws down to normal finger nails, and his face is less angled. His chin is still pronounced. Sportacus is mildly, immaturely disgruntled that he remains almost a head taller than Sportacus. When Robbie smiles, he shows off teeth that are no longer pointed, though he does appear to have slightly bucked front teeth. Even his hair looks softer.

His eyes are no longer that unnatural purple but a hazel closer to Glanni’s. They widen slightly as Robbie begins patting himself all over. “You—You can see this too right? I’m not imagining things?!” His voice isn’t as gruff as before though it is still his recognizable baritone.

Sportacus has to laugh, has to or he’ll cry with relief. “Yes. I can see you.”

Robbie runs both hands through his hair, a grin threatening to take over his whole face. “You sure? I used to have this dream a lot. That I’d wake up and everything would be back to normal. Hang on—” Before Sportacus can stop him, Robbie pinches his own cheeks. He lets out a yelp and rubs the spots, pouting. “That wasn’t smart. But that means it’s true!”

Sportacus closes the distance between them with a step and presses his hands over both of Robbie’s cheeks. “Please don’t do that again.” Robbie just smiles wider, not hindered by Sportacus squishing his face at all. Sportacus peers intently up at him. A fearful thought suddenly crawls into his gut. “What just happened?”

“The curse is broken.”

“I know that!” Sportacus almost snaps. “I mean, are you still you? With the spell gone, are you still… my Robbie?” There is no other way to ask the question he means, embarrassing as that phrasing is.

Under his hands, Robbie turns pink. “Y-Yes. It’s me.” Sportacus squints as he looks closer, searching for something to abate his nerves. Robbie frowns, eyes narrowing in annoyance. “How do you want me to prove it, Sportasuspicious? Want me to rant about sports candy? Eat a tub of cookie dough? I can make fun of you for willingly exercising if you like.”

He stops and grins again when Sportacus loses control of his laughter. The last of Sportacus’ anxious tears fall and his hands slip from Robbie’s face to rest on his shoulders. Daylight is properly streaming into the room, warming Sportacus with no magic required.

Robbie leans forward to press their foreheads together as Sportacus fades into sniffling giggles. “Did you mean what you said?” Robbie asks quietly, hands on Sportacus’ arms. “Never mind, stupid question. The curse wouldn’t be broken if you didn’t mean it.”

Sportacus giggles again. “I’m just sorry I did not say so earlier.”

“That’s okay. I’ve… I’ve been meaning to tell you myself.”

“You’ve been meaning to tell me that I love you?”

“Shut up, you know what I mean.”

“Do I?”

Sportacus half thinks Robbie’s going to push him away as a retort. Instead, Robbie swallows thickly and says, “I love you, Sportacus.”

There is a tingle of delight from Sportacus’ head to his toes, stopping briefly to spin around in his chest. He tilts his head up and kisses Robbie. Immediately the kiss is reciprocated. Sportacus squeezes his eyes shut so he can’t be sure, but it feels like even more magic is swirling around them. Or maybe it’s just the trill of Robbie’s lips moving against his own. Fingers thread through Sportacus’ hair and Sportacus wraps his arms around Robbie’s neck, pulling him closer.

All of a sudden there is an uproar of chatter from outside. Reluctantly, the two part to look over at the balcony, though they do not let go of one another.

“Ah,” Robbie says after a moment. “That would be the town remembering.”

Chapter Text

Glanni only drops his gaze from the Elf’s when golden light blinds them both as it races along the walls of the hallway. When it recedes, the first thing Glanni realizes is that his finger no longer itches. He brings his hand to his face, staring at the ring. And all of a sudden Glanni remembers.

The memories don’t fly in one at a time. That would’ve been too pleasant. Instead it’s like the memories have always been there, just waiting behind a thick wall. The golden light obliterated the wall and now Glanni just knows everything. The ensuing headache is annoying and downright rude for its timing.

He knows who put that ring there. And why and how and when and so many other details that Glanni’s head nearly spins with it all.

He looks up at the stranger, who is now clutching his head and blinking blearily in the sunlight. Only it’s not a stranger. Not by a long shot.

“Íþróttaálfurinn,” Glanni breathes reverently.

Íþró’s eyes find Glanni’s, mouth slightly open. “Glanni? Glanni! Elskan mín!”

Glanni lets out a laugh that’s almost a sob and jumps forward only to tackle Íþró to the ground. Warm, secure, familiar arms hold him as they tumble down. A mouth he knows as well as his own find its way to his. A beard that has been the subject of much teasing, teasing Glanni can recall now, brushes his lip. An expert tongue meets his and Glanni lets out a whimper.

They separate to take in gasping breaths. Glanni almost immediately goes in for another kiss, but stops when he feels Íþró shaking under him. Glanni brushes hair from Íþró’s face and cups his chin. “What is it?”

“I am sorry. I am so so sorry, Glanni.” Tears pool in Íþró’s eyes. “I ran away. I ran out and told you not to come after me. And that is the last time I spoke to you. Those could have been the last words I ever said to you! If I had been here, maybe none of this would have happened. I could have stopped it.”

Glanni is not too proud to let his own tears flow. Besides he didn’t bother with eye makeup after the ball so what’s the harm, really? “I didn’t chase you,” he says, cutting across Íþró’s ranting. “All those times you chased me down in Mayhem Town and I couldn’t do the same once? I shouldn’t have even let you leave. What were we even arguing about?”

Íþró lets out a watery chuckle. “Whatever it was, I am sure you were right.”

“First sensible thing you’ve said so far.” Glanni leans down to press a kiss to Íþró’s forehead. “I missed you. Even though I didn’t know exactly who you were, I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Íþró responds. He smiles affectionately up at Glanni.

Before Glanni can claim his mouth again, the sound of rapid footsteps echoes into their alcove.

Robbie feels… strangely small. Less. He’s thrilled to find he is still taller than Sportacus, and the fact that he doesn’t have to watch his claws when he flexes his hands is a plus. It will just take some getting used to.

Before that, there are things to take care of. Namely the dozen or so citizen of Lazytown on his front stoop.

“We need to find Glanni,” Robbie says.

Sportacus’ eyes widen. “I… Hold on, I think I just remembered something very important about Glanni.”

“What?”

“I think he’s married to my brother.”

“What?!”

Sportacus looks up at Robbie with alarm. “I had my hero training the same time as their wedding! I couldn’t go! I had never met Glanni before coming here, but I knew his name! Íþró was head over heels for him.”

For lack of a better plan, Robbie opens and closes his mouth a few times. Now that Sportacus mentions it, Robbie can recall the wedding with perfect clarity. How did both he and his cousin fall for Sports Elves? Who let that happen? The sounds from the town outside increases and he shakes himself. “Okay, well, now we need to find Glanni for a myriad of reasons.”

Sportacus also shakes his head before taking Robbie’s hand. “You are right.” He shoots Robbie a confident grin. “Lead the way.”

Robbie squeezes his hand back, delighted to be able to do so without puncturing either of them. Together they take off out of the West Wing. The castle shines around them; no longer a gloomy winter prison but a place fit for royalty. Robbie’s heart lifts at the sight of it. He has been locked in here for some time, but now it finally feels like home again.

One flight down, Robbie brings them to a halt when he catches sight of people in the third floor alcove. “Glanni!”

Two faces turn towards him. Glanni, Robbie is embarrassed to discover, is in Íþró’s lap. Both look like they’ve been crying. Glanni’s lipstick is smudged, so Robbie can guess why they’re on the floor. “Robbie!” Glanni jumps to his feet and pulls Íþró up. Before Íþró can find his balance, Glanni grabs his arm and all but drags him down the hall toward Robbie and Sportacus. “Robbie, you look like you!”

“Are you both okay?” Íþró asks, worried eyes flickering between them. “I do not know where my magic landed.”

“It landed on my spine,” Robbie informs him with no small amount of resentment. Sportacus tenses beside him and Robbie wishes he hadn’t said anything.

Glanni narrows his eyes at his husband. “You hurt my cousin?”

“I did not mean to!”

“It was an accident,” Sportacus says gently, as if that should solve the matter. “I’m glad to see you found each other.”

This seems to flip a switch in Glanni. He grins proudly and wraps an arm around Íþró’s. “Fell right into my arms.”

“Your magic.”

“Whatever. And you two found each other as well!” Glanni winks at Robbie. “Took you long enough.”

Robbie feels his face heat up. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he fires back, ignoring his blush, “we can’t all fall for people the first time they have us arrested. I’ll be quicker next time.”

That makes Íþró burst into laughter as Glanni’s face drops into another glare. Sportacus, also chuckling, tugs at his hand. “Let’s get going. They need us downstairs.”

Nodding in agreement, Íþró and Glanni start heading down.

Nerves grip Robbie and he digs his heels into the carpet when Sportacus tries to follow. “I have to a prince again,” he blurts out when Sportacus shoots him an inquiring look. “What if I… make the same mistakes?”

There is a pause as Sportacus considers the question. Then he pulls Robbie forward and presses a kiss to the knuckle of Robbie’s hand. “I won’t let that happen. And something tells me you won’t either. You are not that prince anymore.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I love you.”

The blush is back. “You loving me doesn’t change who I am. Who I was.”

“Maybe not,” Sportacus admits, “but it’s not just me. Penny, Jives, Ella; they love you too. They will not let you be who you used to be. Glanni is definitely not going to let you make him forget Íþró again.” Sportacus brings up both Robbie’s hands to kiss them. “You are not alone, Robbie.”

Robbie thinks maybe it’s his turn to start crying. But now is not the time. Right now he has to greet the public and dish out more than a few apologies. “I hope you’re right.”

“Well, I’m no genius like you, but a hero knows a good guy when he sees one.”

“Don’t talk like that— I still intend to be your villain. Someone has to keep your goody-goodness in check.”

Sportacus smirks. “I look forward to watching you try.”

After a brief, fortifying kiss, they head down the stairs. Robbie’s nerves go with him, but the constant presence of Sportacus’ hand in his goes a long way to keeping them quiet.

The kitten steps out of the forest, stretching languidly as it waits for its owner to catch up with it. Before long, they too leave the cover of the forest. The grounds of the castle are soaked in early sunlight. Hedges, benches, long-sleeping flowers, and fresh fall grass covers the landscape leading up to the castle. The kitten’s owner takes a moment to observe the scene.

“It’s like nothing happened,” the owner says. With a soft mew of disagreement, the kitten hops up on its owner’s shoulders. “You’re right, dear. It’s definitely more welcoming.”

The pair watch in silence as the people of Lazytown leave the castle to gather in confusion on the front steps. Pink-haired Stephanie is easy to pick out, once again surrounded by her friends and wearing a smile. The parents and guardians seem terrified now that they know whose property they are standing on. Their worries do not go away when Prince Robbie himself appears at the front doors a short time later. The kitten purrs when it and its owner recognize Sportacus beside him, offering encouraging looks at the mob.

Others appear that they are glad to see. “I would never have cast that curse if I knew children were still in the castle,” Bessie Busybody confides to the kitten. “I thought all of the staff had left when I revealed who I really was. Oh well, it looks like they had their own role to play. Just like me.”

The kitten meows again and jumps off Bessie’s shoulder. It looks up at her, head cocked. “Yes, I think things will be better now,” Bessie tells it. “Milford is doing wonderfully, but I think the town could use some improving. Most people who ran away are going to want their jobs back. What better place to settle than Lazytown? A bit of royal help is just what we need to make the town bigger.” Jerking her head back towards the trees, Bessie says, “None of them will recognize me now but I still have my part to play. A part I like very much. Let’s go home and pretend to be asleep. This hour isn’t fit for anyone but a Sports Elf.”

In response, the kitten takes off into the forest. Bessie chuckles. “So much energy.” With a wave of her hand and a spark of gold magic, she is gone from the edge of the forest.

Chapter Text

Uncle Milford, who had been wearing a bucket for a helmet, is the first to speak. “Oh… oh my!” He tears the bucket off and wrings his hands. “I-I remember! Oh my! A mayor is supposed to make monthly reports to the Prince! I’m going to be in so much trouble! Oh how could I have forgotten that too?”

Most adults seem to be having a vastly different reaction. They stare up at the castle with looks of horror or awe. Some mutter that they’ve never been here before, while others wonder in panicked voices if the prince is even still alive and what will he do to them when he realizes they haven’t paid him taxes in years?

But at least the hysteria from before is gone. No one seems interested in plundering the castle or going after the beast. Robbie, Stephanie reminds herself. She wonders if Sportacus did something to make the snow go away. A gentle fall breeze stirs the sunflowers around the front garden.

“Stephanie?” She turns to see Pixel, who looks sheepish. He’s flanked by Trixie and Stingy. “Uh, we’re sorry about not believing you. It feels really stupid now,” Pixel says earnestly.

“Yeah,” Trixie puts in. She’s twisting her hands around her tennis racket. “You’re our friend. We should’ve believed you no matter what.”

“Especially because we were there for part of it.” Stingy is the only one who doesn’t look ashamed. He’s all but ogling up at the castle. “How could I forget this place?! Castles are my thing!”

Stephanie can’t find it in herself to hold the past against them. It’s been so long since her friends have talked to her. She grabs the three of them, and Ziggy who hasn’t left her side, in a group hug. They return without hesitation. “It’s okay,” she says. “It was magic making you forget. I can’t be mad about that.”

“Why didn’t I completely forget Sportacus?” Ziggy asks when they untangle themselves.

Stephanie considers it. “Maybe because you didn’t actually see the castle? Maybe the magic wasn’t as strong on you.”

“Maybe it’s because you’re just that obsessed with Sportacus,” Trixie teases.

“Hey! It helped tonight!”

“Hey there. Um…” The five turn to see a girl a little older than them descending the castle steps. She’s wearing a skirt with suspenders and black boots. Over one arm she holds a thick winter coat probably too warm for the sudden turn in weather. “You’re Stephanie right?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“And you’re okay? Sportacus saved you?”

“Yeah?”

“I knew it!” She turns with a gleeful smile to a teenager beside her. “Pay up!”

The teen, who’s wearing a green tie and a matching green hat, grumbles and fishes a few coins out of his pocket. “Thanks for your help,” he says to Ziggy and Stephanie. “It was getting harder to keep everyone from getting further into the castle.”

From behind them comes another girl, this one with dark hair and rosy cheeks. She signs something that makes the other girl grin. “Yeah, it was fun. We should get attacked more often.”

“It was awesome!” Trixie agrees, swinging her racket. “I got to hit so many snowballs around! Who was throwing the tomatoes? That was a mess!”

“It was Robo-Rob,” the first girl says. “But it was my idea to use them.”

“Is there any way I could take a closer look at Robo-Rob?” Pixel asks, eyes wide with intrigue. “He looked cool.”

“He is cool,” the teen agreed. “You’ve gotta be Pixel, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“Sportacus talked about you. He told us about all of you, actually.”

Ziggy beams at this news. “Even me?!”

The teen smiles down at him. “Are you Ziggy?”

“Yeah!”

“He talked about you a lot, little dude.”

Ziggy gasps and smiles toothily. It’s Stingy who looks suspicious. “Who are you three then?” He asks in his ‘I’m the king and you have to listen to me’ voice.

The first girl curtsies. “I’m Penny. That’s Jives,” she points at the boy, “and this is Ella.” The dark haired girl waves.

“Well, I don’t know if Sportacus told you this, but I am King Stingy.” Stingy lifts his chin. He then speaks very quickly. “Who owns this castle and how much do they want for it?”

“Penny?” Stingy’s mother approaches them from behind a garden hedge, peering at Penny curiously. “Penny Pestella?”

Penny freezes at the name. “Yes?”

“Oh my goodness!” Stingy’s mother races forward and captures Penny in a hug. “My sister has been missing you! We didn’t believe she even had a daughter and she couldn’t tell us where she saw you last— oh she’ll be thrilled we found you!”

Penny appears to be too shocked to reciprocate the hug. “M-Mom remembers me?”

Stingy’s mother pulls away to crouch before Penny, cupping her cheeks and smiling wide. “Of course!” She turns to her son. “Stingy! Come over and meet your cousin!”

Stingy and Penny exchange twin looks of trepidation. “Can I see those coins?” Stingy asks, pointing at her skirt pocket where she put her coins from Jives.

She crinkles her nose. “No. They’re mine.”

Stingy smirks. “We’re going to get along juuust fine.”

Stingy’s father comes over to greet Penny, and the rest of the kids move away to give them space. Ella clings to Jives’ arm. “That was… unexpected.” Trixie states.

Jives nods, though he scans the crowd as if hopeful. Stephanie feels bad for him and Penny. Íþró was devastated when he realized he had forgotten his own brother for a few months. How would Penny and Jives’ families feel?

Ziggy’s mom makes eye contact with Jives and approaches. “Not to eavesdrop,” she begins gently, “but your name is Jives?”

Jives looks her up and down. “Yeah? Do you know me too?”

“Well, sort of. I’m a part time caretaker for your grandmother, Mrs. Mjói. She mentions you sometimes. She always said you ran away from home.”

“I… kind of did,” Jives admits. “When everyone ran from the castle, I hid instead of leaving with ‘em.” He gets a little misty eyed. “Do they miss me to?”

Ziggy’s mom nods with a small smile. “I haven’t met your parents but your grandmother misses you very much. She says you used to help her in the garden, but I didn’t know she meant the garden of a castle!”

“Oh I helped her all the time!” Jives declares proudly. “When she got too old to carry the bags of mulch, I got to help her!” 

The two continue to talk. Ella reluctantly lets go of Jives’ arm and shifts away with Trixie, Pixel, and Stephanie. Ziggy stays with his mother, adding in his own commentary on gardening whether the subject is being discussed or not.

For whatever reason, Ella stands closer to Stephanie, just as she did to Jives and Penny. Perhaps all the new people are frightening her. Stephanie takes her hand to comfort her, but tenses at what she feels— cold metal. Like Sugar Pie.

Stephanie looks at Ella in alarm. “You’re…”

Ella’s eyes widen. She starts to pull away but Stephanie holds fast. “No, don’t be scared! It’s okay.” She tries for a reassuring smile. “I don’t mind.”

Relief and shock fight in Ella’s face before she finally settles on a small smile in return. She squeezes Stephanie’s hand. With her other hand, she brings the flat of her palm to her lips and lowers it at Stephanie.

“What’s she thanking you for?” Pixel asks on Stephanie’s other side.

Ella looks surprised again and lets go of Stephanie to sign something else. “I know a little bit,” Pixel explains. “My granny was deaf. I don’t remember everything but I’d love to learn again!”

The idea makes Ella clap her hands in delight. Trixie, who hadn’t paid attention to the exchange, turns to look out at the townsfolk. “Do yah think anyone’s coming for you, Ella?”

Ella shakes her head sadly.

“Don’t be so sure about that,” says a voice behind them all.

Everyone seems to turn their heads at once. Ella grins wide and rushes to hug the speaker around the middle. Stephanie takes an involuntary step back. In the doorway of the castle stands the beast.

Or, Stephanie realizes as she looks closer, like the beast’s nicer twin brother. He seems softer somehow. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s in full sunlight and not a dark, cold prison. Or maybe it’s because he has one arm wrapped around Ella, a proud grin on his face. Whatever the reason, he definitely looks more like a Robbie.

Sportacus is at Robbie’s side, ruffling Ella’s hair and smiling gently. Íþró and someone Stephanie doesn’t recognize file out of the castle and stand off a ways, whispering to each other.

“Prince Robbie!” Uncle rushes forward and dips into several bows. “P-Please forgive us! We didn’t—”

“It’s okay, Mayor Manfred,” Robbie says, lifting a hand to signal Uncle to stop.

Uncle blinks. “M-Milford, sir.”

“Whatever.” Sportacus nudges his ribs and Robbie quickly corrects himself. “I mean, yes, Mayor Milford. I would like to apologize to you all.”

The crowd stands silent, all eyes on the prince. Penny and Jives edge forward to stand closer than anyone. Robo-Rob and Sugar Pie silently leave the castle and join Íþró off to the side. Sugar Pie sniffs a passing butterfly. Robo-Rob just grins.

Unless Stephanie is reading him wrong, Robbie looks a bit tense at the attention. She watches Sportacus take his hand. Even though Robbie doesn’t acknowledge the move at all, he visible relaxes. “I have done you all a great disservice as your prince,” he continues. “Before, I was selfish. I abused my authority. I should have put your quality of life before my own. And I’m… I am sorry.”

It’s quiet for a breath. Then Trixie’s aunt steps forward. “Does this mean you aren’t going to kidnap the kids?”

Robbie blinks. “Uh, I was never going to do that?”

“I think we owe you an apology then, Sportacus,” says Pixel’s papa. “You’ve protected the kids for so long. We should have believed you.”

“And Stephanie!” Uncle hurries over and gives her a tight hug. “We didn’t believe you either! I’m so sorry for everything I put you through this summer!” He pulls away and looks at her, lip trembling. “If you don’t want to stay with me anymore, I-I’ll understand.”

Stephanie shakes her head without hesitation. “It was the curse, Uncle. It affected everyone. You only did what you thought would protect me.” The idea of not living with Uncle anymore, despite her frustration this summer, is a horrible thought.

“I owe you an additional apology, Stephanie,” Robbie says, descending the stairs. To the shock of the crowd, and Stephanie herself, he kneels before her. “I should not have treated you how I did.” He lifts his gaze to give her a stern look. “Even though you did steal from me.”

Stephanie is further surprised when all her friends surround her at once, making a human wall between her and Robbie. “We thought that place was abandoned!” Pixel snaps.

“And that’s not how you apologize,” Ziggy chastises.

Robbie stares at them all. “I was… kidding.” He glances back at Sportacus. “Is it too soon to kid?”

The look on Sportacus’ face is one Stephanie is familiar with. It’s his ‘I need to be serious but you’re making me laugh’ face that he often uses around them. “It’s a bit soon,” he says.

“Then I’m double sorry,” Robbie says to Stephanie as he gets to his feet.

Standing a little straighter, Stephanie gently pushes past her friends and steps forward in front of Robbie. He is looking down at her, grim faced, as if he expects her to punch him or something. She settles her hands on her hips and gives him her best glare. “Ziggy’s right, that isn’t how you apologize,” she tells the big, not-so-scary Prince. “You need to show you’re sorry. So from now on, you have to be nice to everyone. Not just Sportacus.”

There’s a bark of laughter from the tall man standing with Íþró. Robbie cuts his eyes to him and growls, “Shut up, Glanni.”

Stephanie stomps her foot. “What did I just say?!”

“He’s my cousin! He doesn’t count.”

“I think she’s being reasonable, Robbie,” Sportacus says. He gives Stephanie a thumbs up.

Robbie sighs, shoulders slumped. “Fine. I was going to be nice to most of you anyway.”

The kids cheer; even Jives and Penny, who now run to embrace Robbie. The adults are calling out questions; about the curse, the castle, about Robbie himself. But Robbie is distracted by Glanni and Íþró, who have come forward to poke fun at Robbie’s performance.

Stephanie runs up to hug Sportacus. He returns the hug with equal enthusiasm and she knows everything is okay now. There’s no reason to be scared anymore. Everyone is safe. The sun shines on the windows of the castle, making it look like they’re radiating gold. The sound of trees rustling in the far off woods is comforting background noise to all the voices and laughter.

When Stephanie pulls away, she asks, “Things are going to be different from now on, aren’t they?” Sugar Pie is jumping in obvious excitement. Robo-Rob is clapping with a too-wide grin, pausing only to wave at Pixel who is staring at him.

“It will be a good change,” Sportacus promises with a nod.

At those words, Robbie looks around and smiles at them. It isn’t an evil smile, not by a long shot. Sportacus returns the smile, puts a hand to the back of Robbie’s neck, and pulls him down for a kiss.

Noise erupts around them; people are gasping in shock or cheering, or, Glanni’s case, making exaggerated gagging sounds. Stephanie laughs at it all.

“I can’t believe love broke the curse,” Trixie mumbles beside Stephanie. “How cheesy is that?”

Stephanie shrugs. “It’s a tale as old as time.”

Chapter Text

Summer is beginning to wane once again. The well-manicured sports field is covered in cleat prints from a long series of soccer games. Sportacus waves to the children as they run back home for dinner, smiling when they call back goodnights and promises about tomorrow’s games. Sugar Pie nips at everyone’s heels before turning and following Pixel to his house.

It’s hard to believe it’s been an entire year since the curse was broken. Jives, Penny, and Ella get along with Stephanie, Ziggy, Pixel, Stingy, and Trixie like they have known each other their whole lives.

Humming happily to himself, Sportacus walks through town. He would normally flip his way around but he takes a moment to observe Lazytown. There are several new homes, the school has been renovated, town hall looks nice and official, and the park has all new equipment. Sportacus had had to practically beg for that upgrade but Robbie gave in easily once Ella, Stephanie, and Penny all turned puppy dog eyes on him.

Sportacus reaches the edge of town and decides it’s Flip Time. He cartwheels, jogs, jumps, and flips his way across the still-green outskirts of Lazytown. Sunflowers dot the open field and Sportacus takes care not to trample them. Not far down the lawn is a billboard that Trixie has graffitied so many times that Robbie just decreed it her personal easel. At the moment, a large cow covers the front side. Sportacus slows down and ducks under it.

The billboard hides a hatch. Sportacus knocks three times. After a moment, the handle on the hatch turns and a figure comes out to glare at Sportacus.

“You’re late,” Robbie snaps, throwing a leg over the edge. He is wearing relatively simple clothes, considering his Prince status. He wears high wasted pants, a white, loose sleeved shirt, and a buttoned up vest striped with two shades of purple. For once, he is without his cloak.

“We didn’t set a time,” Sportacus reminds him. “I just said I would come by when the kids went home.”

Robbie scoffs. “Well, you’re later than I thought you would be.”

Rolling his eyes, Sportacus offers an arm to help Robbie out, which Robbie takes. Robbie’s hand finds his without hesitation and he pulls Sportacus in for a quick kiss. “How was your day?”

“Great!” Sportacus reports. “Pixel somehow convinced Robo-Rob to cook for him tomorrow when his dads get back from their business trip, so we were helping him plan a menu during water breaks.”

“Did you insist on a seven course salad dinner?”

“No but I may have recommended a kale dish.”

Gagging, Robbie starts leading them away from the billboard. Their fingers are laced together. It’s been a long time since either was shy about walking hand in hand. Sportacus looks back at the cow. “I still don’t know why the secret entrance from the castle needs to be so far out of town.”

“The official answer is that I figured you could burn off extra energy from the day while coming over to meet me.”

Sportacus raises an eyebrow. “And the unofficial answer?”

“Penny and Stoogy’s lemonade stand funds only went so far.”

That makes Sportacus laugh. “Stingy!” He corrects, still giggling.

“Whatever,” Robbie says automatically. It’s a common argument now.

The couple have just reached the edge of town. Leaves crunch underfoot. Ziggy’s mom waves at them from the kitchen window and holds up a pie by way of asking if they want to come inside. They wave back but decline with a shake of their heads. There are similar invitations from other homes they pass, or just polite greetings.

There are more homes than there used to be a year ago. Everyone who had run out of the castle due to the curse had been welcomed back with places to stay and livable pay. Jives and Penny had been reunited with their parents, and Jives’ grandmother is back to being the castle’s gardener.

“How was your day?” Sportacus asks, watching sunlight filter through the changing leaves.

“Awful,” Robbie groans dramatically. “Glanni had me in meetings all day. The Lögga Fae gave me what feels like a whole damn history book to read to catch up on what I missed. If I don’t finish it they won’t let us trade with them.”

“Is that important?”

“Not really but there’s a plant that only grows in their court that Jives really wants to add to your greenhouse.”

The greenhouse has remained Sportacus’, even after he moved back to his airship. Jives, now official Junior Gardener of the castle, takes care of it well; Sportacus checks in from time to time and rarely needs to fix something.

Sportacus smiles. “You are such a softy.”

It’s Robbie’s turn to roll his eyes. “And if you tell Jives any of that I’m going to replace your toothpaste with chocolate syrup.”

“You wouldn’t.”

Robbie snaps his fingers, purple magic sparking forth. “Too late, it’s done.”

“That is not how your magic works!”

“Don’t lecture me about Fae magic, Elf.”

“After Glanni’s lesson I think I could lecture you,” Sportacus shoots back.

Glanni had sat Sportacus down one afternoon shortly after the curse had broken and given him a full explanation on Fae magic. “Íþró made me give him one.  I figured you could use one too,” Glanni had said at the time, gesturing to where Íþró was packing for his and Glanni’s ‘Long-Overdue Second Honeymoon To Get A Change of Scenery For Fucking Once’.

Folding a shirt, Íþró added fondly, “I had figured most of it out by then but it was our first date so I was willing to let him talk as much as he wanted.”

They pass through the park. Robbie huffs dubiously but lets the matter drop. “How was Ella today? The sleepover went well?”

Beaming, Sportacus nods. “Ella and Stephanie had a ‘dance battle’ at 1am so Stephanie was a little tired but otherwise, it seemed fine! My crystal didn’t go off once!”

“Why is that where the bar is?” Robbie asks rhetorically with a shake of his head.

Ella still lived with Robbie and Glanni, but she had frequent sleepovers in Lazytown. Her favorite places were with Pixel, who had relearned sign language surprisingly quickly, and Stephanie, who encouraged her love of ballet. Even after learning she was a robot, none of the kids made a fuss. The adults were barely fazed. Pixel’s grandpa was happy for a chance to use sign language again.

On their way to the plaza where Sportacus’ ship’s ladder awaits, they see Bessie walking down the other side of the road with the little black kitten just behind her. She is gossiping into her cell phone but waves when they spot her. Sportacus waves back. Robbie just growls. “You still don’t like her, do you?” Sportacus says in a low voice once Bessie is far enough away.

It might be a trick of the light but Sportacus swears Robbie’s usually bucked teeth turn sharp for a moment. “No. And no, I still can’t figure out why.”

Sportacus squeezes his hand and pulls him along. They reach the ladder. Robbie’s eyes turn up toward the ship high above them, looking pained. Thinking about his apparently awful day, Sportacus says, “You can teleport us today. I will not make you climb.”

Glee takes over Robbie’s face and he kisses Sportacus’ forehead. “I love you.”

Before Sportacus can repeat the words back to him, Robbie snaps his fingers. In a blink, they are in the airship.

“Welcome home, Sportacus,” the computer says. “Welcome back, Prince Robbie.”

“Hello, ship!” Sportacus greets.

He lets go of Robbie’s hand and starts getting changed out of his uniform. Since spending all that time without it at Robbie’s castle, Sportacus has been favoring simpler clothes when not watching the kids. Robbie gives his chest an approving look before crossing the ship. It’s another sign of how comfortable they are around each other now that Robbie’s eyes didn’t even stop on Sportacus’ surgery scars.

Robbie leans against the wall with his back to Sportacus to give him privacy, staring out at the clouds. And Sportacus knows he’s looking at the clouds because Robbie is somehow deathly afraid of heights and refuses to look at Lazytown far below them. That had been a fun first trip aboard the airship.

Sportacus tugs on a navy linen shirt, brown pants, an open charcoal vest, and secures the crystal on its cord around his neck. The hat comes off as well. He joins Robbie by the window, who ruffles his exposed blond hair until it’s messy.

They often come here to just spend time in each other’s company. They both find it freeing: Robbie gets time out of the castle and Sportacus is still close enough to town to be on hand for emergencies. Sometimes Robbie brings up something to tinker with while Sportacus knits. As long as they are near each other, Sportacus considers it time well spent.

“Ship!” Robbie suddenly calls to the ceiling, “Chocolate milk!”

A bottle of ice cold chocolate milk flies out the opposite wall. Robbie ducks and Sportacus does a flip over him to catch it just before it hits the floor. Robbie rights himself with an affectionate “show off” and takes the bottle eagerly. He doesn’t drink any, instead turning to Sportacus with a smirk. “I can’t believe you keep sugar stocked just for me,” he teases.

Sportacus crosses his arms. “Is it so surprising I want you happy here?”

Robbie doesn’t answer. Instead he takes a large gulp of chocolate milk. With a satisfied noise, he recaps the bottle and places it beside the console. “I also can’t believe you essentially gave me co-pilot status by adding me to the voice controls.”

“I lived in your castle for over three months and you think that is a big step?”

“I didn’t give you co-ownership of it!”

With an amused snort, Sportacus spins to lean over the control panel. He wants to angle the ship so they can watch the sun set over the forest. “True,” he admits.

“… Have you ever owned half a castle, Sportacus?” Robbie asks in a quiet voice. If Sportacus didn’t know better, he would say Robbie is nervous all of a sudden.

“No?” The question is strange enough that Sportacus turns back around.

“Would you like to?”

There, on the floor of the airship, is Prince Robbie on bended knee. He’s looking up at Sportacus, barely breathing, and holding up a gold band. It looks simple at first glance— then Robbie’s eyes flash violet and Sportacus sees blue and purple groves winding their way through the gold like lines on a map. He is reminded of sunflowers, of lavender and icy snow, as the colors settle into a soft glow. Robbie’s hand is shaking.

A grin takes over Sportacus’ whole face. He pulls Robbie up, hugs him around the middle, and hoists him into the air. “Yes!”

“I-I-I haven’t actually asked yet!” Robbie splutters, clutching the ring securely in one hand.

Snickering, Sportacus’ sets him down on his feet. “I’m sorry. Go ahead.”

Robbie lifts his chin and holds out the ring again. “Sportacus, will you—”

“Yes.”

“Look, I’ve been practicing this for weeks. Let me say it.”

The grin doesn’t leave Sportacus even as he says, “Alright.”

“Sportacus, will you marry me?”

“Maybe.”

“Ship, please land so I can stomp out dramatically.”

Sportacus grabs Robbie’s face and presses their lips together firmly. It’s far from their first kiss, but this one has a giddy energy to it. Like a new adventure is starting. It feels like sparks shoot through Sportacus’ whole body. There are tears on his face, though they could be his or Robbie’s. Likely both.

They part slowly, Sportacus’ arms around Robbie’s neck and Robbie’s fingers digging into the back of Sportacus’ shirt. “Yes,” Sportacus breathes against Robbie’s lips.

Robbie is back to trembling as they untangle themselves. He slips the ring onto Sportacus’ finger. The metal is not cold; in fact it’s warm to the touch. Perhaps due to all the magic inside. Sportacus makes a mental note to ask when he also stops shaking.

They smile at one another until Sportacus just can’t hold it in any longer. He scoops Robbie into a hug again, spinning in excitement. Robbie shrieks to be put down this instant even as he laughs and holds on. Sportacus ignores him because he is too happy to let Robbie go.

Sportacus plans to never let his prince go.

. 

The End