Hi, everyone, MarcellusMiro66 here! This is yet another reboot of my fanfic Immortals, which was deleted from the Internet due to laptop glitches. However, this has provided me with the opportunity to rework the incoherent story and the characters.

The story focuses on Joy as she begins to lose her sanity because of Bing Bong's sacrifice. Secretly isolating herself from her friends and suffering from severe nightmares far past her breaking point, this prompts Sadness to confront her own feelings for Joy during her downward spiral. This affects Riley as she secretly begins to dream of a girl who may have a connection with her.

These are some of the many influences for the story: Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977), Brian De Palma's Blow Out (1981), David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), John Woo's Hard Boiled (1992), Quentin Tarantino's films, and Park Chan-wook's Vengeance trilogy. The story tackles themes such as revenge, salvation, and existentialism.

Enjoy! If you can...

Part I: Tears of Joy

(Wednesday, March 11th 2015)
(9:00 PM)

This was the first night she took up Dream Duty.

Nighttime has fallen in San Francisco, California. Today was just not her day...and, strangely at the same time, one of the best. When meaning "her", the meaning aims to a young girl named Riley Anderson and her emotion named Joy. The both of them had troubled times in one single day, but it was the latter who had suffered the most.

Joy sat in front of the control panel and the screen, nonchalantly spinning in her chair as she took on Dream Duty. Today had been a long day for the both of them – her and Riley. First day, parent arguing, best friend dumping, credit card stealing, running away... Yep, it certainly was a long, painful, and tough day for Riley Anderson and Joy. Luckily for the duo, everything turned out okay. Well... Almost everything. Both wanted to forget the events that unfolded today, but both couldn't; it was almost impossible to do so. Today had been a whirlwind of a sudden epiphany for the both of them: Riley, because she realized that her home was right in front of her the entire time, and Joy because Sadness was important for Riley's lifestyle. To think that all of this madcap mayhem occurred because of her –

Joy slowly slowed her chair spinning and turned her attention to the sight that caught it: a trail of blue long-term memories. She furrowed her eyebrows and stood up, sauntering toward the window to get a clear view. Her palms and forehead against the glass, she soon hung her head in silent solemness as she recognized the meaning of the trail – it resembled the pain that fed off her since...

The Memory Dump.

"Bing Bong..."

"Bing Bong?"

Joy ran to the edge and glanced down; to her horror, Bing Bong was dancing around in glee and happiness, as if he wanted this to happen,

"Bing Bong!"

Little did she know (but was about to), he actually did,

"Go, Joy! Go save Riley!" A tirade of tears dared to break the dam that were Joy's eyes,

"Take her to the moon for me..." With that, Bing Bong waved goodbye for the last time and faded away from existence, ceasing to exist...

Then the dam broke.

Joy slumped down to the floor and buried her hands into her face, which were dampened with tears at this point. It was her fault. Her ambition to make Riley remain happy had blinded her from the start, and it almost resulted in Riley running away from her new home. If she hadn't realized her mistake and Sadness's importance to her, it could've fully resulted in that. Still, Bing Bong would've been still alive and existing to see his long-lost dream of taking Riley to the moon come true.

Tears of Joy had been shed tonight... And not in a good way.

Traveling outside Headquarters utilizing the vaccum tube that placed her and Sadness in the incident that sent them traveling back here in the first place, Joy managed somehow to land in Long Term Memory and find the trail of blue ones.

Glancing through them all, most of the memorable memories were joyous (no pun intended) to say the least, which was relieving in her eyes. Speaking of which, the pair eventually laid on a discarded black leather jacket, which she picked up and observed carefully. Her eyes then focused on a jet-black memory and she picked it up, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Joy instantly regretted her decision.

Her eyes glowed white, her hands began stinging, and her body burned out. Staring at the memory in horrified wonder, the events began to transport from the ball to her, specifically her mind. Said events played out like a movie, which involved a young girl looked on in helplessness as her mother was taken away from her by the police and killed by the police, albeit accidentally. Two other girls screamed and cried out when this occurred; the oldest stood silent as the two cradled their mother's corpse, as did the officer who shot her. Suddenly, it was all blurred lines and nauseating visuals combined with vibrant colors of the dark rainbow connection from there. And just like that...

It was gone.

Joy dropped the memory and looked on as it rolled away from her, stopping when it bumped into a bottom shelf. After a minute or two, she found the leather jacket just laying there by her feet. She picked it up and observed it again, her breath terribly quivering in the process. A moment later, Joy reentered Headquarters, donning the leather jacket in its glory and heading back to the console, but never sitting back down. Looking on at the next dubious dream Dream Productions had cooked up, she blew out wind and – after a few fiddling around with the console – began to play soft music and dance in sync with said soft music.

("Young and Beautiful" – Lana Del Rey)

Joy continued to dance on as the song played on, all the while taming the tears that fell from her face. She then began to touch herself on places she never knew existed. Beginning to perform a striptease as if she was a salacious stripper for all the sleazy worker emotions, she then began to leap around like a blustered ballet dancer who was committing a crime of sleepwalking. She wasn't the only one awake, however.

Sadness watched with her mouth hanging agape, blissfully aware that Joy was blissfully unaware of her presence. From the safety of her room, she watched as the leader of the emotions danced her heart out... As well as her clothing. This is what what made her blush profusely; ever since today's incident, she had developed a (unrequited, in her mind) crush on Joy for some reason – both odd and important. There was no denying, however...

Sadness was unconditionally in love with Joy.

The figure walked through Long Term Memory, his flashlight at the ready. The large labyrinth was no bother to him, as he preferred dark and complex figurines of anything...well, dark and complex. Still, he knew when he needed a little light in his darkness, and he had found it in the form of her.

That was why he was here.

The figure let his fingers slip away from the trail of shelved memories, the colors reverting to sapphire blue, as he walked to a nearby shelf, placing a jet-black memory and a jet-black leather jacket nearby. He knew that she would notice the two objects instantly if they were conveniently placed near her, so he had to make it look convenient as possible but not too convenient for her to suspect methodical composition. She wouldn't be arriving just yet, though, so he had plenty of time to spare.

'Plenty of time to stop and think...'

Yes, he didn't necessarily need or wholly wanted to hurt another emotion, but he felt it was his duty to do so. Besides, what kind of emotion would he be if he hadn't avenged a fellow emotion? One he knew for his lifelong service? One he cared for? One he loved for? Before he was the emotionless emotion we would soon know today, he – like all humans – had a life.

A life that was a good one...if not a great one.

(Thursday, March 12th 2015)
(10:00 PM)

Joy repeated her actions from the night before, only a little livelier. She was strongly surprised in herself and her aforementioned actions yesterday night; not in regards to Dream Duty, but another kind. If the other emotions (both friend and foe) were previously present during her small striptease, she would've garnered the regretful reputation of a relentless rake. Then again, given her happy go lucky headset...

Joy suddenly softened upon this sentience. Joy was loose...too loose. She needed to be safe and secure in her emotional enhancements, as they were considerably climbing since yesterday's events. However...

Joy turned to the control panel and played the same soft song the night before, dancing in the same soft sync.

("Young and Beautiful" – Lana Del Rey)

Joy still was. She wouldn't be any longer.

Outside the windows of Headquarters, a mysterious murky mist of raven black swirled around and from it, a hand emerged. A hand of snow white. Complimenting the hand was a pair of blood red eyes. An emulsified emotion, this particular's provocation was purposely private. However...

His complex craving for the ecstatic emotion was crystal clear as the eye could see. Not in an infatuated image, but something much more: it was an overdone obsession towards her. For good or bad, he had no idea in the slightest. However...

He frowned upon the sight of her. He had almost mistaken melancholy for mirth before receiving an up close and personal look. He was decidedly disappointed with himself. He desired to drive the emotion over the breaking point before actually attempting to destroy her. However...

This could work... He thought. She is somber as of now, and her sorrow couldn't possibly shrink any further. Besides, after all she's done, she deserves it. Well, as far as I'm concerned. She corrupted one child, she corrupted almost another. If she's learned her lesson before, who's to say that she won't repeat the same mistake after? I might as well. However...

He stopped himself and suddenly stared as she started to strip down to her starkness. His heart began to race, his head began to sweat, his body began to beat hard. Really, really hard –

Oh, no. Not now. Not when you have a mission to accomplish.

He turned away from the window and glided off back to Long Term Memory, cursing to himself under his breath.

Until next time, Joy...

(Friday, March 13th 2015)
(11:00 PM)

This was the third night she took up Dream Duty.

Joy repeated her actions from the nights before, her liveliness having matured . She was strongly surprised in herself and her aforementioned actions yesterday night; not in regards to Dream Duty, but another kind. If the other emotions (both friend and foe) were previously present during her small striptease, she would've garnered the regretful reputation of a relentless rake. Then again, given her happy go lucky headset...

Joy remembered. She needed to be safe and secure in her emotional enhancements, as they were considerably climbing since yesterday's events. However...

Joy turned to the control panel and played the same soft song the night before, dancing in the same soft sync.

("Young and Beautiful" – Lana Del Rey)

Joy twirled to a stop upon the song's end. Sadness continued watched her even after the song ended. Both were the only ones awake even if Riley was asleep. One could argue that one could notice the other before the time came.

In this case, the both of them did at the same time.

"Sadness...?"

"Joy...?"

Both didn't know what to do after that. Joy was still stripped, Sadness was still staring; it was a good start. The joyous emotion realized this and blushed heavily, causing the saddened emotion to blush in return. She (Joy) slowly turned and walked a few feet to the spot where her discarded dress laid, crouching down to pick it up and slip it on. She (Sadness) decided to walk over and get a much better look at her friend's actions – specifically, her putting on of the dress. Was "friend" the right word during this moment? To be honest...

Joy shared Sadness's doubt about this as well.

"I'm... I'm sorry."

Sadness glanced up at her friend – Oh, there it was again... – and cocked her head in confusion, "W-What?"

"This must be incredibly uncomfortable for you, huh?"

Joy tugged her straps even after she was done getting dressed. Sadness clearly saw the nervousness in Joy ultimately waver just as her own swiftly subsided. However, it wasn't completely gone, as her stomach was swirling with other feelings unknown to her. However, there was one that stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb: "Love." She wasn't exactly certain that this was the case, but she was starting to feel something whenever she was around her. It made her feel odd, weird, and...worried. Worried that her friend [Seriously, Sadness...] would never look her the same way again if the truth was told, worried that her feelings would catch her off guard because of her deep devotion towards her, and worried that...her friend would be horrified and appalled by this revelation. What was the phrase?

"What You Don't Know Won't Hurt You." ... "You" in this case being Joy.

"... No."

Joy felt her eyebrows furrow in that equal emotion and was prompted to glanced down at her friend [...was "friend" the right word, Joy?], who was fiddling with her fingers now. Sadness was expecting her (Joy) to wait for her (Sadness) elaborate on her response, but Joy decided to give her a head start of sorts.

"So...you actually enjoy this?"

The way the words rolled off her tongue sounded more of a tease than anything else and Joy mentally chastised herself because of it. Sadness saw this as well and her blush deepened, her mouth drying up attempting to locate an appropriate response. When she did, it was less of a response than anything else.

"I... I-I d–"

Sadness stopped herself before she could humiliate herself even so further, but – to remain silent – it was too late. Joy continued her staring for a moment's notice before her face was given a gradual grin to work with. She breathed heavily as the decision she was about to make would be the decision that would determine the future between them. Not that it was necessarily important at the moment, but it was much more to live in the moment than anything else.

Joy let her hand hang by her side, gently lifted up Sadness's chin, and looked at her face to face. Moments of silence followed, and their eye gazing continued on as a result. That feeling in Sadness's stomach was slowly rising once more, while the same feeling was building up in Joy's own. Her face mere inches away from the other emotion's, Joy halted herself for a minute or two and flashed Sadness the most soothing smile she could supplicate. She in turn gave a narrow nod of reluctant reciprocation for her friend to do her deed. Nodding in return, Joy placed her other hand on Sadness's face, moved in to close the distance between them, and...

And kissed her.