Chapter Fourteen

"Just what are those things?" the doctor asked Scruple, eyeing the smurfs atop that bird of theirs which led the way.

"Uhh… Those are my pets?"

The physician's voice sounded rather bored. "Pets aren't allowed in the room you're staying in."

"Oh, god damn it. A-actually, they don't live with me, doc. And they're very well-trained. To get help. Like they're doing right now."

"They're wearing… clothes? And riding on top of a bird."

"Yes." Scruple nodded, "They tend to do that." Somehow, he wasn't pressed any further beyond that.

"Oh yeah" Scruple added in a louder voice, "And they can't talk either. I mean obviously. They're all very stupid creatures."

He held back a laugh at the looks the smurfs gave him as the physician stared fixedly ahead, Scruple's goal decidedly achieved. What's wrong, smurfs? Why not speak up and defend yourselves? Ha! Their stubborn unwillingness to interact with unknown humans… He was damned if he wasn't going to take advantage of that.

Gargamel began to come into view, and so Scruple hastened his pace forward. He was just lying there in a stream that hardly reached Scruple's ankles. Next to Gargamel, there was also some kind of red speck, which grew clearer as Scruple approached. Was that - ?!

"Holy –" he rushed over, leaving the doctor trailing a fair bit behind. "Papa Smurf?!"

Papa Smurf looked up. "Ah, you're here! My, you really have grown!"

"Nah, can't be you. Come on. Same stupid disguise again, right?" Scruple insisted as Feathers touched down to the ground and the other smurfs came over. "Not falling for that again. I mean, you died, right?"

"Ahem, not at all. The rumours of my death are greatly exaggera- wait, again?!" Papa Smurf shot both Dreamy and Dabbler a suspicious glance.

"You didn't mention that Papa Smurf is back?" Dabbler asked the others, failing to notice the look.

"Oh. Yeah. I don't think we did, huh…" Dreamy realised. "Well, what do you know…"

Another voice pierced the air. "Will… will you all stop your infernal…!"

"Gargy!" Scruple exclaimed, noticing the extent of the bad shape the emaciated wizard was in, and said the first thing that came to mind. "…You look awful."

"Oh, speak for yourself!" Gargamel spat through the pain.

"You smurfs had better scram. The doc's coming. But uhh…" Scruple trailed off uncomfortably, unwilling to go on.

Papa Smurf smiled knowingly. "You're welcome, Scruple."

By the time the doctor was close enough to attend to Gargamel, the smurfs had slipped off into the trees.

"Took you long enough!" both Gargamel and Scruple unwittingly found themselves saying at once.

"Well I'm not as young as I used to be. Hmm" he started directing all his focus to assisting the currently helpless wizard, apart from casting a single aside comment to Scruple. "Your pets ran off."

Scruple shrugged. "They're outdoor pets."

"…The nerve of him to call us – but especially me – stupid! And that's not even to mention what he said about me earlier…!"

They were now back at the village. Papa Smurf, Dabbler and Hefty watched passively from a distance as Brainy ranted in earnest to the nearest smurf, who just so happened to be Dreamy. Dreamy was rather animated in his responses, irritated, throwing back remarks, trying to cut through and put a stop to Brainy's nonstop speech. It looked like it would only be a matter of time before Brainy would get kicked out of the village once again.

"Don't you think Dreamy's rather… lively right now?" Papa Smurf observed.

Understanding dawned on Dabbler. "Gosh, I think you're right, Papa Smurf. I don't think I remember the last time Dreamy didn't seem… detached and withdrawn." He always seems so miserable, just beneath the surface, but he keeps himself so closed off that it's always so hard to tell. I worry about him sometimes.

"Now that you mention it, Dreamy was pretty talkative when we went to get Scruple. But other than that he hasn't been very talkative lately" added Hefty.

Papa Smurf pondered in silence before speaking again. "What I think Dreamy needs… is distraction. He needs to spend some time away from his own thoughts, to be drawn out of them for a while. I think that would be good for him, and we can try to help him where we can. And… It seems that any distraction large enough, be it negative or positive, can draw him out…"

But it's so hard to get any kind of reaction or response out of Dreamy these days, Dabbler thought to himself. "So what are you saying? "Negative distraction", so Brainy…"

"You don't suppose that…" Hefty trailed off, an amused grin flickering on his face. …That Brainy is so profoundly annoying, he has the power to distract Dreamy enough to get him to actually come out of his shell, if only in a desperate attempt to get Brainy to stop?

It sounded like Papa Smurf had just implied as much. But he wasn't about to say it out loud.

Brainy still had yet to be tossed out of the village by Dreamy. Maybe he wouldn't be. Dreamy probably didn't fully realise it, but perhaps he had refrained so far because he could sense on some level that his chatter could be useful for him.

In the "past"…

"Did you try talking to him?"

"Yeah. I did."

"And?"

Poet shook his head, and Tracker sighed.

"Well. What are we going to do?"

"This isn't the time to hide away. We need you, Scaredy."

"No, you don't."

"How… how are we going to… The village can't go on indefinitely without guidance."

There was no uncertainty in the way that Scaredy spoke. No room for argument, even though his tone was devoid of any harshness. "Well, you're going to have to figure that out. We're going to have to manage."

"But why, Scaredy, why? We've barely been managing as it is. We can't…"

Scaredy spoke with a strange calm. "You don't have a choice."

"Without Scaredy to be the village leader… The whole reason we asked him, chose him is because he can really unite us…"

"Wait" Dabbler approached them from behind, "You… you were going to make Scaredy the village leader? This is the first I'm hearing of this."

Poet and Tracker looked up.

"You mean… Replacing Papa Smurf with… with someone else? With Scaredy?" Dabbler continued on.

"No one is being replaced by anyone, but Papa and the others… they've been gone a really long time. This village has been without a proper leader for so long."

"So… you'd think we'd be used to it by now, right? We can continue to manage ourselves, instead of needing to elevate a fellow smurf to a position of leadership."

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway. Because Scaredy… I don't know what's smurfed into him but he's completely refusing. So I guess we will be "continuing to manage ourselves", as you say."

"Maybe that's for the best... And what are you saying, anyway? We're smurfs! We stick together, look out for each other."

"But, we still need-"

Dabbler shook his head, not letting him go on. "And what were you saying just now, about him uniting us? Because to me, it seemed that all Scaredy was doing was dividing us."

"A few outliers-"

"If it wasn't discussed with everyone… it's not any kind of uniting, is it? So instead of relying on some kind of other outside force for help, why don't we all start trying harder ourselves?"

In the "present"…

There was a knock on the door. Scruple went over, opened it. Nothing there.

"Down here!"

It was a smurf.

"Uhh… Hello? What are you after?"

"Me? Uh, well, you know… Sassette is really worried and… We were wondering how Gargamel is doing!"

"Oh" Scruple said. "Uh, well, he got pneumonia. Lying in the water that long and all, can't have been good."

The smurf's face fell. "He what?"

"But" Scruple said hastily, "the doc says he should make a full recovery."

"I-I see… Well that's good…"

Another smurf walked up now. Scruple hadn't noticed them.

"I could have a quick look over Gargamel. Smurfmonia isn't very smurfy at all…"

"And how would you be able to help?"

"That's what I do. I'm Doctor Smurf."

Scruple couldn't help it; a laugh slipped out from him at that. "Oh? Completed your qualifications at smurf medical school? At the little smurf university?"

The smurf claiming to be a doctor frowned.

"Ahh… Well you have to admit. The thought is pretty god damn funny."

"I'm trying to make an offer to help. And besides, did the doctor that saw to Gargamel even go to medical school?"

"I sure hope so… I mean, he always was one of the more reliable doctors in the village at least. He saw to me when I was… hurt."

Scruple hadn't meant to intentionally invoke that, make the smurfs uncomfortable. But he didn't really care either way. Let them feel uncomfortable.

"So, can I come and have a quick look?" Doctor Smurf asked.

Scruple toyed around with a possible biting response in his mind. You guys just feel bad, don't you? You're just trying to somehow make up for the stuff you've pulled over the years.

But instead, he just shrugged, and said, "I don't know. I mean, it's not my house… right?"

It's really strange, isn't it? I mean he was actively trying to kill you, eat you or turn you into gold or whatever it is. And here you are, checking if the guy's okay. What gives?

"Scruple!" Gargamel's sickly voice called from inside the hovel. "Who are you talking to?! Hurry it up already!"

"I'm talking to the smurfs, you old man!" Scruple called back irritably. "They wanna come inside your humble abode!" he added with heavy sarcasm.

"What?! Send them away! Why are you-" Gargamel's voice broke off, replaced by coughing.

Scruple turned back to face the smurfs. "Sure, whatever, you can come on in. But with Papa Smurf. He's around here somewhere, isn't he?"

Papa Smurf emerged from nearby. "Of course. Sorry to be a bother, Scruple, but Sassette insisted we stop by."

"Right. But she didn't come herself?"

The smurf that was neither Papa nor the doctor one spoke. "A little dangerous for a smurfling, we still think. Speaking of which: don't bother trying anything."

"As if I would."

"He's going to be fine."

"Ya sure?" Sassette asked hopefully.

"Yep! Gargamel's sure had it rough lately but he's still going to come out of it okay. So there's no need to worry anymore."

It was Architect relating the news to the smurfling.

Dreamy was standing with Papa Smurf nearby.

"It's getting colder… Which means that the anniversary is fast approaching. Strange to think about" said Dreamy.

Papa Smurf looked questioningly at him. "Anniversary?"

"Yeah. Of when you and the others all… left. We made a point of observing the day every year. But now this year… You're here with us, so we don't need to anymore." Dreamy paused. "It was kind of one of the things that brought us all together." He was going to say more, but got rather distracted because something – no, someone – was flying nearby.

"Hello!" a voice called cheerfully.

"Oh, hi Cupid. Come to shoot me with one of your stupid arrows again?" Architect asked darkly.

Cupid chuckled good-naturedly. "Not for a few years yet, I'm afraid. I'm just passing through, actually."

Surprise lit up Architect's face. "Wait, wh-"

"Papa Smurf?!" Cupid exclaimed in complete shock, catching sight of the red-clothed smurf. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Not at all"

"Are you sure?"

"Quite."

"Oh, he was never dead, just missing" Smurfette added helpfully.

"Oh, apologies. It's so good to see you, Papa Smurf. I'm glad you're still alive. I really thought you were gone…"

"I get that a lot" Papa sighed.

"We were missing in time actually. Jumping continuously from one point in time to another" Smurfette informed him, and a thoughtful expression crossed her face for a few moments as Cupid processed this information before she continued. "…Actually, you should probably know about our time travelling. Didn't anyone tell you?"

"I remember hearing something about how Papa Smurf, among several other smurfs including you Smurfette, were gone… But I don't know how I could have possibly known you were time travelling."

"Because" Smurfette said seriously, "You were there. We met you, when you were younger."

"You…?" Cupid scratched his head in bewilderment.

"You what now?" Dreamy asked, now concentrating intensely on the conversation at hand.

"Van Garg? Turning the arrows of love into arrows of hate?" Smurfette prompted.

"The arrows of…?" Cupid smacked at his balding head in sudden recognition. "Now there's something I haven't thought about for centuries! But my, that was…" He tried counting on his fingers and gave up. "And you're telling me that…?"

Smurfette nodded.

"Oh. Oh, wow… Some of it's coming back to me. It was you. All of you were there…"

"You. You met up with them?!" Dreamy abruptly burst out.

Cupid took little notice of the outburst and continued to address Papa Smurf and Smurfette. "I thought you were… Well, you know, as I said, no longer of this world. I knew- I heard that you were – gone, missing, what have you! But if I had known at all that time travel factored into it… well, perhaps I could have pieced it together-"

"You're telling me- okay, no. No." Dreamy took a deep breath before continuing. "You're telling me that the entire time, you maybe could have told us that they were still alive, and travelling through time, and that there was still some hope left to be had?!"

Papa Smurf put a hand on Dreamy's shoulder. "Cupid wouldn't have been able to lead you to us."

"He would have been able to give us some information. We had nothing. We didn't know what had happened or what was going on! It would have made a huge difference! Argh!" Dreamy kicked at the ground in frustration, started storming off.

Cupid hovered there in the air awkwardly, looking rather guilty.

"It was uh, good to see you again Cupid" Papa told him briefly, and hurried after Dreamy.

"It didn't have to be over six years. We could have found you first. Or, we would have had a much better chance at it. So much could have easily been avoided."

Papa Smurf patted Dreamy on the back. "It is what it is, I'm afraid…"

The two smurfs sat in silence for a little bit before Papa continued.

"But we're here now, my little smurf, and that's what matters. No time crystals can split up this village permanently. We're all together once more and we'll move forward together. That's what really matters."

Dreamy nodded slowly. "Yeah... Yeah. I know. I just- You're right. It's no use dwelling on it, as you say." He sighed.

Papa nodded in turn. "It can be difficult sometimes, trying to put it all into perspective. And that's okay. But as long as we're all trying our best to be as smurfy as we can be, we'll have many good times to look forward to."

"I hope so."

"We will, don't you worry."

"Alright. I believe it, and everything you said… I just want to be alone for a little bit."

"Okay." Papa Smurf gave Dreamy a hug. "I'll come back to get you after a little bit. I think I should be getting back to the others too."

Papa left him, respecting Dreamy's wishes, and Dreamy sat quietly, not thinking of much at all, simply enjoying the nature around him for a while.

It was evening, and dinner was about to be served.

Papa Smurf held Baby close and walked carefully through the snow, over to the mushroom-shaped house. Gave a knock at the door.

"It's dinnertime, and we won't start without you" he said amiably. "Can't have a nice meal without everysmurf there."

There was a rustling inside, and the door opened to reveal Scaredy.

"I saved you a seat at the dinnertable, next to me" Papa told him.

"Thank you, Papa."

Over six years had inevitably impacted each of the smurfs left behind, each of them in different ways. There was a huge amount that Papa Smurf still didn't know about. But even though he didn't know exactly why Scaredy tended to be rather reclusive these days, that was hardly going to stop him from doing his best to acknowledge him and make him feel included just as much as the other smurfs.

"Din!" Baby announced.

"Yes!" Papa Smurf said happily, cradling the youngest smurf of all in his arms. "Dinner, dinner!"

"Deeeeee" Baby cooed. "DeeeeeeNUH!" His hand wrapped tightly around Scaredy's outstretched finger.

Scaredy's expression was enveloped by a smile. In that moment, looking upon Baby, he couldn't help feeling like everything was right in the world, and that everything was going to be okay.

End.

Author's Notes:

That's a wrap! But it's not over yet – this fic might be over but there WILL be more. Please tune in to the next smurfs fic that I'll be uploading soon – keep your eyes peeled everyone, and watch this space.

Huge thanks to all who have taken the time to read, favourite and follow, and ESPECIALLY those who have left comments. I LOVE reading feedback and hearing what people actually think, otherwise it feels like I'm just groping around in the dark. XD. It always gives me a huge boost each time and a whole lot of motivation.

I'd also like to respond to some questions by guest commenter Eryx, even though some have already been somewhat answered in this final chapter. I've responded over on my smurfs blog since otherwise this chapter would be way too long (hope the link works, if not I'll fix it ASAP. Put the dots in the needed places/remove spaces to access it):

schtroumpf - a - lunettes dot tumblr dot com post/179961351025/response-to-questions-about-my-fic-by-guest

Writing this has really been an experience, what with it being my first real fic and all.

The final thing I want to mention is I need to acknowledge and credit someone I still consider to be a good internet friend; a fellow smurfologist. My discussions with them from years ago really got me thinking and were a big source of inspiration that fuelled this story. If you're reading this, I hope you know who you are, and PLEASE shoot me a message so we can catch up. I miss you :P