This is the final chapter to my story. I'm so happy that all of you who have stuck with it have done so and enjoyed it. I'm grateful for all the comments and favs I got and I appreciate even the people who didn't do either because if you're reading this, that means you still read it. Thanks so much again and enjoy the final chapter. Peace.

Chapter 26: Soliloquy of Regret

The rain was warm and comforting. The sky seemed to be the only thing the people of the conscious world were still able to look at without seizing up in discomfort.

The kids that had managed to live scrambled around for their parents. The parents that had lived scrambled around for their kids. Family members, friends, even acquaintances searched around for anyone they knew. Familiar faces would be a blessing to see amongst all the wreckage.

The fact that there was such a high amount of burning corpses and blood splotches to run past in order to reach their next destination made it so much harder to stomach.

The city was virtually on fire. The rain helped a bit but it wouldn't be enough to quell the situation. The fire fighters who were still active tried their best to help the situation out as best as they could too, though it would take quite a long while before any discernable difference was made.

People gathered their bearings as best they could in the mess they laid before them. The surviving soldiers gathered people together and had them all led towards areas that could marginally be considered safe. With all the fire, smoke, and barely functioning architecture, that was a mission in and of itself.

"You're Thaddeus Plotz?" One of the soldiers said.

"For the last time, yes! I am! And I demand you listen to me at once." Plotz stood his ground with his hands at his side.

"Look sir. I-I understand that you're probably disoriented and even more shocked then we are that you're alive-"

"Excuse me?"

"-But we can't just leave one of the only functioning vehicles here for your friends when there are people all around us whom we know for a fact are alive and in need of transport. You, your guard, and your nurse should just hop on and let us take you out of here."

Plotz rubbed his face down with a growl. "I'll bet you anything you're only saying that because you're not putting as much value in their lives as the rest of these people. Is it because of that whole toon inferiority complex nonsense?"

"What-? No-! I just-"

"Right well, if your main priority is to save lives, than I suppose it'd be within your best interest to at least be patient. They were all alive and headed in one specific direction before. I don't have any reason to assume that's no longer the case."

"Uhh-"

"And neither do you. So come on before I get even more pissed off about my predicament then I already am. Those toons are money, in more ways than one." Plotz growled and actually pushed the soldier forward.

Ralph walked with Hello Nurse up to Dr. Scratchnsniff, who was using a pair of binoculars to look at the sky.

"Daah, what's the situation now?" Ralph asked, tapping his shoulder.

"That ship is still in the sky." Scratchnsniff muttered.

"D-Da wha-?" Ralph loomed over his shoulder and tried peering up at the sky.

"Yes but it's shrouded in smoke. I can't see it clearly but it looks like it's coming in low…" Scratchnsniff looked up and followed the ship as best he could. He saw it flutter down and lower itself until it disappeared in the distance. Seeing it lower was soon followed by a loud crash.

"What just happened? Did the bad guy's ship just crash… or was that a rough landing?" Hello Nurse asked.

Scratchnsniff rubbed his chin. "Whatever it was, it doesn't look like we're in any immediate danger if it's out of the sky… I don't know what to say about the people inside it though." He groaned to himself feeling his worry build up.

"Wow… just look at this place…" Hello Nurse looked out the side of the jeep they were riding in with the soldier at the wheel and Ralph sitting at his side. Plotz and Scratchnsniff sat in the back with Ms. Nurse, looking at the city as they passed by the buildings and the rubble.

The soldier was managing to get more and more signals from outside the city now that the red sky was gone. The aura of insanity had brought a lot of their senses back. Not everyone seemed to be responding but enough was coming through that he was certain he could get a decent amount of assistance.

"I don't know if the people not responding are just away from their communicators or if they're dead. Either way, it doesn't seem like we're having much luck finding your friends." The soldier said.

"Hang on a second. I see some of them up ahead." Scratchnsniff pointed forward. The soldier looked ahead and skidded to a stop. Hello Nurse got out of the jeep and ran across the forming water puddles over to the three children and their dog.

"Dot, Skippy, Mindy, and even Buttons; you're all safe!" She screamed aloud and brought her arms around the three of them, hugging them all close.

"Oh. Hello Nurse…" Skippy muttered; his voice rather hoarse. When she pulled away, Mindy was still hugging her close. She bent down and allowed her head to rest in her chest, knowing she was in need of more than just a complimentary relief greeting.

Buttons sniffed around the air and looked around.

"If you're looking for anyone other than us, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. We haven't found anyone else aside from you four." Scratchnsniff said bending down and petting Buttons' head.

The soldier grumbled as he shook his communicator, desiring for some sort of feedback so that he could have a better chance at helping Plotz find his toons. This guilt trip he was on could only push him so far.

It seemed like the right thing to do regardless though. He couldn't afford to be picky about the people he needed to save.

"Dot! What in the world-?!" When he heard that the soldier jumped and looked behind him to see Hello Nurse holding up Dot's arm. The youngest of the three Warner's looked positively awful. Her eyes were sunken a bit and her body didn't seem to know whether or not it was too heated or too cold. She did this weird thing where she would shiver and then a strange jolt made her wince in pain and stopped her shivering for a few seconds before she settled herself again.

"I-It's nothing…" Dot spoke in a low-toned voice. She gave her a very text-book answer that any patient would give when they didn't feel like getting to descriptive with how they felt. Of course, that had no chance of working on Hello Nurse, especially since it was clear as day that Dot's pinky finger had been sliced clean off.

"I'm happy you got this on ice as fast you could. I don't know how or if we'll be able to fix this with the city in this condition…" She said in a soothing voice and pulled her closer. Dot didn't react. Her eyes were sullen and tired. She was just worried about her brothers. She saw Wakko run by and felt her faith rise exponentially when he made his famous claim to fix things but... did that mean anything anymore?

The rain was pouring down on them harder and without a decent amount of working street-lights the area was looking rather dark. That mixed with the pouring rain made it hard to see and made the atmosphere that much more depressing.

Dot's eyes were looking too far deep into the pitch blackness that lay ahead. She almost didn't hear the oncoming voices from up ahead.

"This way! This way! Just follow the sound of my flapping beak!" Squit's voice rang out.

"We've got more than enough energy to lead the way back to the others. That crick in my neck? It's actually an itching for salvation…! At least until I get to the hospital… then it'll be something that needs taking care of again…" Pesto lorded over them as they flew ahead.

Plotz and the others looked ahead. "I know those voices…"

"It's a good thing you ran into us. Don't worry about a thing. This pain ain't nothin'. We'll guide you with our eyes that cut through the dark like a butter knife on… anything that a butter-knife can actually cut… or butter." Bobby laughed.

Scratchnsniff grinned. "Oh. It's the Goodfeathers. I was actually quite worried if you can believe it."

"Thanks a bunch. Just keep going. We trust you." Rita smirked as she trotted ahead.

"I wish my nose was working right. I could 'a led ya back but all da different smells are in da way." Runt grumbled.

"Rita and Runt are with them…" Hello Nurse sighed in relief.

"It's fine. You all did great and I appreciate the help…"

That last voice was what made Dot's eyes bloat open like saucers. She turned her head to the side and scrambled out of Hello Nurse's arms. It was easy since her grip had loosened from surprise at the voice she heard too.

Everyone was silent, staring ahead and shaking in surprise by the voice that they heard cutting through the darkness. Dot was bloody and her body had been all but devastated, but hearing that voice being spoken in such a warm, familiar tone again had made her mind forget all about the pain she took with each step.

"… I don't deserve it but my sibs sure do."

Dot scrambled forward, not even noticing how much mud she was getting all over her legs and her tattered dress. The figures up ahead got more and more visible as they came through.

The Goodfeathers, Rita, Runt, and at the head of the pack were her brothers.

Dot began to shake where she stood as her eyes clouded over. Her oldest brother was carrying the middle Warner over his back as he slept like a rock. When they stopped right in front of her, their eyes met.

Yakko Warner stared right at Dot and she stared back, with her tears flowing down her face like a malfunctioning faucet. Yakko's eyes were wide as well. He felt as though all he could do was stare at her. Flashbacks of all he tried to do came back to him. He remembered everything he had done. All of it was still fresh in his mind and was no doubt going to haunt him for the rest of his life… but still, he couldn't help feeling himself block away the memories that didn't directly deal with how he treated Dot; with her staring right at him right now…

"Dot… "Yakko felt saliva build up in his throat. He swallowed really hard and began to sweat a bit. "H-Hey there… I… I'm sorry I took so long to get back to you…"

Dot lowered her head and ran forward at him.

"I had a… date with some ghosts…" Yakko scrambled for some kind of light-hearted joke. Dot didn't have any of that. She rammed into him and wrapped her arms around his body, pulling him into the tightest hug she could muster.

"… B-Boy uh… we're in for a lot of quality time with Scratchy eh?" Yakko's voice cracked a bit.

Dot just hugged him tighter. "Yakko. Shut up for once and just let me soak this in."

Yakko smiled and got onto his knees, finally returning the hug as they were bent down in the mud. "Yeah sure… sorry… You know how I am. I can't not talk."

On his back, Wakko slept soundly, a light smile on his face.

The rest of the group cobbled together and felt the heavy atmosphere sink in all at once.

"This feels really bitter-sweet I gotta say…" Rita muttered to herself.

The soldier with Plotz' group looked ahead and saw a decent amount of his fellow squad coming out of the woodwork right behind the Warners.

"Hey. Charlie… you're okay." One of the oncoming soldiers exclaimed with mild happiness.

"Yeah… um… but guys-" Charlie looked ahead and pointed at Yakko.

The soldier he spoke to got a bit of a sour look on his face and clutched his gun. "Yeah. I know… this kid is the one who-"

Dot perked up when she heard them talking. She suddenly shot up and turned to them all. "Hey! We can explain all that!"

Yakko fell onto his butt and looked around, a tad confused by her outburst. The other soldiers had indifferent looks on their faces.

"He was possessed by some… weird spirits of old toons or whatever… I think…?" Dot blinked and looked to Yakko for confirmation. Yakko nodded.

"It doesn't excuse what I've done but… yeah, it's true. These spirits who were wronged by the system we had going with the toons all hated the living world so much that they took advantage of their spirit energy and latched onto the Water Tower to stay connected to the living world. Then they just needed to wait for someone with enough hatred who was still alive to come along so they could possess him and roam around in the real world and spread all this havoc and terror and what not…" Yakko spoke out loud so that everyone could hear him.

His friends, of course, had already heard this from the mastermind behind this nonsense but the soldiers were certainly catching wind of this for the first time.

"You're saying a bunch of jealous spirits just took your body over?" One of them spoke up.

"After what's happened, I'll believe anything. It's seriously the only thing we have that comes close to an explanation for all this." The second soldier in the group said next.

"So what? We're just gonna let him go?" Another one interrupted. "If he's really the reason this all happened then-"

"He was possessed dude. Think about it. No way any one kid could just will the entire city to go crazy."

An argument seemed to be starting here.

"I remember there being a good amount of us who saw it fit to shoot the poor kid to death before." Another man said, raising his voice slightly.

"We had no choice. He was abnormally strong and prevalent…more so then all the other out of control victims."

"Probably because he was the one all the spirits went into first. Why choose him though?"

Dot's face lowered. She ended up thinking the very same thing that Yakko blurted out next.

"We shared a bond of hatred. That's all there is to it." Yakko muttered. "I don't blame you at all for what you did. I wanted you to do it." He said this while looking down at his brother who he had now had put in his lap. Wakko's head rested on him and he was smiling. Wakko was finally smiling again.

"So that's that? He's just really angry and bitter like the rest of them." The man who said this stood with his arms crossed, not sure what to do.

Another one of them sat down on a fallen piece of rubble from a skyscraper before he responded back. "Yeah, and I bet there's plenty more like him out there. Wouldn't surprise me. It's not like they don't have a good reason to be mad."

A soldier from a bit of a ways in the back stepped forward, a bit angry by his fellow man's words. "Are you saying that we deserved all this? Look at this! Look at the city! Hell, the whole world probably looks like this. All because of…" He was about to point at Yakko but then noticed the looks he was getting from everyone else. Silently he realized what he was doing and calmed down.

"That's where it starts." The man who had sat down began speaking again. "Playing the blame game and making sure that no one takes the flak but the toons. Do you honestly think it's smart to allow this to continue?" The guy shut his eyes as he spoke.

Dot stood there and looked at all their faces. They clearly didn't know much about how the industry was run or how it functioned but… maybe this was a chance to start anew. Perhaps if things were worked right, they could rebuild the system in a way that made everyone equal again.

"I don't want to risk it. We can't let it happen again…" The soldier who stepped forward clenched his fists in anger.

"And it won't happen again." Plotz stepped forward, pushing the man aside. "It had better not. Otherwise I may see my precious industry in shambles once more. As if I'd allow that to happen to me twice!" He held up a disapproving finger and wagged in front of the man's face.

"Y-You…! You don't get it do you!?" The solder snapped. "What about all the people that died and the familes that were lost because of him and his selfish revenge? Oh, his family is back together? Whoop-de-doo. All our families might be dead! Anyone ever stop to think of that?"

"Listen. We can't-" The solder on the rock started to speak once more but the man he was speaking to had already heard enough.

"No way! He's the reason this happened! If anymore of these toons think they can just come and destroy our lives whenever they want-!" He pointed his gun at Yakko! Dot gasped and went to run towards him.

The others looked on in shock. Yakko flinched when he saw the gun barrel this time. His heart beat faster too… wait. What was this?

It was such a different feeling then the one he felt before back when he wanted them all to kill him.

"-Then he has another thing coming!" The soldier shouted and put his finger to the trigger. Yakko felt himself start to try and move out of the way. It was true. He was afraid this time.

He… he didn't want to die.

He didn't want to die!

Not anymore!

BANG!

Everyone jolted and looked forward at the scene when the sound rang out. The soldier, who had his gun pointed at Yakko, dropped his weapon and then fell on his knees before grabbing the back of his head in abject pain.

"Look at him. Do you think he even wants to deal with the likes of you right now? Leave the poor kid alone."

That voice came from behind them all and it made everyone turn around in surprise. Skippy in particular spun around as quickly as he could to verify that his mind hadn't been playing tricks on him.

Someone had thrown a stone at the soldier's head and with a cool and calm demeanor, walked up to the scene, twirling some wires in her hand before stopping to stand in front of everyone with a wide grin.

"A-A…" Skippy choked and teared up. "A-Aunt… Sl-Slappy… AUNT SLAPPY!" Skippy screamed and ran towards the squirrel in question; wrapping his arms around her for a cushiony hug that felt closer than ever due to the clingy nature of the rain water on matted fur.

Slappy hugged Skippy back and patted his head. "Heya kiddo. Glad that you're still alive like I knew you'd be."

The two mice from behind her walked out in front of her and up to the others. Brain looked exhausted and Pinky didn't look any better. Despite that, they were both smiling. The Mad Doctor was tied up in a torrent of his own ship's wires right behind them all, groaning in pain.

"Well, well. Out of all the big things in this city that got destroyed, you two made it out just fine despite how small you are." Rita smiled.

"It was quite a task…" Brain sighed, feeling the cold rain remove the scorching heat of that ship's boiler room and basking in the comfort of the outside air. "… But we successfully shut down the ship before time was up. We managed to land it safely just outside of the city."

The soldiers all looked at them, puzzled. Even the one who was about to shoot Yakko again was stunned. They had all obviously been working together to try and stop this nonsense from happening. They didn't want the world destroyed at all.

No, of course they didn't. Toons weren't evil. They were just treated as if they were for no clear or good reason. People got their laughs from seeing them preform and it built a mentality that they were their personal court jesters rather than citizens with their own personal feelings and emotions. The soldiers, being soldiers, didn't know how the system was typically run but they could all see it plain as day that it wasn't a system worth existing anymore.

The soldier sitting on the rock spoke up again. "Looks like these toons managed to handle all the big players for us." He got up and stood to face them all. "I don't exactly know what it was Shorenay or even any of what the Studio executives had against being fair to the people they all hire and share the livelihood of with but… I can tell you so long as we're alive, there's always a chance we can change."

He stared down at the one soldier on the ground. The soldier was looking down at the broken and wet ground in defeat. He didn't really have anything to say.

"… From the bottom of my heart… I'd like to thank you all." He said, giving them all a salute.

The cast of toons before him simply stood their ground, looking at him and the rest before smiling and accepting the acknowledgement of their good deeds. Noticeably, a few others began to salute them as well. Not all of them did, but the majority seemed to have no problem with it. The rest, who didn't, either looked too tired or were still lost in thought.

Scratchnsniff sighed. "Well… I suppose that's it then."

"Yes. That truly is it. Alright men, time for us to get back to work. This war is officially over!" He shouted and marched ahead. It looks as though he was actually the acting captain of a specific squadron. The soldiers around slowly but surely started to make their way out.

Yakko looked at them all pass by him as they left and managed to catch a glance from the soldier who lost his chance to kill him. His face looked indifferent, which made Yakko frown a bit.

It was good then that he also caught the smile of one of the other soldiers, who faced the Warners as he walked by and simply breathed out, "Hang in their kids. Loved your show."

Yakko smiled again. Then he giggled. Then he burst out into a short lived fit of laughter.

What a crazy world this was.

It was still raining when the group had gotten back to the near entrance of the city. The ship that had been successfully landed by Slappy, Pinky, and the Brain was rushed in and explored by the soldiers post haste. It was all shut down. Brain had managed to find what he needed to find just before the ship could do any damage to the city that would have rendered it completely uninhabitable or repairable.

It was hard for any more reinforcements to make their way into the city afterward. The fact of the matter is that the stretch of craziness that expanded across the red sky had reached pretty much all around the world. The people they could get in to help the situation weren't many. Still, they all worked long and hard to make sure they could salvage whatever they could of the city.

The main group sat along an expanse of fallen rubble. They had pretty good seats all things considered. The rocks weren't too jagged and sharp and they were spaced evenly enough so that they could all sit down and share each other's company while the army men and the paramedics that they could get did their works all around them.

By this point, Wakko had woken up and was the only one not sitting on the rocks with everyone else. He could hear them all talking behind him about what the future held or where they would have to go to get some grub. Wakko simply walked out in front and looked all over at the city.

Yakko watched his little brother move about before hopping off his rock and following up after him. Dot would have as well, but she was currently having her pinky being tended to by Ms. Nurse. All three of their eyes were sunken and sullen, to the point where the shine of happiness in their eyes couldn't be seen anymore. The fact that it was still pouring rain just made it worse.

Wakko was really looking ahead at the stretchers of bodies that were being taken past them by the medical team. Yakko stood close by him and while Wakko felt his older brother there he didn't say anything. He was happy that they were silent right now. It didn't feel right to be all talkative at this exact moment.

That was when Wakko took notice of a particular body being carried by them all. He scampered up to it which made the two people carrying the body along by the stretcher stop. They didn't mind him looking it over since it might turn out to be someone he knew considering how wide the death toll this city had to be dealing with now.

As it turns out, they were right. The body being brought up afterward was the same deal as well. He knew both of them.

The first one was Buster's. The second one was Max's.

Wakko looked them both over, one at a time. He looked over Max's body which was bruised and bloodied thoroughly beyond comprehension. He looked at Buster's which still had the deadly wounds inflicted on him from their fight.

Wakko stepped back which was a signal to the medical team to keep walking forward with the bodies. They assumed he simply needed to grieve. They weren't going to stand in his way.

Wakko took in a deep breath and exhaled before looking his body over. It was covered in bandages. For what it's worth, he really should be lying down. He was planning on it too… but right now he just didn't feel like it. He felt like he needed to soak in the aftermath of all that had happened first…

Yakko looked over his little brother and felt more tears come to his eyes. He couldn't really say anything. He remembered that feeling he felt when the soldier pointed the gun at him. He had wanted to live. He had felt the need and desire to live again after so long a time of no longer feeling as though he was worth it.

However, looking over Wakko now and how he was examining the destroyed world before him like a scared and lost child… Yakko realized that leaving him behind would have been the biggest mistake he could have ever made. At times like these, he needed his support, probably more than ever before. That support he was willing to give for the sake of his sibs and their happiness hadn't gone away. It was still within him, burning brighter than it had ever done before.

Turning his head a bit, Wakko spotted another familiar figure walking down the way. He was in a scraggly cloak and his face was sullen and silent. The stitches covering his face were making Wakko itch. The dead pan eyes and the cold stare straight ahead made him feel frozen.

The guy stopped in his tracks when he made his way in front of Wakko. His eyes shifted and he was staring at the two Warners beside him.

"… Your brother lives… and so do you? And you sister-?"

"She's having some trouble with her fingers but she's alive too." Wakko's response was rather stilted. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Wherever I damn well please." The cloaked man went to move forward. "None of these people know who I am. They don't know that I was the cause of some of this. That means I can die in peace without having to relinquish my head to them."

"Oh really? You're next move is to just die?" Wakko asked him, not really looking over to see him moving along.

The man stopped walking for about a second or two before starting up again. "I just had an ironic thought. I did all this because of the ignorance of the people forgetting of whom we were… but it's that very same ignorance that'll allow me to die alone and in peace. That's a pretty funny joke. You should use that for whatever project you're going to do next." He said as he continued on.

Wakko's pupils shook before he ran off from Yakko, surprising him, and got behind the man with his arms curled into fists.

"And what makes you so sure there's even going to be another project? Didn't you do all this because toons have limited mobility when it comes to livelihood? Huh?" Wakko demanded, with clenched teeth and shivers down his arms and shaky legs. His body was wrecked yet he kept getting so agitated.

He was surprised then when Den's response made him stop his shaking.

"You bested that notion and kept all your friends and siblings alive while you were at it. What I say no longer holds any water…"

Wakko's eyes were awestruck and wide open.

"Because of what I've done, everything's been reset. If you could defeat the end of the world, you can initiate its rebirth. If anyone can do it, you certainly can."

With that the man disappeared from his line of sight.

Wakko looked down and saw a trail of blood that was being washed away by the rain. He hadn't even noticed that his cloak had been dripping blood the whole time. If he had looked closer at the man he would have seen the blood pooling out of his mouth and dripping down the front of his cloak.

"He's already dying." Yakko said showing up behind Wakko.

"… It must be a side effect of taking in all those souls. That really was his one and only chance…" Wakko put it together rather quickly. "How far do you think he'll get before he drops?"

"I dunno… He'll die alone though. Since that's something he wants at least he can say he went out on his own terms when it came to that." Yakko said.

"I'm scared of dying alone." Wakko muttered, biting his lip.

Yakko hugged him from behind.

"Even if we somehow aren't around physically when you do die, you won't be alone. I promise."

Wakko let Yakko hug him from behind and smiled to himself. "Yeah I know… and I believe you this time too."

Life afterward was rather strange and sporadic for the world.

All the toons involved with the plan to eradicate the world were either found dead or weren't found at all. No other insane incidents involving toons specifically have happened since.

The bodies of the ones that were found, such as Buster and Max, were given proper burials.

The cloaked man had never been seen or heard from again.

The situation was too unclear and fuzzy for anyone to be condemned for the crimes. After all, the entire world had lost its mind and countless numbers of people had gone on insane killing sprees. The population had a significant and noticeable dent put into it as the matter had been a global crisis. No one knew who exactly was responsible and the ones in charge who had been taken over by the influence of the Red Sky couldn't arrest their entire population and certainly not themselves.

Most of the focus had been on rebuilding as a result. A lot of the systems and functions that had been in place at countless facilities the world over had to be reworked to operate correctly again. Plenty of places were left without electricity for weeks on end because of it and in Burbank, the street lights wouldn't function without a hitch which sometimes left the nights feeling as cold and dead as that fateful day that initiated this madness.

Families had been crippled and broken apart. The value in a dollar had gone into a state of confusion when trying to figure everything out. Life savings and banks were another issue that had complications that needed to be worked out. For all intents and purposes, people who were sitting up on high were much lower than they had been before unless, of course, their facilities weren't completely ruined.

Ironically, the Warner Brothers studio lot had the least amount of damage done to it. Aside from the aftermath of the invasion with all the jeeps, none of the crazies specifically headed towards the tower where the source of the insanity had originated from. The fallout probably had left Plotz one of the richest people around for quite a long stretch…

Still, that didn't mean much when there wasn't a circulation of business happening.

Plotz sat in his office with his shoes on his desk. It had been left untouched. The fiends that took it over hadn't even bothered with his vault or anything close to it. They all entertained some thought of dying and seeing the world die. To them, money was just paper, and paper was worthless. Coins were just hunks of the Earth that we all decided to give purpose and value to. Credit cards were just flimsy and small pieces of edgy plastic.

After all this he was starting to get that point of view a bit more. He was lucky he hadn't found himself in any kind of poverty ridden state though. He wasn't going to dismiss that. With his head in his hand and his eyes half-open he looked around the room and saw the door at the front of his room.

It still had that huge hole in it from when Yakko tried to bash the door through with his axe.

Plotz blinked when he looked at it and went to grab his phone. However, before he could, Ralph opened the door and waltzed in.

"Hey sir, sorry I'm late. My wife and little boy needed loads of medical attentions and stuff." Ralph stammered as he stepped inside. Plotz rested his hand on the phone and put his feet on the ground, looking at his head security officer with a more open-eyed look on his face.

"Oh yes. Perfectly understandable… I don't want to keep you for too long though since the days are going to be moving rather slow for a long time it seems." Plotz said as he stepped from behind his desk. It was true. Not much had been happening really. It was going to take a long time before the entertainment industry found its legs again. That said, the Warners…

"Um… should I go and check on Mindy and Buttons first?" Ralph asked.

"Oh yes. Yes of course." Plotz turned and looked at the poster for Animaniacs on his wall. He saw the cast all standing there, side by side, with matching grins and animated movements frozen in time on it. "I-I think I'll go with you. I could stand to stretch my legs a bit…"

Mindy had lost both her parents in the aftermath of the craziness that had happened. Her reaction to finding out that her parents were gone was… interesting.

She had barely said a word for weeks on end and when she did talk it was mostly to Buttons when he did something silly or something she found funny. Dr. Scratchnsniff had a few sessions with her that actually proved to be bearing some fruitful results. However, the biggest concern was Mindy's seemingly offset lack of concern or empathy.

Buttons hated Mindy's mom and despite the dad being miles better than her… he really wasn't much to speak of either. Most of the things Mindy knew how to do were self-taught either from watching random shows on TV or having fun looking through catalogs and books that Buttons had brought for her. She had taught herself how to camp out and had even memorized what equipment she would need to do so. She knew how to make basic rice and cook one kind of chicken. Curry chicken to be exact which was basically, for her, chicken with curry powder in it that was put on the stove for however long it took to get the water to lower. It was pretty basic stuff but it was impressive beyond words for a child her age.

All of that was done by herself and on her own. So for her to have almost no reaction to her parents dying other than dead silence for a decently long time wasn't shocking to Buttons.

Right now they were staying in a rather well taken care of room in the more ritzy part of the studio. It was one of the ones Plotz had the more important people he wanted to please stay in when they came for a visit. It was big, had a nice bed, a Jacuzzi tub, a large television, all that rich people stuff…

Mindy didn't care too much for how great it all looked. That didn't change the fact that it was so foreign. The bed was big and soft, so she could bounce on it just fine. Buttons slept in the bed with her so that was always a plus. Other than that though, no one exactly knew what she was thinking about.

When Plotz and Ralph arrived at the room they saw two figures already coming up on the door in front of them.

"Oh. It seems someone came ahead of us." Plotz pointed out. Not surprising. Ever since surviving that carnage, the group had been a lot more together than ever before.

It was Hello Nurse and Dot Warner though, which was especially interesting.

"Hello Mr. Plotz." Ms. Nurse turned and smiled when she saw him approaching. Dot opened the door and headed inside with a present in her hand.

Plotz stopped on the mark and turned his head inside the door. "Erm… H-Hello Nurse… I uh… just came to check on her." He said this as he went on in. Ralph tipped his hat to the nurse and she gave him back a bit of a nod of her head.

Dot scampered on over to Mindy who was sitting on the bed with Buttons. They had a few scattered pieces of candy all over the blanket. Dot smiled and took a seat next to her, setting the present she had in her hands out onto her lap.

"I got this for you. I think you'd like it a lot." She affirmed as Mindy stared at the box for a second or two before tearing it apart rapidly. Her eyes may as well have sparkled when she saw the Camping Survival Bracelet in her hand.

"Ooooo~!" Mindy leered at it, practically drooling. Dot grinned in response to her reaction.

"I'm glad you like it. It was rather hard to find considering how messed up the places around are but-" Dot was interrupted when Mindy wrapped around her for a hug. Dot blinked in surprise but smiled and hugged her back. "Anyway, it's for you."

"Thank you. I love you." Mindy said back. Buttons sighed with a smile on his face. Whenever she said that now she would always drop the "Buh-bye" part.

Plotz cleared his throat. "Ehem, well… uh, everything seems to be in order here I… I'll make sure she's well fed and what not and stuff… "He was having a hard time composing himself during emotional moments. "S-So, you were just with Dot… how's her uh-"

"She's got five fingers on both hands again." Hello Nurse interrupted him. "Stitches and the like are there of course. Re-attaching it was a bit of a trial with all the limited resources but you know…"

"Right…" Plotz sighed. Well, it's not like you could see it with her wearing gloves and all.

"Well, I gotta get going. When I pick up Yakko from Scratchy's office we have a bit of a show to do together." Dot said standing up.

"C-Can I come?" Mindy blurted out, surprising everyone. Dot stopped and turned back to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We wouldn't be able to watch over you while we're there." Dot spoke with a bit of an edge of disappointment in her own voice. She would have liked to have brought her along truthfully.

Mindy frowned a bit and looked down before smiling just as fast again and wrapping an arm around Buttons. The dog yipped a bit, surprised by that, but smirked when he saw Mindy's confident grin.

"Okay! I'll wait till I'm older then. Imma be comedy genius Mindy like you one day! Wait 'n watch! Me and my silly puppy Buttons!" Mindy laughed and rubbed her nose into Buttons'.

Dot and the others who were standing couldn't help smiling at that.

"Well… I'm happy you wish to take after us. The world definitely needs more comedy genius." Dot laughed.

When Dot left the building she was headed towards Scratchnsniff's office. On her way though, she passed by the residents of a few other people she had gotten to help during the fallout from what happened. For the most part, it looked like everyone was getting along fine. By 'fine', of course, she meant about as fine as one could be in a situation like this.

She passed by one garage in particular that housed a certain cat and dog duo that shot their heads up and watched Dot as she passed by.

"Yo." Rita spoke up on the dot. Dot stopped and turned back to face the singing cat.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't uh-" Dot rubbed the back of her head. She was going to say she didn't see them but now that she was thinking about what she was looking at, she clearly did. Her mind must not have been all there.

"That's alright. How's your finger?" Rita asked.

"Oh… oh yeah, it's fine. It's just… sometimes it hurts when I move it but I hear that's only natural." Dot chuckled before looking back at them. "So… is Broadway still a possibility for you or-?"

"Honestly, I don't even care at this point." Rita paced a bit towards Dot before sitting down in front of her. Runt blinked and watched the two of them speak with a smile on his face. "We're alive and we have more than enough food and water and a seriously nice expanse of living space to get by on. We were never looking to be the rags to riches story of the century. Scratchnsniff offered to let us stay at his place so we're packing up what little we got and heading there. I'm more worried about what happened to the guy who offered me that trip to Broadway in the first place."

"I wonder if Broadway is somethin' anyone cares about anymore." Runt grinned. Rita and Dot turned to look at him from behind and nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah. It'd be amazing if anyone gave a rat's behind about that useless junk anymore. The teenage girl who obsesses over people she doesn't even know with the posters of the boy-band she admires is probably tearing that thing off the wall to use it as a makeshift blanket to protect her baby brother right about now. Who can say? Celebrities are just people we manufacture importance to. Who cares what they eat? Who cares how they look? Who cares how they dress? If knowing that somehow makes your live any more meaningful then it probably wasn't much of a life to begin with." Rita said looking towards Dot.

Dot smiled back at her. "You've got a really good brain on you and an amazing singing voice. You deserve so much better then what you got."

"What I got is all I want, all I need, and all I'm grateful for. If I'm an amazing person then I'm satisfied knowing that myself and knowing that my friends know it to." Rita spoke with reverence and a comfortable tone of voice. "Now you got somewhere to be right?"

"Y-Yes… Nice talking with you. I'll see you later." Dot ran ahead and waved back as she bolted for the doctor's office.

Rita and Runt watched her go before the cat yawned and stretched.

"Tired?" Runt asked.

"Yup." Rita answered on the spot.

"Wanna go fishing?" Runt smiled.

"Ah. The past time of someone who is truly bored and tired beyond belief. Sure, why not?" Rita said. "Besides, we cats love it when the fish are free… erm, dogs, us dogs-"

"I know you're a cat Rita." Runt scratched behind his ears.

"Figured. How long did it take ya?" Rita asked him.

"Hmm… a bit after our skits ended." Runt laughed and got out from his napping spot. He walked ahead with Rita right beside him.

"Really now? Honestly, I pegged you for figuring it out a bit later then that but I'm not too good with estimations."

"Better at it then me. Definitely."

Rita chuckled and playfully brushed her body against Runt's as they walked.

"Definitely." She said back.

Dot had finally reached Scratchnsniff's office. She headed on inside and made it to the waiting area just outside his door. There she saw quite a few people she knew. Slappy and Skippy Squirrel were sitting on the bench with the Goodfeathers standing on the ground in front of her. Slappy seemed to be shifting through some list.

"Sorry boys. I made a list of all the friends that were able to contact us and tell us if they were still okay but the God Pigeon isn't on here. No word from him yet." Slappy said, lowering it.

"Aww! Are you serious?! Can you check again?!" Pesto nagged on further while Bobby and Squit stood back, rather quick to accept the news themselves. Dot walked up behind them and blurted out a response to that which made them all jump.

"Yeah. I'd like to hear that list too." Said Dot, with mild anticipation hidden in her voice. Bobby and Squit looked up at her and smiled.

"Well, well. Look who it is." Bobby chuckled.

Slappy sighed rather heavily and shifted through the list again. "Katie Kaboom is fine and so is her family. Her father's missing an arm though."

Dot winced a bit at that.

"Colin, the kid who talked about all those Randy Beaman stories, is fine. He reports that Randy Beaman is too apparently… Mr. Director is okay. In fact it's almost scary how okay he is considering his message to me didn't stop at one but a solid 12 telling me about his adventures under the red sky that day…"

Dot couldn't help her smile. Something about Mr. Director made her smile.

"Pip is okay. His message was long. Like, really, really long. Flavio and Marita Hippo are fine. Still just as huge as ever. The last one I got was in person from a chicken disguised as a mailman so Chicken Boo's obviously okay as well." Slappy put her phone down. "Nothing from the God Pigeon though. I'd know since Plotz told me to keep tabs on the people who come by or message the place in any way, shape, or form. Hasn't been a whole lot of that so it's a pretty easy task…"

"Ugh. That's gonna bother me forever." Pesto whined as he scampered back.

"Yeah. To think we finally got our last paychecks and we can't do much with them at the moment." Bobby said turning to leave. Squit sighed and followed after him with Pesto not too far behind.

"Bye boys. I hope everything turns out well for you." Dot said.

"Hey! We don't say good bye. We say, see ya later." Bobby turned back and smirked at Dot before taking off into the sky with the other two. Dot waved as she watched them head out the door before lowering her hand softly.

"Wanna grab a drink?" Squit asked Bobby.

"… Yeah… maybe it'll clear my head." Bobby answered as the three of them flew over the Water Tower. "Hmph. It's not cold in the air over that tower anymore."

"You think we might have been able to prevent something if we had told anyone about that?" Pesto asked.

"Even assuming we found the air being cold over the tower as something that was somehow important, telling anyone about it wouldn't have been met with concern. And even if it did, what the flindangal would you have been able to do about it?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Pesto accepted that rather quickly. He'd been more tolerant of things lately it seemed.

"Don't worry Pesto. We're alive and we're still the best." Squit grinned.

"What'd you call me?" Pesto asked him.

"Wha-? I-I said we're the best. All three of us. You, me, and Bobby." Squit sweated a bit.

"So you're saying that the three of us are all awesome; together as one and united in a cluster of masterful Goodfeather greatness?!" Pesto prodded him.

"Uh… y-yeah. That's exactly what I'm saying." Squit said back.

"… … We're still the best… Finally something good to come out of your mouth for once." Pesto said as they flew. Squit blinked and chuckled while Bobby just straight up belted out a laugh.

"Yeah boys; doesn't look like we're changing anytime soon."

Dot stood in the hallway for a bit before turning and looking back at Slappy. Slappy hadn't stopped looking at her since she had suddenly grown deathly quiet after seeing the Goodfeathers leave.

"So that's really all the people you've heard from?" Dot asked.

"… Yeah it is. Why?" Slappy asked, undoubtedly having a bit of a sinking feeling in her stomach. Skippy had been sitting next to her the whole time, just staring at the floor.

"… A-Are you sure? What about Minerva?" Dot asked, facing her with a bit of a sunken look on her face. Slappy sighed and put her phone back into her purse.

"I don't know. Haven't heard from her so I can't provide much comfort other than saying that there's always a chance." Slappy looked at her with a straight laced look on her face.

Dot looked down for a bit before looking up and smiling at her. "I suppose I'll have to hang on to whatever I can then."

Skippy suddenly let out a rather nasty grumble. He got up suddenly and walked past Dot, but not before slipping something into her hand. He then exited the office and shut the door behind him.

Slappy stood up and looked towards the door. "Excuse me. We were gonna wait until Yakko was done with his session in there to talk to him for a bit but Skippy's been having a rough time of it lately. He just got done with his own session before you came."

Dot was looking at the thing Skippy had given her. It was a set of earrings shaped like Golden Acorns.

"They're a present for you for getting better. He scouted out a few places for a long while before he finally found something that could be given to you as a present that stood as something that clearly let you know who it was from." Slappy said to her. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he had a bit of a thing for you… just a hunch though."

Dot smiled and curled them up in her fists before putting them in her long floppy ears. "Well, we did spend a nice amount of time together… if he does have a crush on me, I can't say I wouldn't mind it…"

Slappy smiled and then walked by her with a pat onto her head. "If you figure out whether you do or not, come see us. I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem at all to part the dark clouds by splitting it with an arrow of love. Peace."

Dot smiled as she watched her go and tend to her nephew. She decided to take a seat and wait for Yakko to be all done.

Slappy entered their house and was greeted by a thunderous noise coming from upstairs. She didn't waste any time and ran right on up the steps to see what the deal was. When she reached Skippy's room she had to duck when she saw a book hurdling right towards her.

"Whoa! What's with the textbook throwing? Usually, I'm all for that but now doesn't seem like the appropriate time." Slappy said with her hands on her hips. Skippy had clearly been rampaging in his room as it looked like a squirrel typhoon had hit it when it looked fine before they left.

"I'm tired of therapy. I want to be told I'm better already so I can stop going!" Skippy shouted with his fists curling and uncurling as he looked away from her.

"Well, I dunno. Judging by this room I'd say there's nothing wrong with you. Yeah, you totally deserve a clean bill of health." Slappy's response was pumped full of sarcasm and it only made Skippy angrier this time. He wailed out loud and threw whatever was closest to him at the wall. It was a jar of coins. She was surprised the wall didn't burst with how hard it hurdled into it and bounced off the bed.

Skippy panted and stamped his foot before Slappy finally saw the tears coming. She had been waiting for those and knew they were inevitable. He panted and stepped toward his bed before plopping his body down onto it, crying into his pillow.

Slappy finally approached him and bent over the side of his bed. "A jar of coins for your thoughts?"

Slappy turned to face her with his eyes already red and puffy. "That was all a part of my savings. My checks are still in my dresser. Every last one I got from the show that I was planning on saving for when it was my time to go out and make a show for myself. What was it good for? They're all worthless now!" Skippy screamed.

"Says who? You?" Slappy asked.

"… Th-The world… everything's ruined…" Skippy's face lowered. "I took forever to get over my parents… I still haven't completely but now this… What do I do Aunt Slappy? You know pretty much everything right?"

"Pretty much. Yeah." Slappy grinned at him. Skippy had to smile at her when he heard that response coupled with that confident face. How did she do it? How'd she stay the way she was all the time? She never faulted. Not ever.

"Haha. I get why you're one of the few toons who was able to avoid fading away into obscurity Aunt Slappy. You're really kick butt awesome and you never let anything get you down." Skippy's eyes sparkled a bit as he sniffled up his dripping nose.

"Sometimes things get me down. However, not a thing in my life has ever kept me down. There's a difference. I don't think any lower of you for having a fallout like this Skippy, so don't worry." Slappy said, putting her hand on his head and patting him.

"Th-Thank you… a-and I promise, I'll rise out of my funk. It'll take a while but I know that despite me saying it was all pointless it really wasn't. There's a way to fix it and the Warners are already trying their best. They've suffered way more than me." Skippy said.

"Hey, that ain't fair. Suffering and pain mean different things to different people. Don't ever say that yours doesn't matter just because someone else may have it worse. Your happiness is important too." Slappy smiled and cupped his cute face in her hands, sitting him up.

Skippy chuckled a bit. "Aww… okay…"

"By the way, Dot liked your gift. Do you like her?" Slappy asked with a wider grin.

Skippy blushed and looked all around the room for some inexplicable reason. "I… I uh…"

"Look, I ain't too big on romance movies or novels. All that meandering around and waiting for the couple to admit something that they both already know is stupid. Let's just skip to the end of this one 'kay? Dot already said that she wouldn't mind the fact that you do."

Skippy was a bit surprised by that. His heart thumped a bit faster but he managed to get it under control. "Hmm… well alright then. I do."

"That's my nephew. Always getting to the point." Slappy smirked. "When's the first date?"

"W-Well… I don't know. I… I guess I'll call her later after she's done with her thing or something and we can… try to find a restaurant that isn't closed down or destroyed…" Skippy got out of bed and walked off, pondering and planning things out in his head.

Slappy laughed and sat on his bed before taking something out from her purse. They were the pictures of the Water Tower she had taken from over the years.

"Guess I got my closure on these huh?" She smiled and dropped them all in the trash can in Skippy's room before getting up and heading out after him. "The next phase of life is upon us and the first task at hand is to watch Skippy try and talk to a girl."

She stopped and began to laugh harder to herself.

"Now that's comedy."

The door to Scratchy's office opened up suddenly. Dot hadn't been relaxed at all the whole time she was sitting on the bench. She shot up when she saw two people exit.

Yakko stood there with a smile on his face. It was a small smile and his eyes were half-open and sunken a bit too but he was smiling none the less. He gave Dot a small wave as she came over and hugged him. Yakko wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "Hey there little sis. Kept you waiting did I?"

"No. I wasn't waiting for too long." Dot quickly reassured him. She looked up at him and saw the slight tint of blackness around his eyes. Yakko had been suffering from quite a lot of things ever since they came back. He had a very intense case of insomnia as well as an endless slew of night terrors that plagued him whenever he did get sleep.

They were night terrors not nightmares. These were far worse than regular nightmares and we far more dramatic. Scratchy had said that Yakko had gotten a lot better since they had first started this but he was in no way in a position where he could be qualified as alright.

"He's all done Dot. You can head off and get Wakko for your little show today." Dr. Scratchnsniff said to the two of them as they hugged.

"Thank you Scratchy." Yakko smiled up at him. The doctor smiled back and watched the two of them leave with their arms around each other. Scratchnsniff closed the door and kept smiling to himself as he made his way over to his chair and sat down.

He reached over and grabbed a picture by his side. It was him and the Warners all singing together in a car before they had officially started to drive on the road so that he could put the camera down. The three of them really were like his children to him now. Even back when they were loud and obnoxious he couldn't really bring himself to hate them for it. Time went on and as such their relationship only grew.

Toons weren't the enemy. The outside world needed to realize this now and the situation that happened was going to enforce that more than ever. This idea the Warners had would work. He knew it would. That smarmy detective didn't know a lick of what he was talking about and they were about to prove it.

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling with his arms behind his head.

They were still alive. They were a lot quiter and a lot less obnoxious though. It's a shame it had to happen from a rapidly intense and unfair bout with destiny rather than natural progression and a rise in maturity. What a cruel thing for the cosmos to do for these children.

"Well… no matter. It doesn't change my position. So long as I stand as a P-sychiatrist, the door will always be open for the Warners."

"The stage is set. You're ready to go." Brain said as he crawled out from under the platform, holding a wrench that was way too big for him to be physically able to carry.

"Yup, and I gave everyone the snacks!" Pinky scampered in from behind. Pharfignewton the horse was eating hay in the background of the huge tent they were under for some reason.

"Thanks guys." Wakko Warner stood there with a nice yellow and dark blue shirt and a pair of light sky-blue jeans on. "This stage looks great. Can't wait until we get this thing started. Now we just need to wait for Yakko and Dot to show up."

"Right behind you!" Dot waved, coming up on Wakko.

"OH! Hey guys!" Wakko trotted over to them, leaving Pinky and the Brain to walk a bit to the side and sit down for a nice rest.

"So, you think we should leave them to it?" Pinky asked.

"Yes. They're fine." Brain sighed and wiped off his brow. "You know… what they're doing is rather ambitious. It's probably more ambitious then world domination."

"You think so?" Pinky asked turning to him with a spark of interest in his voice.

"Sure. Takeovers can be done by force. It's probably the easiest thing to initiate. However, this… this requires for the mind to be persuaded. There's nothing scarier than the prospect of emotional turmoil and what trying to sway it may incite." Brain rubbed his chin.

"You think they can do it though right? I do." Pinky said with a smile.

"Yes. I do as well. It'd be hard to doubt they could do anything after what we've witnessed. I'm shocked they've decided to keep living in that God forsaken tower. I know it's free living space now but still." Brain said, standing up again.

"There's no chance of the spirits coming back though." Pinky said.

"Yes, I know. I also understand that moving somewhere else isn't going to stop Yakko's night terrors or anything of the sort but it still seems weird." Brain thought for a moment before smiling. "Or, they could just be simply choosing to look past it, as they have much more fonder memories of it then bad ones."

"Could be. That thing is gonna start growing older now that the ghosties are gone right?" Pinky asked.

"Yup. It'll need constant maintenance from now on. I'm sure they can handle it." Brain smiled and headed off. "If they can handle it, we can handle ourselves from here on in too. The world is in need of our services and we can't stand by and let it rot from this fallout. We'll make headway tomorrow night for sure."

Pinky followed Brain as he headed off. "Gee Brain, what are we gonna do tomorrow night?"

"The same thing we do every night Pinky." He flashed him a wide grin. "Try and make over the world."

Pinky laughed at that. "Sounds cheesy."

"Delightfully cheesy Pinky." Brain agreed as they were on their way.

The Warners were too busy talking among themselves to notice the mice had headed home. "So are you good?" Wakko asked as he fixed Yakko's shirt.

"Yeah. I'm good." Yakko said with his now, per usual, quiet sounding voice. Wakko smiled at him and gave him a nice quick hug before breaking it and turning to Dot. He saw her on her phone, giggling to herself in excitement for some reason.

"Hey Dot. Can me and Yakko have time alone to talk for a second?" Wakko asked her. Dot simply nodded and headed to the bench at the back of the tent, sitting down to start texting. Yakko looked back at her with a small grin. He seemed to know what was up with her. However, he didn't when it came to Wakko.

"Yo Wakko. What's up? Well, aside from your pants." Yakko said pointing at the jeans Wakko was wearing.

"Heheh. I've gotten rather fond of being warmer ever since our trip into the cold and dank River Styx…" Wakko grinned. "Plus, I forgot how comfy underwear was." He reached into his pants and pulled his tightie whities up, giving himself a bit of a frontal wedgie. "See these? They've got the Batman symbol on the butt."

"Hahaha! Sweet… so uh… you wanted to talk to me about-?" Yakko began before Wakko let his undies go and smiled at his big brother. He put a hand to his shoulder and let out a small breath of air.

"Are you sure you wanna keep this going?" Wakko asked, concern in his voice. "I mean… you're suffering the worst out of all of us. I know you avoided arrest because of the confusion and the fact that everyone was trying to kill each other but that doesn't change the fact that you know the truth. Your night terrors aren't going away and even though Scratchy says you're getting better, we both know you'll never fully get over it." Wakko was laying out the truth as best he could without making it seem like he was losing hope in Yakko's ability. He never wanted to make that mistake again.

Yakko looked at his concerned brother and kept his smile going strong. It was a genuine smile too. "You're way too kind Wakko. Really, you are. However, the fact of the matter is, not only do I want to do this but I'd feel even worse then I already am if I didn't."

Wakko stood a bit confused when he heard that.

"I owe it to these people and to the whole world to keep going. Staying back and sulking and feeling sorry for myself won't fix anything. I may have nightmares or night terrors or whatever they're called for the rest of my life. I may be an insomniac forever too. It wouldn't surprise me if both those things happened at all." Yakko explained, putting his own hands on Wakko's shoulders. "But there's nothing I can do to change that now aside from try my best to get over it and fix it."

"… Yeah. Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't know… I just… wish there was a way to make something better for you." Wakko grumbled.

"This is perfect." Yakko held Wakko's face up with his finger to his chin. "I mean this too. So long as we're alive and together and we're doing the thing that we love to do, everything's perfect. It can only go up from here." Yakko's smile was infectious.

"It must be hard… trying to block out all the things you did…" Wakko said quietly and with tears at the corner of his eyes.

Yakko just kept smiling at him, despite the tears in his eyes too. "Yup. You've got no idea. I'm not giving up though." He said wiping them away. "I know it was birthed from my hatred and I know they were still my own actions… but I also know that it was a heavy influence from a bunch of jealous and angry spirits. If this were truly only my fault, I don't think I'd be able to move, much less try and put on a show."

"It'd never be your fault intentionally. Not ever. You're not that kind of person." Wakko said back to him which made Yakko laugh a bit.

"I know, I know. Thanks though. It's always nice to hear that. I'm not stopping so let's hurry and get this show on the road before we end up singing this soliloquy of regret until the day we die. If we ever do go out, we go out on a bang!" Yakko fist pumped and uncurled it into a high five, one that Wakko graciously gave to him and used to pull him into an even tighter hug then before.

The two of them turned back to Dot and saw her still texting fast on her phone. Yakko grinned over at her while Wakko stood confused. Yakko winked at Wakko and then yelled at Dot. "Hey! Stop texting your boyfriend and come on! It's time to go!"

"WAGH!" Dot jolted up and onto her feet, her face instantly red. "What…?! Hey! How did you-ARGH! Nevermind!" She stomped towards them and pushed past the both of them, heading towards the small stair way of the stage.

Yakko and Wakko looked at each other with a fit of small giggles before they headed out too.

"Hello everybody!" Yakko screamed and waved at the crowd of kids who were sitting before the makeshift stage. The kids all clapped and yelled in excitement while all the parents were a ways back, watching their kids anticipate the show.

Wakko and Dot jumped around the stage and hollered with him.

"We know things have been really stressed and sad and stuff for a long time but I gotta tell you… aaaaaaaaahm getting' a bit bored with that!" Yakko grinned. "SO! I say it's time we livened things up! It's all just for you guys so let's have fun and party like it was not whatever yesterday was! WHOO!"

The Warners were putting on a show. It was a small comedy show for the children in the area that were feeling either down in the dumps or just plain wanted to see something cool and wacky.

Laughter was a really powerful thing and comedy took you far. In the world they lived in, toons existed to exemplify just how powerful a tool it was.

People took it for granted.

People exploited who they were.

People didn't appreciate it.

Why? They thought it would always be there as something that stood to get them out of their funk. When surrounded by outlets of things to take your mind off the hardships of the real world, you often forget how essential those outlets actually are and after a while, they tend to become a part of the hardships you face when you're not careful. Anything you enjoy can be turned into busy work or something unpleasant with the right amount of negative coaxing.

For them, it almost destroyed their world and ended all of life as they knew it.

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot would not allow that to happen again. They were the Warner Brothers and the Warner Sister and together, even though their show had been cancelled, they still had the chance to usher in a new age for comedy as well as a new age for toons everywhere.

It would take a while but eventually things would be built from the ground up again. The people they had lost wouldn't be forgotten and the things they wished they could forget will reluctantly be remembered. However, it all serves a purpose to pave the way for the future.

Who was still around and who had been lost? Not every day brings the answers we all desire. We only get answers by doing and experiencing life for what it is.

The three of them were standing at the helm, ready to accept life's challenge and were going to do so with open arms. To the ends of the Earth and back again would they strive to reach their goal and when it finally came time for it to end…

The legacy and comedy would live on no matter what.

No more lamenting the future.

No more regretting the past.

Now as for living for today?

That's where it's at.