A/n: I AM SORRY that this took so long.

They were so far from ready.

Even after Anger's brave affirmation that yes, they would do this, for all their sakes, no one was willing at first to jump in and start. The three squirmed and winced, and Joy and Sadness could do little more than try to hide their own discomfort as much as possible.

Eventually Anger grew tired of all this beating around the bush. "Ahem…" he cleared his voice gruffly, and all eyes turned to him. As determined as he was to hide his unease as much as possible, it was glaringly obvious to the others that he really, really didn't want to do this. They graciously didn't show it.

"I…" Anger, for all his…expansive vocabulary, wasn't exactly known for being eloquent. He decided that the best way to go about this was to do it the way he did everything else: bluntly, and head-on.

"I feel like a right bastard." Ignoring the gasps from one or two of his colleagues he continued on. "It was my idea to make Riley do what she did. I jumped right into the most extreme solution like an idiot, because I was—I…"

He wasn't about to cry. He wasn't.

"Because I was just so…angry." He had never hated who he was until that very moment, admitting to the others and to himself just how much his being, his very existence, could hurt their girl. He balled his fists and bit his cheek, glaring at the wall in order to keep his feelings at bay.

The other four looked on in quiet shock, surprised to see the most stalwart of them be reduced to a shaking heap of a person, needing help and hating the fact that he did all at once.

Anger assumed that the silence meant that the others wanted to hear more from him. That was fine; he supposed he had more to say, anyway. He turned vaguely to Fear and Disgust. "I, uh…" this was gonna hurt, "I wasn't fair to you two. I didn't give you any say in the matter."

"Now, hold on a minute," Disgust's voice, at least, seemed slightly back to normal. She didn't want to do his either, but for Anger to take all the blame was ridiculous. "You didn't do anything until there was a majority vote, and I gave you that." she glanced around at her coworkers quickly, her gaze lingering on Fear a moment longer to make sure he felt the same; without verbal cue, he agreed, and Disgust went on, " You asked what we thought, and I said we should do it. You were fair. It was dumb, but it was fair."

Anger searched her for a moment before deciding he trusted her sincerity. He seemed to relax into his own frame, some of the tension leaving him. So Disgust and Fear didn't blame him. That was good. But he couldn't be sure about Joy and Sadness. If either of them had been there, they would've shut the idea down in a second. He could only hope for the best. But for now, this was enough.

Disgust, for her part, assumed it was her turn now that she'd cut in. Trying her best to remain as detached as possible for the time being, she laid it all out in one go.

"…Well, I guess what Fear said was true. About me not doing anything—no, it was, don't even try—and I guess…I don't know. I guess I had never realized how—" Detached, detached!… "How unnecessary I was until this whole thing. I don't really…there was nothing I could do but make her feel worse, and set up red flags in Mom and Dad's mind, and…I didn't even, like, do my regular job. Riley didn't care about her appearance or making friends…and the worst part is that it didn't matter. I didn't matter, and my neglect didn't matter. So…what good am I?"

Fear was horrified. "D-Disgust…that's not what I—"

She would have none of it. She turned quickly to him and spoke quietly enough to make him listen. "Yes it was. You're lying to both of us if you tell me that's not what you were thinking when you said it."

He could say nothing to that.

Joy took up the conversation before that got any worse. "But Disgust, Riley loves you!" She threw her hands out in front of her in wild gestures, as if it would make her point clearer. "Doesn't she just love shopping, and finding cool friends, and finding the kind of deodorant that makes her not super gross after a game!?"

"You're one of the most noticeable emotions in Riley," Sadness said, "Next to Joy, I'd say you make up the better part of who she is to the people around her. I'd say that's pretty important."

Disgust heard an approving grunt from Anger, and could see Fears gaze imploring her to believe what their friends were saying. She was, frankly, amazed with all of their support. She had never felt quite so content.

"I…th-thanks, you guys." Playing off her uncharacteristic stutter, she smiled warmly at them all.

They sad in companionable silence for a few short moments, until Joy noticed that Fear had gone back to staring at his hands. "Um, Fear?" She began, drawing the attention of the others, "…you don't have to do this now, if you don't feel—"

"I'm fine."

Joy was startled, as were the others; Fear wasn't one to just cut someone off like that. But they said nothing. If he wanted to talk, they'd let him do so with the least amount of rebuttal as possible.

Fear fought with his very being in order to gather the courage to speak. He wanted to clam up, to run away. It was his nature to remove himself from the problem at hand, to…to take the cowards way out.

Well, that point just proved itself, didn't it?

Steeling himself as well as he could, he straightened his shoulders somewhat (still looking down) and did everything in his power to keep his voice level.

"I…I failed." Nothing for a few moments, but the others dared not to distract him from his thoughts.

"I f-failed Riley more than I had ever thought possible. I—it's my job, my duty, to be there for her, to get her out of trouble, and keep her out. This was her hour of need, the most compromising position she's ever b-been in, and I—"

His voice failed him then, his efforts to remain stoic, in the end, futile. His shoulders drooped low and he hid his face in his hands.

Sadness, on the opposite end of the couch than him, hopped off and made her way to the other side. When she placed a hand on his arm she felt the shivers running through him.

He didn't acknowledge her.

Finally, after a few tense minutes, he lowered his hands, though his eyes remained closed and his body in the same position. "Please," he gave a quivering whisper, "p-please, forgive me. I-I didn't mean to be so selfish…I never m-meant to be such a coward. I'll be better, I promise. Please…"

The other four had heard enough. All at once Fear found himself the center of a group hug, wrapped tight in Joys zealous arms, Sadness' cheek leaning against his shoulder, a hand from Disgust and Anger each at his back. He knew then, without a doubt, that he was forgiven. And he let it all go.

They all did.

The friends remained in the embrace for a long while—how long, none could say. It was healing, comforting in a way that no hugs prior had never been. Each emotion knew that it was far from over. It would take a while for Riley to heal, inside and out. There would be moments of malice, of guilt, and this incident would never be gone from their memory. But for right then, in that instant, everything was perfect.

When they all finally pulled away, each hosted a smile on their tearstained face.

No words were spoken at the beginning. They simply enjoyed being together, without fear of ridicule or hatred; each having had their self-imposed burden eased. Joy looked to each one of her friends, and then nodded resolutely.

"You know what?" She said, "I think we're gonna be okay."

A/n: Alrighty, that wasn't even a long chapter and it still took the longest. This will be the last chapter of this fic, sadly. I hoped you liked it!

The only things I own are the typos.

I'm back at school, guys, so I will most likely update my stories less often. Not much to be done about that.

That being said...Keep you eye out for an Inside Out horror fic from me:) Yeah, like, a story with an actually plot line other than fluff and good feelings. I've started writing it, but I'm not posting anything until October for two reasons. One: duh, October. Two: I want to have a fair amount written so I can get it all posted by Halloween and so you all don't have to wait too long between updates. So, that's happening!

Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to do me a solid; I want you to, in the comments or through PM (if you've got a long story), tell me about a monster/spook/terrible beastie that gave you nightmares as a kid, or just one you've seen in movies or read about that creeped you out more than the others. I can't promise it will be reflected exactly in the story, but it'll help. I'm trying to hone in to true horror. We're diving into the Subconscious here, guys-so what haunts you?