Thunder's Storm (Raggedy Ann & Andy Fanfiction)

Chapter 7 Part 2

Twilight was now taking over the sky, transforming it into a deep purple colour. "Hey Thunder? You around?" Andy called out, his voice cracking a bit. "Yea I'm here." The plush answered, tossing the last of the dress up clothes into the box where they belonged. "What's up my guy? You seemed awfully upset earlier, what was all that about eh?" "Umm..." Andy hesitated, he looked back towards the closet where he saw his sister, gesturing to him to keep going. Taking a deep breath in, he continued, "There's uhhh, something I wanna talk to you about Thunder." "Alrighty, shoot." Thunder replied plainly. "No, not here, uh, this way." Andy led Thunder to a quiet corner of the play room under a little table, far away from the rest so they could chat in private. "Alright, so what'd you want to tell me?" Thunder asked, anxious to hear Andy's answer. "Well," Andy sat down, rubbing his hands together, causing his baggy arm fabric to bunch up. "I want to tell you a story." He said finally, avoiding eye contact. "Alright." Thunder sat down as well. "Did you know that Ann used to have a sister?" Andy asked. "No I didn't." Thunder answered, perking up a bit in surprise. "It's true," Andy went on, "This was back when Dorothy, Marcella's gramma, was a little girl. The sisters were inseparable, and would have done anything for each other." "But wait a minute," Thunder interrupted, "What about you? Y'all told me that you and Ann was made together." "Keep your shirt on, I'm getting to that part." Andy shot back. "Like I was saying, the two sisters did everything together and eventually, when Dorothy grew up, she gave them to her child, Alice, Marcella's mother." Thunder listened attentively to Andy's story, ears up right so he could hear every detail. "Well, you see, during all that time Ann's sister, she was sad. Really sad. And for many decades, she could figure out why." Thunder tilted his head a bit, he could hear Andy's voice starting to get shaky, but he let him continue. "It was like a constant pain in her heart, telling her that something was desperately wrong, but she couldn't figure out for the life of her what it was. Ann was always happy and she did all the same things Ann did, tea parties, dancing lessons, dress up. Heck, they even looked the same, both wore dresses and had long hair, only difference there was the colour." Thunder finally spoke up, "I'm sorry Andy but I don't get it, what does any of this have to do with you getting so upset tonight?" Andy just kept talking, as if he didn't even hear Thunders comment. "One day Ann's sister realized something about herself. She realized that she stopped feeling that sadness whenever she did things like, rough house with the dog, or protect Ann from boogeymen, or help move around heavy things that the other toys were too weak to do. And she soon realized that all those things were similar to what the boy characters in books that she read did." Andy had seemed to be quite relaxed now, he held his hands still in his lap instead of anxiously fiddling with them. "At first she figured that it was just a coincidence that she was similar to those boys. But the more she thought about it, and the more she imagined herself in those characters' shoes, the more it made her heart feel right. For once she felt like she knew what she had to do to feel happy." Andy finally stopped and turned his gaze over to the yellow Neopet. "You see Thunder, Ann never really had a sister. She had a brother the whole time, it just took a while for him to realize it." Thunder stared at the rag doll in astonishment, speechless. "But just calling himself a boy wasn't enough to make that dark feeling go away, so he gave himself a haircut and, with some help from Ann of course, turned that stinky old dress into a new shirt and pants. He even got a new name." "Andy." Thunder murmured, barely above a whisper. He nodded and put his hand over his heart. "Ever since then, the pain has gone away, and I haven't felt it again since." Thunder sat back, flabbergasted about what Andy had just told him, unable to find the words to respond. Andy could see the look on his face and he turned away ashamed, "I guess you think I'm pretty weird huh?" He started to think that telling Thunder wasn't a good idea after all. "Wha-What? No, I don't think you're weird at all." Thunder reassured him, placing his paws in Andy's lap. "It's just so hard to imagine someone as strong, tough and terrific as you being so... Different." He said staring at Andy earnestly with his big brown eyes. Andy stared back at Thunder for a moment before clearing his throat and looking away, feeling a slight blush appear on his face, he pulled his hat down a bit, trying to cover his eyes. "Anyways..." Andy slowly let out, breaking the awkward silence, "That's not all I wanna talk to you about. You see when I saw you earlier all dressed up like that, it reminded me of the times when I was forced to dress like that and how miserable it made me, so I kinda jumped to conclusions and assumed that it would have made you feel just as awful too." He confessed looking back at the yellow Neopet, he put his hand on his head, flattening his tuft of hair, "Sorry about that." Thunder chuckled. "No need to apologize, I honestly don't blame ya. I probably would have done the same thing if I were you." Thunder told him matter of factly. "The last thing I want to ask you Thunder, you said that you only call yourself a boy because your child decided to, how did that make you feel? I mean are you really a boy on the inside like me?" "That's a hard question Andy. Ummm..." Thunder searched his mind for an answer. "I really don't know, I'm sorry." Andy insisted, "Well if you had to choose, boy or girl, which do you feel more suits you?" Thunder closed his eyes and thought long and hard about Andy's question, looking deep inside himself. "I guess I'm not either." He finally responded, "Like I said be for I have no strong feelings either way. I don't feel anything when being called a boy or a girl. I just feel like, me." Andy let out a bit of a disappointed sigh. "What's wrong now?" Thunder questioned, nudging him a bit. "Nothing really," The rag doll responded, "It's just, after all this time I've never met another toy who had the same feelings as me. I told you all this cause I thought maybe we were the same but, I guess not." Thunder ears drooped down low from seeing Andy's disappointed face, he had to do something to cheer his buddy up. "Well if you ask me, that's a good thing." He blurted out. Taken aback Andy looked at him bewildered, "How could you say that?" he asked. Thunder sat up and put his paws on Andy's shoulders and leaned in close, his muzzle just a few inches away from his face. "Because Raggedy Andy, you're one in a million. If there were others like you, you wouldn't be as special, right?" Andy turned his gaze away from the plush, he could feel his face turning red from the complement. "Y-yea I guess you're right." He stammered out, lightly pushing Thunder off of him. "Besides, now I finally have an explanation." "An explanation for what?" Andy questioned. "An explanation on why your head looks like a bowl of baby carrots." Thunder snickered, bouncing up and snatching Andy's hat in his jaws, revealing his uneven haircut. "Hey give that back!" Andy demanded, tackling the yellow plush. The two boys tossed and tumbled on the floor in laughter, each trying to win the nonexistent fight. The sky was now dyed black, the only bit of light to be seen where the stars twinkling away in the night. It had been at least two or so hours since Ann had last seen the boys disappear into the corner for their chat, she hoped to herself that it had gone as well as she thought it would, but what on earth could they still have to talk about? "Andy? Thunder? I know you boys are chatting about important things but it's time for-" As she looked under the table she cut herself off, putting a hand on her cheek she smiled at the sweet scene she walked in on. Thunder and Andy were fast asleep cuddling up to one another, Andy with his arms wrapped tightly around the plush, face nuzzled into Thunders short fuzzy fur. Ann dragged a blanket over to them and wrapped it around them to keep them warm. "Sleep tight you two, tomorrow's another day."