Shattering Mirrors

A real chance

His deal he agreed upon himself was upheld. By day, he played the role of a brokenhearted hero who wanted to crush the souls of those who had hurt him, and by night, he was a silent helper who assisted throughout the entire world, from lightly tending a garden to restocking shelves. It was evident to Stampy's helpers that the mystery friend had returned to full, helping throughout the night. Once again, the treats came back out for Seth to enjoy, each treat different from the last. He would come from the tunnel that he had discovered, and when Zumma deemed it safe to return, he would return silently back into the castle. He found it a miracle that nobody had spotted him.

Or at least he thought.

One night, as he was about to gather eggs, a voice appeared behind him, scaring the living daylights out of him.

"I knew it!" the voice screamed out loud, filled with wondrous pride. Seth quickly turned around to see who the owner of the voice was. To his relief, it was just Izzy, who was in pink button up pajamas. To Seth, she would have been more of a threat if she had her daily attire on, or at least been in transformation mode, but seeing her in something so casual made him think she wasn't here for a fight."

"Izzy?" Seth stuttered out, backing away. He was weaponless against the second in command of the Guardian group. If she had pulled out an unknown weapon, he would be doomed. "H-How did you find out? You're supposed to be sleeping!"

"I'm not stupid!" Izzy said, pointing a finger at Seth. "I've noticed how our mysterious friend disappeared after you joined in the group, Seth. Then, after your banishment, you came back under noname once more. You pulled a sneaky one on us Seth, but I've connected the dots."

"Look, I'm sorry okay, I just...I really needed to fix this here um...egg. After I'm done, I'll be off your back, okay? Just don't hurt me!"

She shrunk herself and softened her voice, looking at Seth who looked like he was going to run for the hills. "Look, I'm not going to attack you, not like everyone else will. I may be a protector of Stampy's Lovely World, but I also like to call myself a peace keeper. I want things to be just and fair. I've been thinking for a while, and I've realized that something doesn't add up. If you really were asleep, then someone else has to be behind this. I want to point fingers to Fred, but everyone in his family is saying he was asleep during the crime." She had her index finger wrapped around her chin, thinking. "I'm willing to work with you as long as you don't do anything to hurt me or my friends. I want you to be part of our group Seth. I want you to experience the super happy fun times we have in Stampy's Lovely World. What do you say at another chance?"

Izzy held out her hand for a handshake, and Seth looked at it, contemplating what was just offered. Another chance at life. Another chance of redemption. Another chance for his dreams to once again breathe in life into its lungs and exhale euphoria into the air of the Isle of Dreams.

Without so much as a third thought, Seth happily grabbed Izzy's hand, and shook it at the same tempo as she did.

"Consider it a deal, Izzy," Seth said, smiling. "What's first on the list?"

"The first thing on the list is to look back at Polly's camera footage and see if we can find anything that will give any clues away, such as a person in the window or a shoe left behind," Izzy said.

"What about forensic things, like fingerprints or footprints?" Seth asked.

"That won't work, your footsteps and fingerprints are the same as Fred's," Izzy groaned.

"Yeah, but if they're the same, that would give us a clue as to who did it," Seth said, smiling slyly.

Izzy caught on, looking at Seth with amazed eyes and said, "You're right! If they are the same, then that means Fred would have had to touch it! Good thinking Seth! Let's examine what happened."

Seth and Izzy watched the footage on repeat, but there was nothing much to decipher. It just looked like Seth stealing bread and cake. Izzy was rewinding the clip, with one hand on the mouse and the other supporting her head from the cheek. She looked utterly bored.

"I'm not seeing anything Seth," Izzy said, the tone in her voice unreadable. "There's nothing there! No ring, no other person in the back being a stalker, nothing!"

"Can you check to see if there were any fingerprints? I happened to touch a lot of stuff from the looks of it," Seth said, looking at the footage. The person who had gone into Stampy's Hot Buns was wearing no gloves whatsoever. They had touched the doorknob, touched the tables, and even touched the pastries with their bare hands.

"Yeah, there has to be some if they weren't already cleaned off," Izzy said. "I'll look into it, and I might pay Fred a visit, because those pastries couldn't disappear into thin air. Thank you Seth. I wish it could be different, but the sun is starting to rise and I don't think Hit the Target would be happy if you weren't there."

"Oh, he would blow it," Seth said, smiling. "I wouldn't be able to see the light of day again. Thank you for everything Izzy. I find it quite disappointing that the others aren't as fond of me as I thought."

"No! They do like you! Or at least they haven't gotten to know you!" Izzy said happily, patting Seth on the shoulder. She held up her hand and extended her pinkie finger. "I'll get this all sorted out. I pinkie promise."

Seth locked his own pinkie with Izzy's.

"Please don't let me down Izzy," Seth said softly.

"I won't. Not in my life," Izzy said confidently. "Go home Seth, and pretend like nothing ever happened. Pretend you were asleep. Now go, go!"

Seth nodded and bolted off like a bear was chasing after him. He ran back into the tunnel, and bolted up into the castle without warning Zumma. He was lucky that nobody was around to see him, else bad things could have happened.

Seth had no time to waste though. He went back into his room silently, and slipped into the dark blue cotton sheets he was assigned. He took a sigh of relief, happy of what the outcome of his trip was.

At long last, Seth finally had someone on the inside to help him with getting back into Stampy's Lovely World. At long last, he finally had something that neither him or technology could give him by themselves.

     A real chance.