Through the Looking Glass: Chapter 5-B
Fifth Dream
When Banjo found himself in his dream world, the metal room seemed to be even brighter than he had remembered it to be previously. Somehow, this was beginning to hurt his eyes just the slightest bit, so he closed them and rubbed them with his hands.
However, when he opened his eyes again, he saw Rouge sitting on the bed with a smile on her face. It was the she-bear sitting next to her that caught Banjo's attention, however. Her blonde hair, her blue eyes...
Rouge had gotten Tooty after all it seemed.
"Tooty!" cried the honey bear in joy.
Before the bat could comment, the male bear had tackled his sister to the ground, catching both women off guard. Banjo gripped Tooty to his person with near-crushing force, and he sobbed in delirious happiness as Tooty simply returned the hug with her own soft grip.
"Banjo..." said the female honey bear. "You're... in Rouge's dream?"
"Yeah..." said Banjo, choking up from how happy he was. "Oh, Tooty..."
"It's a complicated story," replied Rouge. "I'm sure you wouldn't understand much of it, either. But yeah, he's in your dreams, and if my predictions are correct he'll be able to take you out of the dreams as well."
"Oh, you mean, I can go home?" cried Tooty, standing up despite the protesting embrace of Banjo.
"Yep," replied Rouge.
"Oh, Rouge!" The female bear tackled the bat to the ground, hugging her tightly. The former G.U.N. agent was caught greatly off guard, but nevertheless she could not help but smile. "Thank you so, so, so, so much!"
"Hey, don't mention it," replied Rouge as the bear released her. "It's all in a day's work, you know?"
Banjo had stood up by this time, so when the bat also stood up he looked to Rouge. Tears of joy were flowing down his cheeks, and he simply pulled Rouge into a great bear hug. His voice was choking with happiness, he was so happy.
"Oh, Rouge..." said the honey bear with the joy seeping out of his voice. "How am I supposed to thank you for this?"
"I don't know," replied the bat as her own arms wrapped around Banj's body. "I..."
"Oh, Rouge, you've done so much with just this..." said Banjo.
It was then that the male bear and the bat had parted. With a smile, Banjo took his sister's hand in his and looked to her.
"Tooty... I can't believe I found you again," he said.
"I didn't remember you for some time..." replied the bear. "But... now that I see you... Oh, Banjo...!"
The bear siblings found themselves in another small hug after this, Tooty crying into Banjo's shoulder as the older bear patted her back as he himself cried. Rouge found she could barely contain herself in the jovial atmosphere of the dream, as she herself was on the verge of tears from how happy she had made people. For once, something had finally gone completely right for the bat for the first time since she had joined Eggman.
The two bear siblings parted, Banjo keeping a firm hold on Tooty's wrist as they both looked to her with happiness in their eyes.
"So, do I just hold her hand, or...?" asked Banjo.
"Assuming it even works," replied Rouge, pulling Banjo's family portrait from within her glove. "Also, I'm very sure you'll want this back..."
The bear took his portrait back with a smile on his face that contrasted sharply with his tears of joy. "I think I can take her back," replied Banjo. "I... If you were able to take the portrait with you when I carried it, we can do the same for Tooty, I'm sure..."
"So, I'll be back home?" asked Tooty softly.
"Yes," replied Banjo as he sat down on the desk, still holding on to Tooty's wrist. "Kazooie's gonna be there..."
"Oh, my!" exclaimed the female bear as Rouge looked on, deciding to give the siblings time to catch up. "How's Kazooie been doing?"
"Oh, she's been great!" replied her brother as she looked towards the ceiling. "She's still spouting insults at everyone she meets, that's for sure."
Tooty chuckled, rolling her eyes at the ceiling as she too sat on the desk. "And how're Bottles and... uh... the pink fuzzy guy with the skull?"
"Mumbo?" asked Banjo, slightly alarmed that she didn't remember the shaman that had helped Banjo and Kazooie from the very beginning. "They're all doing fine! We've been so worried about you for the past ten years! What happened to you?"
Tooty was silent at this, and Rouge shook her head. Taking a hint, Banjo looked down at his feet, his eyes betraying guilt. "I'm sorry," he said. "Here we are, finally together, and that's one of the first things I ask."
"Don't worry about it," replied the female bear. "I'm gonna have to tell you anyways..."
"You don't have to tell me now," replied Banjo as he pulled Tooty into a hug. "Besides, I already know some small details..."
Tooty nodded grimly. "I see..." she said.
"And..." continued Banjo as he turned to face his sister. "I just want you to know... that no matter what happens, I'm still your brother, and I still care for you more than you can think. So if you think I won't take well to something, well, try me."
The female bear swallowed before nodding, her eyes slightly uncertain as she did this.
"All right," said Tooty softly. "But I still don't want to think much about it..."
Banjo patted her shoulder comfortingly. "You don't have to tell me right away," he said. "But I do want you to say everything eventually."
The female bear nodded as Rouge walked over to the desk. When she got there, she leaned against the desk with her forearms flat on it as she looked at both of them.
"I... I'm just happy you guys have seen each other again," said Rouge.
Banjo smiled as he placed a hand on the bat's shoulder. "Again, I'm not sure how to thank you for that, Rouge," he said. "I can't thank you enough for this."
"You'll think of something eventually," replied the bat with a shrug. "I'm sure of it."
The bear simply smiled, looking to Tooty and Rouge with his eyes shining in sheer bliss.
Banjo woke up just as the sun rose. The first thing he noticed was that the bed sagged from an extra weight on it. Confused, he turned to see what else could have been in his bed.
The first thing he saw when he turned to look was Tooty's blonde hair. The female bear's back was to Banjo, but she still wore the red shirt and jeans that he had seen her in the dream in.
Just before he could burst out sobbing from jollity, the female bear turned around, and then Banjo looked into cloudy bluish-grey eyes.
"I'm... I'm home now, aren't I?" asked the female bear in a semi-whisper.
Banjo's reply came in the form of him taking her in his arms, twirling around and rolling right off the bed into the floor with a rather loud boom.
"Oh, Tooty!" shouted Banjo, hugging his sister close to him as he sobbed in happiness. "You're back! You're back! After all these years, you're finally back!"
"Hey, what the hell is--?"
The racket had woken up Kazooie abruptly, but when she looked down at the scene from where she was situated on the hat rack, her eyes went wide as Banjo and Tooty both looked at the breegull.
"Kazooie?" asked the she-bear nervously as she stood up.
"Tooty!" cried the breegull. She jumped out of her backpack with such zealousness that she knocked the hat rack down to the floor when her foot caught on a piece of Banjo's rucksack. The bird then ran over to the female bear and enveloped her with scarlet wings. "Oh my God, Banjo was right! He brought you back!"
"I'm just so glad to be back," replied the she bear as she pulled Banjo into the hug and the happy family was reunited once again.
"Oh, this is the happiest day of my life..." said Banjo happily.
He promptly got smacked in the back of the head by his breegull companion. "Save the cheese for later, Banjo!" cried Kazooie. "Besides, the day's only just begun! We've gotta run to Showdown Town and tell everybody about this!"
Tooty rolled her eyes and chuckled at this, thinking about how this was also the happiest day of her own life.
In the adjoining kitchen, the jovial racket had woken Silver, and the confused hedgehog was left to wonder what was going on as Kazooie, Tooty, and Banjo all shouted their heads off in great joy. The grey hedgehog was so confused he failed to notice that the Chaos Emerald that was lying on the table had a slightly stronger glow than it what was normal for the jewel that was quickly fading into the regular light that the emeralds usually gave off.