I'm back! :D

Hefty: Nobody missed you, so who cares.

Still mad? :)

Hefty:...

Yeeeeeeeeeah! :D Anyways. Another chappie. The intention of the caps was just to make a difference in the sound, not really to have an effect on anyone or anything, biotic, or abiotic, male, female, living or nonliving, organism, warm blooded or cold blooded, and—ya get tha point! so yeahhhhh...I should have made it Italicized for that. I don't own the Smurfs!

Hefty: GOOD THING you don't!

Smurfettes POV

Hefty's funeral passed by so fast. It happened the next day after he...you know. I didn't attend. I should have...but I didn't. I couldn't bear to see that scene. I'm sure you know what I mean. So I stayed behind with Baby Smurf. I'm sure he could tell something was wrong. Every time he looked at me, his face would get serious, and he would give me a "what's wrong?" look.

Handy didn't attend either. He said he was too busy with something. That day, he locked himself in his house. But I know Handy isn't the type to do something to hurt himself. I wonder what he's been up to?

I could hear the cries from my house. Everysmurf, crying. That's what I didn't want to do. Cry. I can't. Hefty told me to be happy. And I should be, knowing that he's in a happy place. But a tear wants to escape from my eye every once in a while. Still, I put on my serious face.

I heard Poet recite a wonderfully sad poem at the funeral. I heard it all the way here. I even smurfed it down on my diary. Since that day, though, the village has never been the same. Everysmurf seems more gloomy. Even the sun doesn't shine as bright. Breakfast is silent all the time, and half the smurfs don't even eat. The same for lunch and dinner.

Papa Smurf has been in his lab more often. I also wonder what he's been up to. Poor Papa...

I haven't really seen Handy. Just once in a while. He hasn't been inventing in a while. His eyes always look tired, and his overalls are messy. Whenever I greet him, he gives me a wave and a fake smile. Then he scurries back to his house.

Painter has just been painting sad paintings. Harmony has actually gotten better at playing the trumpet (he got a new one). But all that comes out is a sad melody. The smurflings don't seem to play very much either. I just see them laying around, most of the time, with all their faces looking like Slouchy's. Grouchy's face isn't that angry either. I can see a hint of sadness every time I look at him. Greedy actually is eating less. Lazy is sleeping more than usual. We actually have to feed him while he's asleep.

Brainy and Clumsy aren't any better. Brainy has a serious case of depression, and he's passing it onto Clumsy. But Handy...his condition doesn't compare to those two. Nor mine...

It's been a week since Hefty left. I'm walking to Handy's house right now. I need to see how he's doing. I'm carrying a basket with some smurfberries in one hand, and Baby smurf in the other. I missed carrying Baby. I could tell he missed me too.

I knock on the door. It opens up a crack. A tired eye stares back at me. I smile a little.

"Hey, Handy," I say. Baby reaches out towards Handy. The door opens up more, revealing a tired, messy, skinnier Handy. He smiles a fake smile. "Hi, Smurfette. Hi Baby."

Baby squeals in delight and pinches Handy's nose. He smiles a small smile. A real smile.

"Can I come in?" I ask.

"Of course, how rude of me!" Handy steps back, and opens up the door wide enough to let me in. I gasp at the sight of his home. It's so dark. All the shades are drawn in. The bed is broken. A chair is broken. His bed is unmade, the floor is not swept, and his clothes lie in a pile on the corner. Everything is dirty. Handy hasn't even bothered in fixing anything.

"Ohh, Handy..." I whisper, and face him. Handy looks down. "Sorry it's a bit messy..." He mumbles and runs the back of his head. "I've just been so busy, I haven't had time to clean up..."

I set baby down on what looks like to be a pile of clean towels. "Busy with what?"

He bites his lower lip. "Well...uh...nothing important..."

"what have you been busy with?" I ask again and place a hand on my hip.

His gaze glides to mine. "I've been busy missing my best friend..."

My hand falls from my hip, and extends towards him. "Handy..."

His lips tremble, and he goes into my arms. He begins to cry. I pat his back.

"Handy...we all miss him. Every single one of us. You're not alone!"

"I-I feel so alone, though! I-I f-fell like n-nothing functions. L-like I can't do a-anything! I-I miss him so much!" Handy wails. "We smurfed t-through all that t-trouble...f-for what? FOR NOTHING! I w-was too l-late...I-it was a-a-all m-my fault! I miss him! I-I miss my b-best f-friend!"

"It's not your fault," I say, wanting to cry. " This was already destined to happen. There was no way to have prevented it. But y-you know something?!"

Handy makes a small noise. "I-I loved Hefty, Handy. I really did. And Hefty loved me too. W-when I died...just for a second, I think...He told me he loved me. And he wanted me to be happy. I'm sure he wanted you to be happy too. Be happy that he's in a happy place! That he's not suffering anymore!"

Handy looks up and sniffs. "Hefty loved you?" And he actually laughs a little. "Me his best friend, yet he didn't even tell me!"

He takes a step back from me, and sits at a small table in his home. I put the basket of smurfberries on there. "I brought you this," I tell him. He looks at the basket, and grabs a smurfberry. He pops it in his mouth, and smiles a little. "Thanks." Then, he sighs.

"But why him, Smurfette? Why?" Handy asks me with huge eyes.

"I-I don't know, Handy." I admit. "Nobody can smurf the future without magic. But I think it was best you didn't know the future. If not, I believe you would have panicked in the ruins and smurfed there. Be glad that you're alive! Be glad! Based on what you told everysmurf, you should be happy you saved the life of seven smurfs! Including your own!"

"Don't you think it would have been better, though, if I would have smurfed in the ruins? So I could be with Hefty right now?!"

"HANDY SMURF! Don't say such things!" I snap. "You saved the life of seven smurfs. They are truly grateful!"

"I know they are, but-"

"But nothing!" I shout. I really don't have anything to be mad about, but when a smurf says something like that, my temper rises. "Anyways, Handy, I miss him too! You're not the only one! I've been crying every night for the past...ever sine that happened. Yet I still go outside and enjoy the sunshine. The mood is a little down, but I try to be happy. And that's what you should be doing too! The other smurfs miss him too! But they still enjoy the day!"

Handy stares at me with his head in his hands. Baby stays quiet, but then begins to coo. Finally, handy speaks.

"You're right Smurfette. Everysmurf misses him. I'm not the only one. Yet here I am, moping around my home all day, as if it only affected me. I'm sure I can Imagine how you feel. Having have finally loved a Smurf with all your heart, and then suddenly, he's gone."

I nod a little. "I'm sure I'll find somesmurf someday...I just need time, that's all. You need time, too, to heal. So do I. Just remember Handy...if you ever need to talk to someone, we're all here! Like I said, you're not alone."

Handy sighs a little and grabs another smurfberry. He studies it, rolling it around his fingers. "You know something? I dreamed of Hefty last night. And you know what he said to me?"

I lean closer, not that he is whispering.

"He said that if only he had another chance. If only it had not been his time. He would have lied no more. He would confess that he loved a certain someone to that someone. He did tell me he loved someone, but I never imagined you. For example, I love Marina, so I assumed Hefty loved another creature, er, not calling you ugly, by the way. But yeah. And he told me that he was sorry. But that I had to be strong."

"Why would he apologize?"

"Because, the next day after he got smurfed...I got angry at him. I blamed him, that he should have been more careful. That why did he do this to me, and leave me?" He squashes the smurfberry, and his face gets splattered with light red. "But it wasn't his fault..."

"I know what you mean..." I admit. I actually did get angry at him a bit one time. But he wasn't to blame. I grab Handy's hands.

"We'll slowly get over this, together." I tell him, and he smiles. Not a tiny smile.

Baby smurf claps and blabbers away.

"Handy...would you like to go walk with me, to the beach later on, today?" I ask, letting go of his hands. "You really need to get out of your house more often."

Handy looks around his home, and breathes in deeply. He nods. "Yeah, It will do me good."

I grab Baby and head towards the door. "I'll pick you up, then!"

OoO

I knock on Handy's door two hours later. He open up. "Ready?" I ask.

"Yeah," He replies. He takes a step outside and squints at the sunlight. "Boy, I actually forgot how bright the sun is."

We walk to the beach together, not talking much. Just saying a little to one another. Finally, we reach the beach.

The sea breeze always makes me feel happy. Not much today, though. "You know?" I tell Handy. "The day when Hefty smurfed ill, was the day I came with him to the beach. He was alright! We jogged through the sandy part. He slowed down just enough for me to jog with him. I didn't think something was wrong with him."

Handy smurfs a breath of air. "When I noticed that something was wrong with him, I yelled at him. I mean, I thought he wasn't paying attention to me. And I feel bad for that..." His shoulders droop.

I quickly change the subject. "Have you been to the beach many times this year?" He ignores my question.

"I'm going to smurf an invention, where it will be placed in that bog. It will filter and clean the atmosphere. It will clean the nasty waters. It will chop down every berry bush in that area, change the soil, and plant good, healthy smurfberry bushes. That's what I'll do. So that no other smurf or living organism has to go through this. It's just too terrible."

I look at him, and he looks at me. Angry tears stream down his cheeks. A frown rests on his face. "It's no fun to lose your best friend."

"Or the one you love," I add in. "But Handy, please, stop seeing Hefty's death as something so horrible. I mean, don't go cheering around the village, but, just be happy, like I told you to. Like Hefty told you to be strong."

Handy kicks a shell, and sends it flying into the ocean. "I know that. I just got a bit...you know..."

I nod. "Do you want to smurf some lunch in this spot?" I ask, pulling a lunch basket out of nowhere. Handy smiles a little and nods.

We sit down on the sand and eat our lunch quietly. I can't help but admire life. I mean, to think that I was actually dead for a while. I never actually realized how beautiful life can actually be.

Handy takes some bread crumbs, and throws them at the seagulls. They happily cry out and eat the bread. Something Hefty did a long time ago, when I came with him. I smile at the act.

Handy suddenly gets a look, and he smiles widely at me. I look at him in confusion.

"Wha—blrrrp!" I almost ask, only to get a huge wave . I hear Handy standing a few smurfs away, dry and laughing. Soaking wet, I laugh too. It feels good to see Handy laugh again.

I run over to him, and pull him towards the ocean. He screams as a wave pulls him under. Moments later, his head breaks the surface, and he begins to laugh.

I spray water in his face, and he sprays some in mine. The waves sweep us off our feet, and rolls us to the shore. After a few minutes of playing, the waves roll us to the shore once more, and we lay on our backs, panting. I can hear Handy laughing and laughing. Good thing this took his mind off Hefty for a while.

I sit up as Handy's laughter dies down. His face suddenly gets serious again. "I-I used to do this with Hefty. I would join him for a run, once in a while, and he would suddenly push me into the water. Then the next thing I would know, we would be playing as if we were two smurflings again." His face cracks a smile. "Thanks for helping me remember a wonderful memory!"

I smile widely.

OoO

"We've been at the beach a long time," I mutter, looking at the sun go down. I rub my arms. "We should head back."

Handy nods. "Papa must be worried. Especially because we were most affected by Hefty's death, besides him, of course."

I pick up the lunch basket, and we walk along the shore, back home. I notice a figure, walking towards us.

"That's probably Papa Smurf," I tell Handy. He squints. "What is?"

"That figure, over there!"

The figure gets closer. However, the figure isn't wearing red clothing, like Papa.

"Never mind, it's probably one of the smurfs Papa sent to look for us," I say quickly.

"What are you talking about? I don't see any smurf..."

"Right there!" I say again and point at the figure. "A-at least, I think it's a smurf."

"You mean the one walking towards us?"

"Yeah, the rather bulky figure..."

"With the heart on his arm..."

I stare at Handy with wide eyes. "What did you say?!"

Handy looks at me. "The smurf with the-" His eyes get huge. "Heart …..." His hand goes to his mouth. "no...i-impossible..."

I look at the arm of the smurf. He has a small red something on his arm that looks like a heart. I mirror Handy's actions. No way. It's impossible for another smurf to have a tattoo on his arm, except for Hefty. And no other smurf was ever—and is- as bulky as Hefty. Theres just no way...

The figure staggers a bit as the waves roll at his feet. But he continues his way towards us. The picnic basket falls out of my hands. Without a warning, I break into a run.

"HEFTY! HEFTY!" I shout, tears already forming in my eyes as the salty breeze stings them a bit. "HEFTY!"

"HEFTY!" Handy shouts behind me. I can hear his footsteps behind me, running, too.

The smurf stops in his tracks. A white flash in his face tells me he's smiling.

"HEFTYYYY!" I shout again. My heart begins to race. Oh gosh...oh smurfs...how is this possible?!

My shoe falls off as I break into a sprint. I collide hard into the waiting, smiling smurf. We fall into the sand, and I sob into the smurfs shoulder. The Smurf wraps his arms around me and strokes my hair.

"Oh Hefty...oh H-hefty..." I bawl. "H-how-"

"Shhhh...it's okay...just calm down..." the smurf...Hefty...tells me. Handy's steps come to a halt next to me. I hear him kneel down next to Hefty, and breakdown.

"H-Hefty...h-how...?!" Handy begins, but he chokes up, and he hugs his best friend around the neck.

"It's okay, you two...I'm back..." Hefty whispers. That's all that matters to me right now...that he's back...I don't know how...but he's back with us, and with me.

WELLLLLLLL I know you all saw that coming.

Hefty: Aww Smurfette runs to me! :) HAH! I knew it all along! There's no way you could have me dead.

Whatever! I know I took a long time to put this chappie up, and I know it's short, but school is hard and very time consuming right now. So yeah...One more chapter to go!

Hefty: Finally you'll be done with this lame story...

You come out in it and you call it lame?

Hefty: I'm like, unconscious for more than half the story. And I'm dead for a chapter...and a half...I think. But I don't get it...how am I alive?

Well, find out in the next chapter!