We Are Both

The toys were gathered together by the Pixfare sign at the edge of the woods.

Larry spray-painted a line over the border as he lectured to the group. "This, troops, is our mission, the great barrier of our existence. Does it remain? We have to investigate the line." He pulled out a small bag with straws inside. "I made straws. Short one crosses. Draw."

They each picked a straw, one by one.

"With the curse broken, we can cross, right?" Jessica looked hopeful. "Should be no problem. Yeah?"

"With magic back, it could be even worse now." Rex fidgeted, worried.

"Like, vaporize us." Added Bart. "Let's go home."

"Guys!" Jim spoke up. "We've been through worse than this. You know our job is to be there for Andy. Show your hands."

They reveal their straws. Rex held up the shortest one.

"You're up, Rex."

Jim led Rex to the line, but he hesitated to step over it.

"You know, what if we found a turtle and sort of nudged it over first?" Rex suggested nervously.

"Oh, for the love of..." Bart pushed Rex over the line. A whoosh of magic surged through his body.

"Rex, you okay? Rex!"

----

On the main street, the townspeople were trying to regain order after the breaking of the curse and to clear away the damage caused by the attack. Damaged cars were being towed. Michelle temporarily closed the Diner.

A Crisis Center had been set up outside the town hall. Some people were gathered in front of a board of missing people. Hector put up a flyer with a picture of young Coco.

"If you're looking for a family member, come to the front table." Michelle announced, carrying blankets. "If you need counseling, Dr. Cutter has a sign-up sheet." A siren wailed in the distance. "If the creature damaged your house, there are cots at the school."

Sister Julia sighed, approaching Michelle and taking the blankets. "This is getting out of hand. People are in a panic. They don't know what to do."

"It's okay. It'll be fine. We just need everyone to remain calm. I have a feeling our supers are working on something right now."

----

Clark pounded on the door of Derek's house. When he answered, he let himself in.

"Tell me... about this." He held up pieces of the door.

"Surprised you don't have other supers 'round the clock."

"Don't need 'em. We both know if you step outside, there's a line a mile long for your head."

"Who's going to risk coming at me?"

"Take your chances then. But I think that little energy trick was an anomaly. If you had your weapons back, this town would be charcoal by now. You're having problems with them, aren't you? Right now the only thing keeping you alive is that Hilary wants it. Now, this."

"It's the door that pulled your loved ones away." Derek walked past Clark into the dining room.

"Well, where did you get it?"

"I forgot. You know what? Maybe you should be less concerned with doors and more concerned with taking care of my daughter."

"Oh, because you took such great care of her." Clark replied sarcastically.

"I won't listen to childcare lectures from a man who put his son in a door and sent him to Maine."

"Okay. Listen. I need my family. We have our powers now. There have to be ways to follow them."

"Follow them where? Into a sucking airless void? And good luck getting it to work, because as you said, you'd be charcoal."

"Frustrated, aren't you? Serves you right. You earned every bit of this."

"Keep on baiting me, Mr. Incredible. Right now I don't have my weapons and I don't have my daughter, but when I get one, I get the other, and you don't want to be around when that happens."

"If you have to use weapons to keep your daughter, you don't really have her." Clark turned and walked away.

-----

Clark soon arrived at the Crisis Center, where he spotted Hilary. "Hilary. Have you seen Atta? Sister Julia."

"No, but everyone's looking for you."

Several people begin harassing Clark with questions.

"Do we know where the Witch-- Ms. Wood is?" Michelle asked.

"Wait. Does Syndrome still have power?" Felix wondered.

"I thought I would find my girl. Are the lists complete?" Hector questioned.

"She's got to be planning something!" Michelle added.

Dr. Whale interjected. "Hey, let me ask you something? Are the nuns still nuns? Or can they, you know, date?"

"Uh, I don't know. Atta!" Clark spotted Sister Julia. "Could there be a door on this side? The way we sent Jack-Jack through as a baby-- maybe I could go after 'em that way."

"It's possible, but without screams to power the doors, uh, no, it's hopeless."

"You'll find another way." Hilary assured. "In the book, things always look worse right before there's good news."

"Bad news! Bad news!" Jim shouted as the toys came running. "We were out at the town line. Tell 'em who you think you are, Rex!"

"Will you stop calling me that? You know who I am. I'm Mark. I run the museum. What's going on here?"

"If you cross the border, you lose your memory all over again."

"And coming back doesn't fix it?" Felix wondered.

"If it did, would we have come running in yelling 'bad news'?!" Bart replied sarcastically. "If we leave, our cursed selves become our only selves."

The crowd began to panic. Clark decided to speak up.

"People! Everybody! Everybody, meet back here in two hours. I'll tell you my plan to fix everything." He started walking away.

"What's the plan?" Michelle asked as she caught up to him.

"I don't know, but I got two hours to figure it out."

---

In his lab, Derek was trying to get a piece of his tech to work. "Come on." It lit up for a moment and then short-circuited. "Work!" He angrily threw it against the wall in frustration. He headed to the front door, where he tentatively surveyed the area outside his house. Seeing that the coast was clear, he started to walk to his car, when he was approached by Felix.

"Syndrome. I thought you might want to talk."

"I don't need advice from an ant."

"It's what I do."

"I'm not in the mood."

"It's too bad, 'cause... 'Cause I think talking about your pain might be very helpful. Might help you learn who you truly are."

"I know who I am."

----

Derek entered Ms. Wood's shop. Seeing that she wasn't there, he began to rummage through her books.

"The library's beneath the clock tower." Ms. Wood appeared.

"I need the book. I need to get my daughter back." Derek demanded.

"Which book? Oh." She laughed. "So it's come down to that, eh? You need your mommy's help."

"Give me the book."

"Do you really need the smell of the written word to get the power flowing again, love? Maybe if you relaxed, it would just happen."

"I don't have time. It worked once. I know I can do it. I just... I just need a shortcut back."

"Yeah, well, I don't have time either. Leave. Please."

Derek seemed unaffected. "Well... Look at that. Your 'pleases' have lost their punch."

"Well, the fact remains jump-starting your weapons isn't in my best interests."

"You know what else isn't in your best interest? Having everyone know our world still exists. Knowing that you and I are keeping that little secret. You're up to something... And it doesn't involve going back home."

Derek went to look in a chest on the counter, but Ms. Wood stopped him. She magically conjured a book.

"Careful, dearie. These are some straight-up tech. Rough on the system."

"I don't care if they turn me green. I'm getting my daughter back." He grabbed the book from her and began to leave.

"Oh, my." She chuckled.

"What?"

"It's just holding that-- I told you once you didn't look like her, but now... Now I can see it."

Derek softly gasped and walked out the door.

----

"People of Pixfare, I know we're trapped again and things look... bleak... But... they're not." Clark tried rehearsing in front of a mirror. Hilary, Dash, and Violet were watching.

"No. Keep going." Hilary encouraged him. "You were on to something."

"No, I wasn't. I did the fighting. Helen did the talking." He placed the door pieces on the table.

"I think I know what this is." Hilary flipped through the pages in her book until she found the Monsters Inc. story. "It's one of the monsters' doors. They're portals between worlds."

"Monsters Incorporated..."

"You guys have heard of it?"

"No. I mean, yeah. I mean, we don't know it, but our cursed selves had memories of watching Monsters Inc. I need to get it to work again. Who are they? I mean, who are they here?"

"I don't know. Maybe they'll check in at the Crisis Center. You could check after the thing."

"What thing?"

"The meeting where you tell us all your plan? Remember the speech you were doing?"

"Right. I'll be back for that. You kids, stay here." He grabbed his coat and headed out the door and down the stairs.

The kids tried to come with him. "Dad, you gotta use us. Come on!" Dash and Violet urged.

"The curse was broken 'cause of me!" added Hilary. "Let me help!" They heard the door close. "Or not."

-----

Ms. Wood was putting travel guides into a bag when the doorbell jingled.

"It appears when I bought that 'closed' sign, I was just throwing my money away.

"Looks like it." Clark answered.

"Sorry to hear about your wife and son. If you're looking for retrieval, I'm afraid door-jumping is just outside my purview.

"Of course it is."

"So what's the commotion outside?" She wondered.

"A little stir at the border. A problem crossing the line."

"Do tell."

"Actually, I'm here to buy something-- a way to find someone."

"What, like a map?"

"Something with a bit more kick."

"Oh, yeah. Magic. Whom are you following?

"Not telling.

"So do you have something of theirs, this missing person?"

"Yes."

"May I see it?"

"No."

She chuckled and pulled a vial out of the box behind her. "Pour this on the object and then follow it. So simple, even Clark Grimm could do it."

She held it in front of him but pulled away when Clark tried to take it.

"What do you want?"

"Peace. Leave me alone."

"What do you care what Clark Grimm does?"

"No. No. It's... it's Mr. Incredible I worry about. I'd like a little... non-interference guarantee."

"Fine. If you give me the same. You and I... we stay out of each other's way."

She handed the potion over. "Thank you for your business." Clark started to leave, but she interrupted him. "So, uh, what happens when you try and cross the border?"

"You lose your memory of everything in our old lives. Looks like we're stuck here."

-----

Derek sat in his lab with the book. He opened it to a page with instructions on it. After reading through them, he began to make adjustments to his tech.

-----

On the main street, Clark poured the potion on top of the door pieces. Nothing happened for a second, then the pieces lifted and flew through the air. Clark followed them to a flipped car, where there was a muffled voice calling out from the inside.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Clark moved the rubble away from the car and pried open the door to find Randy.

"Oh, thank you. No one heard me."

"You okay?" nodded. "Good. That means we can talk." Clark dragged him out of the car.

----

The entire town was gathered at the town hall for the meeting.

"Come on, Dad. Pick up. Come on. Come on." Violet tried to call Clark on the phone.

"Please, everyone, just be patient. I'm sure he's gonna be here any second." Ellen tried to calm down the crowd. She noticed Michelle holding her bow and arrow. "Merida, what have I told you about weapons?"

"We got a lawless town, Mum. I need it."

"Try calling him again." Hilary urged Violet.

"He's not picking up."

"Just keep trying."

The doors suddenly opened. Everyone gasped to see Derek standing with a smug expression.

"Well... What a nice turnout." He entered and casually walked to the front of the room. "No need to worry. It's just me."

"Syndrome, think about what you're doing." Felix spoke up.

"Bug." Derek using his zero-point energy to lift him off the ground and then drop him.

"Hey!" Larry charged at Derek, but he did the same thing to him.

Michelle fired an arrow at Derek, but he flew out of its way with his rocket boots.

"Is that the best you got?" The crowd ducked as he flew around the room.

"What do you want?!" Michelle asked.

"Me," Hilary answered. "He wants me." She walked over to Derek. "Okay, I'll come with you. Just... leave them alone."

"That's my girl." Derek smiled and put her arm around Hilary's shoulder, leading her out.

----

Clark and Randy were sitting at a table outside, with the broken door in between them.

"Can you get me through?"

"No."

"Can you get them back?" Randy rolled his eyes. "Can you get it to work?"

"If you only knew."

"Okay, you had a little kid's drawing in your car and a stuffed bear toy, so I'm thinking you have a child you love. Well, I do, too, and a wife and they're out there somewhere, in our world or a void. I don't even know, but I'm going to get them back."

"They're in our world. That's for sure. I just can't get there."

"It still exists?"

"It exists. I don't know if that matters since we can't go there."

"So you won't help me?"

"I'm a portal jumper, and you destroyed my portal, so you're out of luck."

Clark grabbed Randy by his shirt collar. "Well, I'm the closest thing left to a sheriff here, so I could just throw you in a cell until you figure out a way."

"Then all we'll do is both sit, stuck... Two lives in our heads, cursed worse than ever. Two lives forever at odds. Double the pain. Double the suffering."

Randy suddenly bolted from the table and began running down the street. While chasing after him, Clark was stopped by Michelle.

"Clark, stop!"

"Get out of my way!"

"Syndrome has Hilary!"

"But he has the way!"

"He has Hilary. He's threatening everyone."

Clark finally calmed down a little. "He has Hilary?"

"He showed up at your town meeting-- the one you missed. His weapons are back. Everyone's panicking. They want to leave town. They're going to lose everything."

"Okay. Okay, but I have to go after him first. He's my only hope of finding a way to get Jack-Jack and Helen back."

"Okay, back to what? This town is about to come apart. You've got to do something."

-----

Derek and Hilary soon arrived home.

"Now I don't want you to think that things are just going to go back to how they used to be." Hilary ran upstairs. "Hilary." She ran to her room, pulled out a preprepared rope made of blankets, and threw it out the window. She didn't get very far until Derek stopped her with zero-point energy. "Don't fight it, honey."

-

They were then back in Hilary's bedroom.

"How long am I in prison? Until I grow up?"

"Hilary, I saved you because I love you."

"So I'm a prisoner because you love me. That's not fair."

"You know where I come from. That was really not fair. Of all the places I've seen, this is super."

"You ruined lives. You sent away Laura Reed and Jack."

"That was an accident."

"The way you treated me wasn't an accident. You made it so no one believed me. You made me feel like I was crazy."

"But that's all gonna change now. Hilary, you can know all the secrets. You can live in a house with technology. Look what I could do." He demonstrated his rocket boots. "And I can teach you. You can do this and so much more. You can have all the friends you want come over any time, and you can show them everything in your book."

"No one's gonna want to come over here. They're scared of you."

"You can make them not be scared. You can make them love you."

"I don't want that. I don't want to be you." She got up and left.

-----

The townspeople had all packed up their cars and were heading along the road leading to the border of the town. Clark and Michelle were in the car ahead of them. They stopped, angling the car sideways to block the way. Everyone angrily stepped out of their cars, while Clark and Michelle got out to confront them.

"Get out of the way! We have a right to go!"

"Listen to me!" Clark stood on the back of his truck, wearing his super suit. "Listen. If you cross that line, you're gonna be lost. Everyone who loves you will lose you. But there's something worse. You'll lose yourself. Look, I get wanting to leave here. I do. And I get that it's easier to let go of bad memories, but... even bad memories are part of us. Clark, Pixfare Clark was-- is ... weak... confused... and he hurt the woman I love. I wouldn't give up being Mr. Incredible just to be him. But you know what? I wouldn't make the other trade either, because that Clark reminds me not only of whom I lost... But of who I want to be, my weaknesses, and my strengths. Clark and Mr. Incredible. I am both... Just like you. You are both. The town is both. We are both. Stay here, and every choice is open to you. Live in the woods if you want. Or eat frozen burritos and write software. Let's open Ellen's and the school and get back to work. I'll protect you. He won't be able to hurt any of us, not as long as I'm alive. Not as long as we all come together... As we did before... As we shall do again."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Finally, they smiled, nodding, and headed back to their cars.

-----

Derek was startled when Clark barged into his house.

"I want to see her."

"Hilary, come down," Derek called. "You won't be using your powers."

"Whatever you build, I can fight."

"I mean, you won't need your powers." They turned to see Hilary coming downstairs. "Hilary, you're gonna go home with Clark."

"Really?"

"Really. I shouldn't have brought you here. I was... I don't know how to love very well. I wasn't capable of it for a very long time. But I know-- I remember... That if you hold on to someone too hard, that doesn't make them love you. I'm sorry I lied to you, that I made you feel like I didn't know who you are. But I want you to be here because you want to be here, not because I forced you... and not because of powers. I want to redeem myself. Go get your things."

Hilary ran back upstairs, leaving Derek and Clark alone.

"Then prove it."

"How?"

"Answer one question. Does it exist?"

"What?"

"Our world-- does it still exist?"

"Yes. But I have no idea how to get back there. I can see I just launched you on a heroic quest. Just also make sure you take care of my daughter."

"That I can do."

Hilary returned with her things. The two of them left the house.

-----

On the main street of Pixfare, all of the businesses were reopening. The toys filed out of a building with new batteries. They ran into Mark.

"What do you need those for?" He asked.

"Don't worry, friend," Woody reassured. "You've lost something. It's gonna take batteries to get it back. So we're gonna do what we do best. Come on, guys. There's a kid who's been waiting to play with us."

----

At the Diner, Ed sat at a table, having coffee. Hilary and Clark entered. Hilary whispered something to Ed.

He soon arrived at Kelly's room at the inn but saw that it was empty. He found his old cane and tennis balls on the desk.

-

At the town border in the forest, Ms. Wood stood in front of the spray-painted line.

-

Derek was about to put the book in the fireplace, but he hesitated. Instead, he kept it and locked it in a cabinet.

----

Clark and the kids were eating at the counter in the Diner.

"Hey. It exists, guys. Our world is still out there."

"And... so are they." Hilary asked, hopefully.

"Yeah."

"But how do we know they survived the trip there?"

"Because I can feel it."

----

Jack and Laura Reed were handcuffed and rode on the back of Finn McMissile, as he and Holley Shiftwell drove across a deserted city.

"What is this place?" Laura Reed asked, looking around.

"Our home."

They arrived at an island, which was populated by the remaining Pixarverse inhabitants. They had set up an encampment.

"It's like they're refugees." Jack observed.

"We're survivors." Finn corrected.

Laura Reed punched Holley's windshield and began to make a run for it. "Jack-Jack, run!"

They both began to run away, but Laura Reed was struck down by Finn's grappling hook and knocked unconscious.

Jack turned back and tried to wake her. "Laura Reed! Laura Reed!" He turned to face Finn. "What did you do?!"

"Lock them up."

Jack and Laura Reed were later thrown in a prison cell by the guards.

"Be careful! Oh! Be careful!" Jack tried to wake her again. "Hey. Come on. Wake up. Hey. Can you hear me?"

"Do you need help?" A woman's voice asked, hidden in the shadows.

"Who are you?"

"A friend." She stepped forward into the light coming from the window. "My name's Evelyn Deavor."