The two beings eyed each other suspiciously for several moments. The air was filled with an uncomfortable silence, one that grew increasingly unsettling. Jeremy had never seen a Loved One who looked so tall, so lizard-like, so . . . stately. Had he been a young man of thirteen again, he most likely would run away or try to kill the beast before him. But there he was, unsure of himself. It was as if he knew the creature somehow.
The Loved One sensed his hesitation. "Jeremy Phillips, the Great Liberator, freer of children and destroyer of Barney's First Incarnation. You do not know me, but I have known you for quite some time." The creature's yellow eyes narrowed, the black crescents adjusting to the light. " I am known as Maca'hzar, Acolyte of the Underworld. What your kind refer to as sewers and tunnels, basically."
"Where are my children, and what have you done to them? Tell me, or I can kill you here and now!" demanded Jeremy.
The Loved One scowled at the threat, and scratched his chin with thin, scaly fingers. "I could've killed you anytime. You and your whole family if I desired. I've watched you for years, Jeremy Phillips, I know many things about yourself but have always let you live untouched, in peace. And now you would threaten the wisest and most powerful of the Loved Ones? Were I the Purple Beast himself, you'd be dead long ago."
"You speak," said Jeremy, who had just observed the creature's ability, "you speak English, and fluently. No other Loved One has done that."
"By definition I am a freak, a rare exception to my kind. My abilities are far above most others of my race, but I didn't come to talk about my traits with you."
"All right then," Jeremy said resignedly, "what does your master want and will he let me have my children back?"
Maca'hzar chuckled a deep, throaty laugh, then fixed his gaze back into Jeremy's strained eyes. "I am not servant to anyone, especially the Beast of Purple. I am not here to represent him, only myself. We had, say, a disagreement some time ago, and I have been cast out from his rule ever since. Rather, I am here to warn you, Jeremy Phillips, of the impending doom that awaits you."
Jeremy looked back at the Loved One in surprise. For some inexplicable reason, he could not bring himself to disbelieve the scaly, razor-toothed creature. He listened with rapt attention.
"Barney is back, Jeremy. He has your children and your sister. Baby Bop has returned as well, and the two of them are back for your blood. Barney is immortal, he can never be permanently destroyed. His life essence is that of the most pure, unrefined evil in the universe, there is no existence outside of that. But, there are ways to defeat him."
"I don't understand you."
Maca'hzar reached into the folds of his tattered robe and produced a dull, jagged shard that looked like stone. One side was smooth and marbled, the other was dull and rippled. He placed it into Jeremy's hand, and closed the human's hand around it tightly. "For sixteen nights I prayed and meditated by the light of the moon, burning ancient roots and oils, awaiting an answer. The message I give to you, Jeremy, came in a dream I had the sixteenth night."
The Loved One leant over to Jeremy, and placed his scaly, reptilian hands over his temples. His cold eptilian eyes burned into Jeremy's, and the creature hoarsely whispered, "The mother shall break the cradle."
Jeremy stood in dumbfounded silence. Maca'hzar smiled, exposing a thin line of yellow, jagged teeth. He made his way off of the table and began shuffling into the darker corners of the basement. Before Jeremy could completely regain his senses, the Maca'hzar had disappeared. All Jeremy could do was lean back against the wall, contemplating the odd shard in his hand, and the mysterious phrase . . . .
"The mother shall break the cradle."
The next morning Jeremy arranged for Lana to go visit her mother down south. He managed to stay behind on the excuse that he needed to work with Bill and plan out a continuation of "Chester Owl and Friends". They saw each other off at the airport and then Jeremy drove home. A phone call from the police mentioned the odd disappearance of his sister Fran and that Thorton Marshall was still unaccounted for.
The entire day Jeremy boarded up the windows and doors to the house, loaded and stocked a shotgun and 9mm pistol, and waited. Within time he would have the answers he desired.
Bill called the Phillip's residence several times that day, but no one answered and the machine was off. He desperately wanted to reach Jeremy and inform him that several thousand dollars worth of studio equipment was gone, and that investigative reporters wanted to talk to him regarding Fran and his missing children.
Work had been tedious that day, auditions for the new Chester Owl were pretty mild given the recent emcee murders. Finally he closed shop a few hours early and decided to collect Marshall's Barney collection and torch the damned pile. The police had already had seen the evidence, Bill wanted it gone and out of mind.
Within the hour Bill had poured gasoline over the entire vault and ignited the evil collection of dolls, toys, records, and books. Purple flames rose high, and as the older man watched, he thought he began to see odd, disturbing shapes forming in the plumes of smoke and fire. He also began to feel uneasy, as if he was being watched and condemned by an unseen force.
Jeremy started abruptly at the noise. He darted off of the couch and swung the shotgun back and forth, looking for intruders. After a moment he realized that what he had heard was the clock striking midnight. He nervously laughed, and sat back down. He hurriedly drank a canister of cold, bitter coffee, and listened in the somber darkness of the house.
All was silent. The home stood still and empty, Jeremy rechecked his firearms and waited anxiously. He had an intuition that something was out there, outside the house, waiting for him to lose his guard and become vulnerable. What Maca'hzar had said greatly disturbed him, and Jeremy wondered what chance he stood against the Beast of Purple and his green companion, Baby Bop, if they were truly back from the dead.
An hour later Jeremy was asleep. His hands held the shotgun loosely and he never heard the curious scurrying noises coming from the attic and the basement. A few moments later the gun was lifted out of his hands and his head tightly wrapped in a thick green blanket. At this point Jeremy suddenly awoke and felt warm, pudgy, taloned hands pressing his arms against his back and tying his legs with rope. The man kicked and screamed, but he was overpowered. Seconds later a hot, toxic liquid was poured over his head and he lost consciousness.
When Jeremy regained his senses, he became aware of a damp, yet metallic smell, and felt his back pressed against a cold, unyielding surface. His eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and it was then that he realized he was inside an immense cavern, deep under the surface. His arms and legs were firmly bound together, and the ropes steadily burned into his wrists and ankles. The sound of dripping water could be heard from unseen corners of the chamber, and as Jeremy strained, he began to hear a distant melody, one that unnerved him and brought back a multitude of horrifying memories . . . .
I love you, you love me, we're a happy family, With a great big hug and kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too?
"Damn you!" cried Jeremy, struggling to retain himself, "We killed you! We killed you and your hell-spawned servants! You're dead, do you understand! Dead! Dead!" His screams echoed throughout the cavern. "Where the hell is my sister and my children you sick, pathetic bastard?!?"
There was a long silence. Suddenly, he felt a huge, fat, stocky paw run its fingers through his scalp. The voice he heard shattered his nerves.
"Why, Jeremy! What a way to talk about your old friend Barney! Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were mad at me!"
"If you don't let me go, you fat purple bucket of scum, I'm going to rip you apart piece by piece myself!"
The sleepy, moronic voice laughed long and loud. "Jeremy, don't be silly! With your arms and legs tightly bound like that, I wouldn't think you could even snap your fingers! Such a temper, I never knew you'd grow up to be such a spoilsport!"
"I want my children back, Barney . . . come on, you've got me now, why don't you let them go? They haven't anything to harm you, you can't justify holding them here against their will . . . ."
"Why Jeremy, I'm surprised at you," said the voice. The chubby paw pushed Jeremy around so he could see behind him. "Why should I get rid of my new friends?"
Jeremy looked up and saw the horrible, familiar figure of Barney, the Purple Destroyer of Worlds. Jeremy's children, Stacy and Mark, were both beside him, hugging the fat bloated reptile around his waist. They looked down upon their helpless father with looks of remorse and disdain.
"We don't love you anymore, Daddy," said Stacy. "Barney's the only one we love anymore, and he loves us."
Mark, wrapping his arms even tighter around the dinosaur's waist added, "Barney loves us more than you, and we're staying with him . . . forever."
"Well, that's wonderful!" chimed Barney, wrapping his arms lovingly around the two children. "I guess you're not much of a father, are you Jeremy? Seems to me that Stacy and Mark, my Special Friends, are much happier here!"
Jeremy stared in horror and disbelief. His own children, whom he had loved and cared for since their birth, were now rejecting him before the very creature who had destroyed his childhood, wrecked his world, incited riots that killed his parents, and haunted him in countless nightmares that he glimpsed in shadows . . . .
Barney had returned with the ultimate vengeance.