Important note!: This chapter takes place during and after the events of Mariel1/ContratryHeartLiger’s story Pace, so I recommend you re-read that story before you read this one as it will help understand what’s going on.
Chapter 6: Danger Around Every Corner
“Alright, Love Heart, I’ve seen that you have a more powerful stare but what else can your tummy symbol do?” Brave Heart was standing with Love Heart outside the gym.
“Well there’s this.” Love Heart held up a hand as his symbol glowed. A moment later a sword materialized in his hand and Love Heart gave it an experimental swing downwards. Unlike when the rest of the family created items this sword didn’t look like a toy, instead it looked like it was made of steel with a brass hilt with a small-heart red shaped jewel on the guard. Overall it resembled a Chinese Jian.
Brave Heart took a step back with his eyes wide, “Yikes! Is that real?”
Love Heart swung his sword a couple more times, “Mostly. Got a spare Beastly target?”
“Sure, just a minute,” Brave Heart went to the storage shed and grabbed one of the evil-looking Beastly targets. He stuck the target in the ground, “This good enough?” he asked as he stepped away from the target.
Love Heart nodded then held his sword up then swung it sideways, slicing the target in half. Brave Heart jumped as the particleboard target’s top fell off, “Row! That’s sharp, wait what are you doing?” Love Heart held the sword point against his arm and stabbed the tip in, his face visibly flinched as he withdrew the blade, not even leaving a mark.
“What did you just do?” Brave Heart asked.
“It’s a funny quirk of our weapons,” Love Heart held the sword up, “they can’t hurt living creatures unless we want them too. Dad said we have to have an actual desire to kill for them to cut living creatures, otherwise they only cause severe pain without leaving a mark.”
“That’s good, I guess.” Brave Heart’s tail had frizzed out as he watched.
Love Heart turned to Brave Heart, “Are you OK, Brave Heart?”
“Just a little nervous, I mean it’s hard to imagine one of our kind using weapons like that, or even just creating them.” Brave Heart pulled his tail around to smooth down his fur.
Love Heart let his weapon dissipate, “It’s part of my duty. Hey I just remembered I wanted to ask you: want to be my best man at mine and Confidence’s wedding?”
“Huh?” Brave Heart had calmed down and gave Love Heart a stunned look, “You’re wedding? Wait when did you get engaged?”
Love Heart smiled, “Just this week. After Patient Heart was born Confidence asked me if I wanted to get married, because she was thinking about us having a family together. We’re going to pick out rings on earth later.”
Brave Heart’s face lit up and he gave Love Heart a hug, “Congratulations, Love Heart, but why me?” he stepped back from Love Heart, “What about your brother, Independent Bear?”
Love Heart rubbed the back of his head, “Indy? Well I asked him but he said no, he doesn’t like crowds or putting himself on display. So what do you say?”
Brave Heart folded his arms and thought for a moment, “Hmm, let me talk to Indy first then I’ll tell you OK? Looks like your students are here,” Brave Heart looked over to where Guidance Heart and Anger Heart were approaching the gym.
“Right, I’ll see you later.” Love Heart waved goodbye to Brave Heart as he went to start his lessons.
Brave Heart waved back then headed into the Forest of Feelings. He had a bear to find.
Independent Bear was headed for home when Brave Heart found him. “Indy! Hey Indy wait up!” Brave Heart panted as he approached the silver bear. Indy turned just in time to see Brave Heart slow to a stop, breathing hard.
“Uh, hi Brave Heart. Did you need something?”
Brave Heart stood up straight, “Yeah. Why don’t you want to be Love Heart’s best man at his wedding?”
Indy’s eyes shifted left and right and he cleared his throat then sighed as he looked at his feet, “I don’t want to get up in front of everyone and give some sort of speech about my brother. I’m just…”
“Afraid of crowds?” Brave Heart guessed.
“Crowds, people I barely know.” Indy turned away, facing towards his house. The building was hidden from overhead view by the canopy of trees which cast near perpetual shadows on the buildings. “I know we’re all about friendship and love and caring but I’ve never liked being around other people.” Indy touched his tummy symbol, “I don’t like to feel lonely but still I’d rather spend my time alone if I can, or at least with people I’m close to.”
Brave Heart walked around to face Indy. “Indy, look I know how scary public speaking can be. When I first started trying to lead the cousins the first time I tried to give a rousing speech, I ran off and hid under my bed.”
“What, really?” Indy turned with a confused look to face Brave Heart.
“I was only two years old… well I was fully grown but I’d only been alive for two years. My point is that it took me ages to actually get up and talk to them and face that fear,” Brave Heart chuckled, “OK maybe a bad example.”
“Why don’t you do it? You’re Love Heart’s friend, you know him,” Indy said, trying to avoid his gaze.
Brave Heart shook his head, “I haven’t even known him for a month, you’ve known him since you were cubs. If anyone knows Love Heart then it’s you,” Brave Heart touched Indy’s chest with a finger.
Indy tensed up at Brave Heart’s touch and carefully pushed him off, “And what if I mess up, or choke, or embarrass him in front of everyone?”
“Then that’s what it will be, you don’t have to be perfect you just have to be honest.” Brave Heart was about to put a hand on Indy’s shoulder, then stopped and walked around to his front. “It will mean so much to him if you do this. It’s just a short toast where you tell what you want to tell about him and be there to support him,” Brave Heart chuckled, “And maybe throw him a bachelor party.”
Indy took a deep breath then let it out. “Alright, I’ll try. But what about you?”
“Easy, I can be one of his groomsmen,” Brave Heart grinned, “But if you’re nervous I can help you plan things if you want.”
Indy smiled, “Thanks, I’ll take you up on that.”
OoOoO
“I did it!” Guidance Heart looked up at Love Heart and showed off the small cloud of mana in between her hands.
“That’s great. Now you should get some rest.” Love Heart turned to Anger Heart who was maintaining his own cloud of mana.
“So now what?” Anger Heart let his mana dissipate and dropped his hands to his sides.
“If you feel you’re ready, you can start searching for your element.” Love Heart held his hands up, “You can choose your element or just follow what you feel works for you. On that note I should keep working on my own training.” Love Heart focused on his hand and conjured a web of lightning in his hands. As Anger Heart and Guidance Heart watched, Love Heart brought the lightning together into a single purple string of energy that danced in his hands.
“Wow, what is that?” Guidance Heart leaned forwards.
Love Heart let the string dissipate and exhaled, visibly sweating. “Plasma lightning. It’s difficult to create but much stronger. I’m still working on it.” Love Heart swiped his brow with a forearm.
Anger Heart folded his arms “So what elements are there?”
“There’s six I know about: Water, Earth, Fire, Air, Light and Darkness,” Love Heart counted off the elements on the fingers of right hand, ending with a single finger on the word ‘darkness’.
Anger Heart tilted his head on his side, “What about lightning?”
“Electricity is an aspect of air and some other interim elements are combinations of other, like magma is a mixture of fire and earth,” Love Heart explained. “It’s best to focus on a single element and each has their own special abilities.”
“Like what?” Guidance Heart asked, ears perked up as she listened.
Love Heart thought for a moment, recalling what he’d been taught, “Water lets you breathe underwater and heal injuries, earth lets you manipulate ground and metal and form permanent solid objects, Fire burns things and can propel you with jets of flame, air lets you fly and enhance your speed, light can create illusions and is the other element that can heal and darkness controls gravity. There’s more to it but that’s a good place to start from. Don’t feel the need to pick right away, just go with what feels the most natural.”
“Right…” Anger Heart sighed and rolled his eyes, “So what, I should use fire then? I mean it’s part of my freakin’ tummy symbol,” Anger Heart pointed to the flame inside the heart on his tummy.
“If that’s what you want, but each element is tied to a personality trait: water for adaptability, earth for reliability, fire for outspoken expressiveness, air for freedom, light for honesty and darkness for loners. None of these are bad traits to have but they are usually the best way to figure out your primary element.” Love Heart took in a deep breath to recover, “Any more questions?”
“Is it possible to learn more than one element?” Guidance Heart asked.
Love Heart nodded, “It is, but it’s best to start with one and learn more when you’ve got the hang of it. Alright that should be it for the day, just practise at home and try to pick your focus element.”
“And then what?” Anger Heart asked.
“Then we can show you how to make weapons with your tummy symbols,” Confidence Heart spoke as she entered the gym, “And teach you how to fight with them. Or you can be like Flash and just use your element.” She and Love Heart kissed once they were close, “ready to go ring shopping?”
“Definitely. I’ll see you two later.” Love Heart and Confidence headed outside where Love Heart used his tummy symbol to create a cloud car.
Confidence folded her arms and huffed, “When do I get to learn how to do that?”
Love Heart got in the driver’s seat, “When you get your driver’s licence.”
“Right,” Confidence got in the passenger’s seat.
“So how can we afford this exactly?” Love Heart asked as they took off and headed down to earth.
“Bright Heart and Soulful Heart helped me sort some things out with the bank. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to convince them to get mom and dad’s inheritance since they thought we were all dead. I had to give a DNA test just to prove I was who I said I was.” Confidence groaned, “But they relented and gave me what I was owed, and the life and home insurance money too.”
“How did a DNA test help?” Love Heart was confused but kept his eyes on the sky ahead.
“Dad got them to save DNA samples of us when we went for our yearly check-ups.” Confidence sat back, “At least I managed to split the stuff four ways into those old bank accounts we rarely used.”
“Well that’s one less problem to deal with at least.”
Despite the Cloud Car’s speed, actually locating the place they’d been recommended took a couple hours. “Is that the place?” Love Heart pointed to a building with a large cardboard diamond over the door.
Confidence Heart leaned over the car door to get a better look. “Looks like it. Hurry up and land so we can start looking.”
Neither of them were surprised to see that the jewelry store had bars on the windows and doors or that there was a small enclosed foyer just inside the front door. The brown haired lady at the counter looked up upon hearing the bell chime and smiled.
“Care Bears? It’s been a few years since I saw you come here.” She leaned forwards on the desk, “looking for a wedding ring again?”
“Again?” Love Heart gave the clerk a quizzical look.
“Yeah, I remember the lioness and tiger came down here to look for wedding rings. What were their names again?” The clerk scratched her chin.
“Sounds like Regal Heart Lioness and Stellar Heart Tiger,” Confidence Heart said as she looked over the rings in the display cabinet.
The clerk snapped her fingers, “That’s them. So how are they doing?”
“They just had their fourth kid this week,” Love Heart said as he joined Confidence in looking at the rings.
The clerk started, “Four kids in four years? Yeesh that sounds rough. How did Regal manage being pregnant non-stop, or having four little kids running around.”
Confidence smirked and looked up at the clerk, “Not much of a problem. Care Bear pregnancies only last three months and they grow up six times faster than humans. Two of them are adults already.”
The clerk chuckled, “Well that’s lucky. So I guess it’ll be the same for you.”
Confidence Heart snorted, “I wish. We’re Care Bear Magi so we don’t play by those rules. We get the full nine months and 18 years to grow up.”
“Wow, that sucks,” the clerk said.
“I don’t want to think about it. Let’s see,” Confidence Heart scanned over the rings in the cabinet. “ooh, how about that one for an engagement ring,” she pointed to a thin gold band set with a topaz and emerald.
“You want an engagement ring?” Love Heart gave Confidence a confused look.
Confidence Heart stuck her tongue out, “For you, Love Heart, I think it’ll look good on you.”
Love Heart stared then laughed, “Alright if you insist,” He turned to the clerk, “Can I try it on before we pay.”
“Sure, but I could measure your finger first if you want.” The clerk offered.
“Nah, let me propose to my boyfriend here then we’ll make sure it fits and pay,” Confidence said.
The clerk laughed as she fished the ring out of the cabinet, “Here you go.”
Confidence took the ring box and got down on one knee. “Love Heart Bear, will you marry me?”
“Of course.” Love Heart held out his hand, then they both burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry I just had to do it,” Confidence Heart stood up and took the ring out of the box, “But even so, this means we’re engaged.” Confidence took Love Heart’s right hand in her left and carefully put the ring on his finger.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Love Heart screamed as he felt his hand burning from the ring’s touch and yanked his hand away from Confidence, trying to shake the ring off.
“What the hell! Love Heart what’s wrong!?” Confidence shouted.
“IT’S BURNING MY HAND!” Love Heart reached over with his left hand and grabbed the ring only for his fingers to burn at the touch, “YEEEEEEAAAAAAA!” Love Heart screamed even louder as he tore the ring from his finger and threw it across the store. The burning finally stopped and he stood there, panting as he held up his hands to look at the burns around his right ring finger and on the tips of his left fingers.
“What the fuck was that?” Love Heart glared daggers at the clerk who shrank back.
“I don’t know! I swear that’s never happened before!” she held he hands up defensively.
Confidence walked over to the ring and carefully picked it up off the floor, “It feels fine to me.” She held up the ring and looked at it closely, but she found nothing and handed it back to the clerk who reached out for it carefully and picked it out of her hand, sighing in relief when it didn’t hurt.
“I need to get to Take Care.” Love Heart was still holding his burned hand as he exited the store to where the cloud car was parked with Confidence Heart right behind him. The clerk watched them go and looked at the ring again. It still smelled like burning fur and she pulled a small piece of blackened fur from inside the ring. She sighed and put it back in its display box in the counter.
Love Heart floored it back up to the Kingdom of Caring. He bared his teeth as he ignored the searing pain still coursing through his hands. Fortunately, with the compass to guide him the return trip was much faster and he landed none too softly outside Take Care’s clinic which made the cloud car burst on impact. Love Heart all but barged through the main door. Confidence was about to follow him in, but then stopped and decided to go for a walk to clear her head.
Why did it burn him? It didn’t burn her. These thoughts circled around in her head as she walked through the Forest of Feelings and stared up through the trees.
Confidence’s ears twitched as she heard someone approaching at a run. A moment later Swift Heart rabbit slowed to a stop next to her. “Hey Confidence. Something wrong?” she said, seeing the troubled look on the fennec’s face.
Confidence sighed, “Wedding ring shopping. It was a disaster.”
Swift Heart couldn’t help but snicker, “How could ring shopping be a disaster?”
“Love Heart got burned by the engagement ring I picked out,” Confidence looked away from Swift Heart.
Swift Heart instantly stopped snickering, “Was the ring made of gold?”
Confidence turned to face Swift Heart, “Yeah. What does that matter?”
Swift Heart held her forehead, “Oh boy, guess you don’t know much about immortals.”
“Immortals? What?” Confidence Heart was even more confused now.
OoOoO
Love Heart winced as he held the burned parts of his hands under the cold flow of the sink’s water. “How much longer.”
“Two minutes, minimum, then we have to bandage it.” Take Care said as she kept an eye on clock. “So how did this happen.”
“I don’t know. Confidence Heart and I were shopping for a wedding rings, she saw one she wanted to give me as an engagement ring and put it on, then it starting burning like I stuck my hand in a fire.” Love Heart said.
Take Care thought for a moment then looked at the eight pointed star on Love Heart’s forehead. “Was the ring made of gold?”
“Yes. Why?” Love Heart turned to look at Take Care.
Take Care nodded, “That explains it.” Seeing Love Heart’s confused look, Take Care continued. “You’re half-unicorn and unicorns, and pegasus, are weak to gold. They get sick just being near large quantities of gold, touching it paralyzes them and shuts off their magic and if it gets in their bodies it will poison them and very likely kill them.”
“Does it burn them?” Love Heart asked.
“Not on physical contact but I’ve never seen what effect it would have on a half-unicorn, or a half-pegasus.” Take Care shut off the water and used a sterile towel to dry his burns before binding clean bandages around his right ring finger and left finger tips.
“Like Renegade?” the bandages felt awkward on his fingers as he tested them.
“Yes, but I’m in no hurry to test that theory. Just keep those bandages on for a while and come see me this evening. I need to see if touching gold slows down your accelerated healing.” Take Care said as she went to file Love Heart’s medical report.
“Well better I find out now before someone else does I guess,” Love Heart sighed and headed out.
OoOoO
Confidence Heart listened intently as Swift Heart repeated the same explanation that Take Care had given to Love Heart at her hospital. “Yeesh, guess we’ll have to get silver rings next time.” Confidence put her arms behind her head. “So on to more pleasant topics, want to be maid of honor at my wedding?”
Swift Heart lit up, “Of course, I’d love to.” They clasped hands for a moment.
“So can I be yours when you and Grumpy finally get hitched?”
Swift Heart shook her head and withdrew her hand, “Nope. I promised that spot to Cozy Heart, but you can be one of my bridesmaids.”
Confidence Heart mock-flinched as she put on an offended face, “Bridesmaid? get over here you…you!” Confidence Heart lunged at Swift Heart who just dodged back. Both started laughing as Confidence chased after Swift Heart, who kept dodging just out of her reach. Their little game took them around the Forest of Feelings, until Confidence Heart stopped and pricked up her ears.
“Aww, giving up already?” Swift Heart teased with a grin.
Confidence Heart held a finger up to her mouth. “Shh! I hear something.”
“Alright, I’m gonna finish my daily run.” Swift Heart took off while Confidence listened to the voice she heard.
“Who needs you anyway!” The voice belonged to Contrary Heart Liger.
Confidence Heart didn’t have to go far to see the confrontation between Connie and Soulful Heart, or to see Connie take off away from Soulful Heart’s house, or the fox give chase. “Connie, wait! Please! I’m sorry!” Curious, Confidence Heart followed after them at a jog.
Confidence Heart only stayed back because she knew how much of a loner Soulful Heart was, living with Independent Bear had taught her not to rush into such things with people like him.
Connie stopped running, but only because she couldn’t see where she was going, “Just…just leave me al-alone…”
Soulful Heart slowed to a stop behind Connie, “I just…had a really rough day…” he offered weakly. Big mistake. Connie rounded on him and seemed to be torn between crying and laughing hysterically.
“My day could beat your day to pieces!”
“You…you said you wanted…to talk…” Soulful forced the words out, though the last thing he wanted now was to be involved in a shouting match with her, one he was bound to lose because he felt guilty about upsetting her.
“Well, I ch-changed my mind!” Connie turned to stalk off again.
“I’ll listen.” Soulful told her.
Connie froze in place. “Pace was kidnapped.”
“What!” Soulful Heart paled.
“Hope and I rescued…him. Then Dad gets all high and mighty about how we should have called for help, and… So then I said I’d move out, and…and…” Connie faltered and began to break down again. The fox hesitated before reaching out and patting her awkwardly on the shoulder. She shrugged him off. He bit his lip, feeling tears beginning to gather in his eyes and hating himself for it. He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he just turned and slowly began to walk away with his head down.
Connie heard him going and turned, then spotted Confidence Heart Fennec standing in the road. “Confidence Heart? How long were you listening?”
At Connie’s voice, Soulful Heart looked up to see Confidence Heart standing ahead of him.
“Since Soulful’s house.” Confidence Heart shuffled her feet a bit, “I didn’t want to get between your conversation.”
Connie felt her body tense up. She wanted to yell at Confidence Heart for eavesdropping on their private conversation, but both fights she’d had today had started with someone losing their temper and she had started the first one. Before she started anything else she might as well be the one to smooth over the second one. “Sorry I lost it, Soulful. Listen, I better go home…See you later?”
Soulful didn’t answer her or turn around, but he raised one hand in a non-committal gesture. He briefly glared daggers at Confidence Heart before deciding that he had to go inside soon or he was really going to embarrass himself. Confidence Heart wanted to speak to him, but thought better of it as he walked past her.
Connie sighed as Soulful closed his door and was about to speak to Confidence Heart when her cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her tummy symbol, cleared her throat and answered. “Hello?”
“Connie?” Regal said, “Are you all right?”
“I…don’t know.” Connie answered.
“Connie…please, come on home. You sound upset and your father’s in tears. I really think the two of you should talk.”
Connie sighed and closed her eyes. “I’ll be home soon…you can tell him I’m not moving out, I just…lost it, I guess.”
“Good…” Regal sighed, “That’s good…”
Confidence Heart watched Connie exchanging words with her mother on the phone until she put it away in her tummy symbol. Connie looked past Confidence and thought she saw the drapes in Soulful’s window move a little and she sighed. “Seems like I’m always apologizing to someone.”
Confidence Heart walked over to Contrary Heart, “What happened today, Connie?”
Connie took a deep breath and turned around, “I don’t want to talk about it, OK.”
Confidence Heart put a hand on Connie’s shoulder as she stood next to her. “I’m just trying to help. It’s supposed to be my job to protect the Care Bear Family and instead today I was on earth, trying to buy a wedding ring.” Confidence shook her head, “Sorry, not the time to talk about my problems.”
Connie thought for a moment, then sighed and turned to face Confidence Heart. “Hope and I were babysitting Pace when No-Heart showed up and hit us with a potion that turned us into humans.”
Confidence stared at Connie, wide-eyed, “Wait, what? Why’d he do that?”
“So we couldn’t stop him with our…calls,” Connie almost bit her lip but continued. “He kidnapped Pace and took him back to his castle so we went after him. We found him trying to do…something to Pace and we had to stop him. His potion wore off at the last second and we were able to beat him with our calls and then dad and Chance drove us home.” Connie wiped some tears from her eyes.
“It’s OK, I promise next time No-Heart shows us, the Care Bear Magi will take care of him.” Confidence gave he shoulder a squeeze. “Will you be alright now?”
“I don’t know…but I need to get home. Thanks for listening at least,” Contrary Heart walked home. Confidence watched her leave before she turned and headed to Take Care’s home and hospital.
OoOoO
Love Heart still wasn’t used to sitting in the Hall of Heart’s office with the other leaders of the Care Bear Family, nor was he used to dealing with incident reports, but even so he sat with Tenderheart and next to Brave Heart as they listened to Contrary Heart, Hopeful Heart, Stellar Heart and Chance Heart each giving their report about Patient Heart’s kidnapping. Love Heart stayed silent until it was just him, Brave Heart and Tenderheart in the office.
“I should have been here.” Love Heart’s whisper caught the other two by surprise.
“What?” Brave Heart turned to Love Heart.
“I should have been here to stop No-Heart, or at least to help rescue Patient Heart.” Love Heart stared at the bandages on his left fingertips and right ring finger.
Tenderheart looked down at the report he had written, “Love Heart, it’s not your fault-”
“Isn’t it!?” Love Heart shouted, his face contorted in anger and his hands clenched into fists. “Dad told me that my job was going to be to protect the Care Bears and look at my track record: 18 years absent, rescued by the people I’m supposed to be protecting and now when No-Heart shows up to kidnap an infant I was on earth looking for a fucking wedding ring!” Brave Heart and Tenderheart flinched when Love Heart swore. Love Heart stood up and turned to leave, “I failed again, just like I’ve been failing to protect anyone my entire damn life.”
Brave Heart stood up and caught Love Heart by the shoulders. He spun the bear around and stared him in the face. “Love Heart, listen to me. This. Was. Not. Your. Fault. None of us even knew what No-Heart did until he’d already kidnapped Pace.”
“Brave Heart’s right,” Tenderheart was still writing out the report, “Defender and Truth were here and so were Flash Heart and Independent Bear, I think, and none of them noticed No-Heart either.”
Love Heart rubbed his eyes to clear away the tears that had formed, “But still, I should have been around. I should have tried to help rescue him.”
Brave Heart gave Love Heart a hug, “It’s fine, don’t blame yourself.” He released Love Heart, “Are you gonna be OK?”
“I don’t know. I just need some time to think.” Love Heart shuffled his feet on the ground. “I’m gonna go home, unless you need me here.”
“No. The report’s done and we can handle the rest. Go get some rest,” Tenderheart picked up the report papers and tapped them into a stable pile. Love Heart nodded and headed home.
OoOoO
Love Heart was running, and running, and running. The darkness was chasing him and every second it encroached closer and closer, hard on his heels. Tendrils of darkness lanced out from the cloud and grabbed onto his arms and legs and began pulling. Love Heart screamed.
Love Heart awoke with a start in a cold sweat and panted hard. He stood up out of his bed and staggered over to his bathroom and splashed some water from the sink onto his face. He stared at his reflection for a moment then sighed and turned back to his bedroom. Love Heart lay on his bed and tried to fall asleep, but he couldn’t. Every time he felt himself about to doze off the thought of the nightmare roused him back to wakefulness. He sighed and turned to look at Confidence Heart sleeping next to him, except she wasn’t asleep.
“Love Heart, are you OK?” Confidence Heart stared back at Love Heart through half-closed eyes.
“Can’t sleep. You?” Love Heart asked.
“Until you woke me up,” Confidence chuckled, “Need some help?”
“I think I need to go for a walk,” Love Heart was about to turn over when Confidence Heart stopped him. She smiled and gave Love Heart a kiss.
“Just don’t be too long. I love you,” Confidence whispered.
Love Heart smiled and kissed her back, “I love you too.” He turned over and got out of bed.
Love Heart carefully shut the front door of his house and took in the cool night air. He and Confidence had decided to live in Care-a-Lot together, preferring the more urbanized setting to the Forest of Feelings. Love Heart just leaned up against his front door for a moment, shivering slightly as the wind cooled the sweat in his fur, and then stood up and walked down the street.
Care-a-Lot’s houses were laid out without streets, there was hardly any need for them since all the vehicles could fly and could be created by their drivers at will. There was a single rainbow road that ran from the Hall of Hearts to the Forest of Feelings but other than that, nothing.
Love Heart found himself on the main road and headed towards the Forest of Feelings when he heard someone approaching him. Love Heart whirled around, his tummy symbol glowing and ready to stare until he saw Bedtime Bear, a light blue care bear whose tummy symbol was a sleepy crescent moon wearing a nightcap, standing there and holding his arms up defensively while holding an LED lantern in his right hand.
Love Heart immediately shut off his tummy symbol, “Sorry, Bedtime. I’m just on edge right now.”
Bedtime Bear relaxed and walked over to Love Heart, “Trouble sleeping?”
Love Heart nodded.
“Want to talk about it?” Bedtime offered.
Love Heart sighed then turned to a bench on the side of the road, “Sure.” He sat down and waited until Bedtime sat down next to him. “It’s been the same one every night since Pace was kidnapped. I’m being chased by Dusk Heart, he catches me and tries to tear me apart, then I wake up. I used to be able to get some sleep but I can’t handle it anymore.”
“I can help you with that,” Bedtime set his lantern down and put a hand on Love Heart’s shoulder. “I can see into people’s dreams and I can help you fight it.”
“Are you sure? Won’t you be in danger?” Love Heart looked up at Bedtime.
Bedtime smiled, “No, it’s not like Nightmare on Elm street,” Bedtime shuddered slightly only to see a confused look on Love Heart’s face. “Horror movie about someone who kills people in their dreams, but that’s not important. I can go in and make you aware it’s a dream and help you fight it.”
“Oh, well… maybe, but for now I need to get some air, and maybe exercise.” Love Heart stood up.
“OK,” Bedtime stood up and grabbed his lantern, “Feel free to talk to me if you need any help.”
“Alright,” Love Heart turned and resumed his walk towards the forest while Bedtime returned to his patrol.
As Love Heart was about to enter the Forest of Feelings he looked to his right and noticed a large expanse of otherwise empty clouds to the north that the rainbow river seemed to flow from. He had noticed it before but until now never really thought about it. His curiosity piqued he decided to cross the expanse to see what lay beyond.
Love Heart’s walk took him over an hour and despite his lack of sleep he didn’t feel tired. Was this just another part of being a Magi? Was his body designed to go for long periods of time without sleep? The question buzzed in Love Heart’s brain until he found what he supposed he was looking for, an old castle made of brown stone and tile with a massive fountain that flowed with rainbow water that flowed out into the rainbow river. Love Heart stared at the sight before him for a moment before he decided to investigate.
The old wooden doors of the castle creaked as Love Heart pushed them open, coughing as two decades of dust spilled onto him before he blew it away with a gust of magical wind. With his vision clear, Love Heart looked around and saw a large open room lined with small wooden cribs all covered in dust. Love Heart walked over to one, there was some writing on the head of the crib and a picture at the foot. Love Heart wiped the dust off the foot and started, it was his tummy symbol! He stood up and wiped the dust off the letters on the head and his name “Love Heart Bear” carved into the head of the crib.
“Is this where I used to live as a cub?” Love Heart looked around. He moved to the next crib, and the next, and the one after that and each time he dusted off the names and symbols on each bed which revealed the names and tummy symbols of most of the Care Bear Family. Eventually Love Heart returned to his old crib and sat down with his back against the foot of the crib. “So I was a part of the family from the start. How much did I miss living on earth?” Love Heart put a hand over his eyes as he started to cry. “This is… why couldn’t I grow up with them? Why couldn’t I protect them?” Love Heart rubbed his eyes and stood up, staring at the abandoned nursery that surrounded him, “Not any more! I’m going to do my job from now on!” Love Heart grit his teeth, “I’ll…We’ll protect everyone!” Love Heart turned to the entrance of the castle and marched out. He left the door open as he headed for home.
As Love Heart made his way home he felt a chill run down his spine, the same kind he used to feel when Dusk Heart was closing in on them. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed behind Love Heart as he conjured a pair of swords from his tummy symbol and gripped them as he turned around. “No more running!” he said aloud as he saw a purple tornado descend towards him.
Love Heart felt his blood run cold as the tornado landed and No-Heart appeared. Love Heart had only heard about No-Heart in his month of living in the Kingdom of Caring and he had only seen this wizard once before, ten years ago when he had killed his father! Love Heart gripped his swords harder as lightning coursed through his arms and across his weapons.
“You!” Love Heart growled. “You killed my father!” Love Heart charged and struck out at No-Heart with both his swords, striking the wizard across the chest.
Bedtime Bear had heard the commotion and ran up to see the confrontation in progress. Without a moment’s hesitation he turned and ran back to sound the night alarm.
No-Heart staggered back and changed into a tyrannosaurus. “I remember you!” He snapped down with his teeth which Love Heart barely managed to dodge, “Your parents ruined eight years of work!” He snapped down again only to bite down on one of Love Heart’s swords and shatter it.
“You kidnapped an infant from his parents!” Love Heart formed a new sword to replace the one No-Heart had destroyed, neither combatant taking notice of the alarm going off nearby. When No-Heart snapped down again, Love Heart charged forwards and under his maw, slashing upwards at No-Heart’s stomach but barely made a scratch.
No-Heart transformed again, into a large hippo and nearly crushed Love Heart underneath him. “Do not speak to me of that failure. I only desire your death!” Noble Heart tried to chomp down on Love Heart wit his massive maw, but Love Heart dodged back and struck out at No-Heart, his swords merely glancing of No-Heart’s tough hide. Lightning coursed across Love Heart’s body as he dissipated his swords and he ran to put some distance between himself and No-Heart, the electricity galvanized his muscles and lent more speed to his movements.
No-Heart changed into a giant bird and swooped towards Love Heart, which forced him to the ground. Love Heart rolled over and shouted, “Care Bear Stare!” firing off a red beam of light at No-Heart which struck one of his wings and caused No-Heart to crash to the ground some distance away. Love Heart felt the electrical energy disperse from his body as he conjured one of his swords.
No-Heart screeched as he landed on the clouds and transformed into a large purple bull. He lowered his head, horns pointed towards Love Heart, and charged right at him. Love Heart concentrated on his tummy symbol and let the energy flow onto his sword, which glowed first red and then bright white as he focused his stare energy into the sword.
When No-Heart was a hairs breadth away, Love Heart side stepped and swung hard into his side. No-Heart’s momentum was carrying him too fast to change his course at the last second and the sword wreathed in stare energy sliced into bull No-Heart’s side and made a long and deep cut all the way to his back. The sword snapped in half and dissolved as No-Heart charged far past him. The pain was immense and No-Heart’s left legs buckled as he skidded to a stop on the ground.
Love Heart panted as he turned to face No-Heart who was forced to change into his true form. Love Heart wasted no time and held up his right hand, fingers spread into a cup and pointing at the sky. A high-pitched electrical whining filled the air as a blue orb of electrical formed at his finger tips. As No-Heart turned to face him, Love Heart hurled the lightning orb at No-Heart which struck him in the chest, then expanded to form a dome of blue electrical energy surrounding him and striking him with thin bolts of lightning, barely even singing his robes.
“This pathetic magic will not hold me!” No-Heart raised his hands and fired off a bolt of purple lightning at the dome, which pierced it but didn’t break it.
Love Heart clapped his hands together and poured all of his magic energy into his hands. “No! I’ll stop you here and now! Like I should have years ago!” Love Heart roared as he pulled his hands apart, dozens of bolts of purple plasma electricity dancing between the palms of his hands. Love Heart forced his hands together and the energy formed into a glowing purple ball, “YAAAAAH!” Love Heart hurled the purple ball towards No-Heart and as it struck the orb barrier a massive electrical explosion erupted upwards from around No-Heart, creating a massive pillar of purple energy straight upwards.
Love Heart dropped to his knees, breathing hard as he looked over to where the residual lightning and smoke still settled. And No-Heart was still there. His robe was in tatters, his face still hidden by the remains of his hood, and he stared down Love Heart.
“Enough! I will not let another with power like yours join the Care Bears.” No-Heart placed his hands over his amulet and started chanting a spell.
“CARE BEARS COUNTDOWN!” The voice belonged to True Heart as every Care Bear and cousin they could rouse stood at the edge of Care-a-Lot, their tummy symbols all glowing brighter as they faced No-Heart.
“FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! CARE BEAR STARE!”
Multicolored beams fired from the Care Bears. Wavy beams full of music notes launched from the cousins. And beams of pure white fired off from Noble Heart, True Heart and the Magi.
No-Heart was too distracted to mount any kind of defense as the full force of all the stares struck him dead on. No-Heart roared in pain, his energy too drained from his fight with Love Heart and unable to deal with the addition of the Magis powerful stares to the assault.
“This is not the end! I will return!” No-Heart transformed into a tornado and flew away even as the stares fired at him until he was out of range as the sun began to rise.
Confidence Heart was the first to break away from the crowd and run down to Love Heart. “Love Heart! Are you alright?” She helped Love Heart to stand and supported his weight with her body.
Love Heart was still panting for air, “Tired…” was all he managed to say.
“You must be, after taking on No-Heart all by yourself.” Defender Bear had approached the two of them and offered to help Love Heart to walk as well. “What happened?”
Love Heart held up a hand and sucked in a huge amount of air to try and get his breathing under control. “Nightmare…went for a walk…found old castle…No-Heart attacked…did all I could…still failed…you had to save me…again.” Hot tears of shame stared falling from Love Heart’s eyes and struck the clouds beneath him.
Confidence Heart and Defender Bear exchange a worried look then helped him back to Care-a-Lot. Despite Love Heart’s disappointment in himself he was met with a sea of concern and congratulations for fighting off No-Heart. He barely registered any of it as he was carried back home and laid down to sleep, with the curtains closed to keep out the rising sun.
For the first time in a week. Love Heart managed to sleep.
