The Prank just stood staring at the now nine-tailed, white-furred Anger Heart, whose eyes seemed to blaze with anger one could only conceive of in their deepest pits of imagination. The Prank merely put on it’s demented smile again and began to approach.
“Oh what’s this? A wittle foxy flower with nine long petals.” It stretched its arm forwards, “I know, let’s play a game! She loves me…” the instant The Prank grabbed one of Anger Heart’s tails, the white fire surrounding him pounced on the limb, and melted it into vapor in an instant. The Prank screamed and pulled its arm back, screaming. “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Anger Heart’s face didn’t crack as he stared down The Prank, the white fire still dancing around him, “Careful. Grab a kitsune’s tail and you’ll be cursed.”
“IT HURTS! WHY DOES IT HURT?! I CAN’T FEEL PAIN?!” The Prank managed to reform it’s arm and turned to Anger Heart, who had begun advancing on it. “Stay back!” It shot out its arm oscillating back and forth and snatched Flair Heart away from his mother.
“HELP!” Flair was torn away from Guidance as The Prank’s arm turned into a large vicious claw that squeezed Flair its grasp as the rest of its body turned into what looked like a lobster but retained the clown’s head.
“FLAIR!” Guidance’s legs refused to work as panic and fear spread through her.
“Come one step closer, little fox, and I’ll snap your son in half.” The Prank laughed, “I might do it anyway just for kicks!”
“Put my son down, now.” Anger Heart didn’t raise his voice but the fury behind it was unmistakable.
“Or you’ll do what?” The Prank taunted him.
Anger Heart shot out his left hand and sent a stream of white fire right at the claw that held Flair in it’s grasp.
Everyone watched in horror as the flames washed over the pick raccoon and instantly vaporised the claw holding him.
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The Prank’s body turned into a pile of red sludge with a clown’s head as it pulled away from the flames, violently blowing on the portion where claw had been attacked. “HOW COULD YOU DO THAT!? WHY CAN I FEEL THE PAIN?! DON’T YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR OWN…son…?”
Flair Heart hand landed on the ground, engulfed in white fire but wasn’t crying in pain, in fact he looked calm and almost relaxed as he stood up. Anger Heart approached his son and crouched in front of him, “Are you alright, Flair? How do you feel?”
“It’s like you’re hugging me all over,” Flair held himself then looked up at Anger Heart, “What happened? Why aren’t I burned?”
“Because I could never and would never hurt you,” Anger Heart hugged him, “My white fire will keep you safe from him.”
“It’s like a ghost. Ghost fire!” Flair smiled.
Anger Heart couldn’t resist a chuckle, “You’re right. Now go to your mother and don’t worry, you won’t burn anything except that thing.” He let his son go, who immediately ran over to Guidance, and stood up. The white kyuubi’s face hardened again as he slowly walked towards The Prank as it formed itself back into its birthday clown form, except it was missing its right arm.
“How!? How can you burn me?! How can I feel pain?!” The Prank began to back away, why was it scared? It couldn’t feel fear, why would it? It was the master of fear and terror but every step the nine-tailed fox took towards it made it feel like an icy claw was wrapped around it from the inside.
“I told you, you grabbed my tail and now you’re cursed to feel pain.” Anger Heart paused and stared down at his hands, “I can’t believe I was afraid for so long, afraid I’d lose control when now.” He clenched his fists, “I feel completely in control.” He looked up at The Prank, “My fire only burns what I want it to burn and now, I’m going to burn you to cinders!” He shot out his right arm and a white fireball streaked over the plains and incinerated The Prank’s remaining arm. The Prank’s cries of pain were interrupted as another white fireball vaporised one of its legs, the lingering heat causing it to collapse into a puddle of goo, its clown face melting like bad makeup splashed with soapy water.
“No! Stay away!” A spike shot out of The Prank’s amorphous mass, only to vaporise on contact with the white fire aura that surrounded Anger Heart.
“I heard everyone in the future was afraid of you, that if they knew you were around they would turn and flee for their lives.” Anger Heart stopped adjacent to The Prank as it tried vainly to squelch away on half formed stumps it created under itself. “But no one will ever fear you again!” fire sprang up in both of Anger Heart’s hands and he shot them both forwards with a shout of rage. White fire overwhelmed the Prank, muffling its final cry of pain under it’s own dissolving body. Anger Heart poured on the fire until every last atom of the amorphous was gone, and didn’t even scorch the ground underneath where it had been.
A small camera sticking out of a ball of ice with a helicopter blade on top hovered nearby, capturing the entire event unfold before them.
“NOOOOOO!” Quenos’ scream of rage and despair made the entire hideout cavern shake. “My greatest creation! My masterpiece destroyed by one fox!” He rounded on and pointed aggressively at Mental Heart, “This was your fault! All your fault! If you didn’t force me to plant that order into its mind it would have killed them all!”
Mental Heart was stunned but regained his composure, “I had no idea the fox had that kind of potential.”
“A Kyuubi, the mythical nine-tailed fox of Japanese legend,” No-Heart sat back on his throne and just glared at the screen, his magic letting him see everything in detail even at this distance, “I never paid attention to that fox before. Now his power will pose a problem.”
“You did this!” Quenos grabbed Mental Heart’s shoulder, “You destroyed my greatest creation! I’ll kill you!”
Mental Heart didn’t react as Quenos began chanting a spell, only for a blast of lightning to send him flying away from Mental Heart.
No-Heart sat back down on his throne as pain coursed through his body. “Do not presume to harm my servants, brother, even I did not foresee this.” He growled, “Though it pains me to say so, we shall cease all attacks until we are prepared to deal with this new threat. Mental Heart will be the only one to leave here and only at my request.”
“Of course, Lord No-Heart.” Mental Heart turned to where Quenos lay, gibbering about The Prank’s destruction, “What about him?”
“Leave him for now, he’s not important.” No-Heart sat back, “I need to find a way off this crystal throne.”
OoOoO
Anger Heart stared at the spot where The Prank had been, as if expecting the creature to return. Finally, he sighed then took a deep breath and turned to walk towards Guidance and Flair. As he walked towards them, red spots appeared all over his fur and began to spread.
“Anger Heart? Are you alright?” Guidance Heart stood up, staring at him as the red spread across his fur.
Anger Heart stopped in front of Guidance Heart and looked down as his fur returned to its original fiery red coloration. “Good, it worked. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life as a white fox, ugg.” He shook his head then smiled at her.
“Oh Anger Heart!” Guidance Heart threw herself at Anger Heart in a tight hug, “You’re alive, and still you!”
Anger Heart smiled down at her, “I am, I was worried too but I guess I was worried about nothing.” He pulled her closer and they kissed, Anger Heart’s long red tails wrapping around both of them.
“So big, and fluffy,” Flair walked up to his parents and touched one of his father’s tails, the white fire around his body seemingly being absorbed into it.
Guidance broke her kiss, “Careful, your dad’s tails can curse someone.” She cautioned.
Anger Heart gave a short laugh, “Only if I don’t like them, go ahead Flair.”
Flair Heart grabbed one of his tails and snuggled against it, “So soft.”
“I hate to break this up, but we have a casualty.” Tenderheart’s voice drew their attention towards Futureheart’s body. The sword he had carried lay broken in half on the ground and his blood was soaking into the ground around him. Futureheart was cold, his eyes shut and he was smiling.
Anger Heart walked over to Futureheart, his tails billowing out behind him like red streamers, then knelt at his side, “I’m sorry I didn’t listen. Thank you, for everything.” He carefully picked him up, not caring at the blood that was staining his fur. “We should go,” He turned to Flair, “Sorry this had to ruin your day.”
“It’s ok, dad, thank you.” Flair had suddenly realized the weight of the situation and followed his parents back to the Rainbow Rescue Beam out location. Tenderheart stopped to grab the two broken halves of the sword before he followed.
OoOoO
Take Care hated to do it, but she checked Futureheart’s body and pronounced him dead within an hour. Even if she didn’t need the extensive tests she still did them to be sure, she was a professional and she cleaned up the body as best as she could for the burial.
A few days later, Futureheart’s funeral was held next to Flash Heart and Lily’s graves. Everyone was there except Good Luck and the Pandas, as they lay the visitor from the future to rest. Even those who hadn’t gotten to know Futureheart too well couldn’t help but cry. Tenderheart seemed to be shaken the worst, staring at the body of his future self in the simple wooden coffin Anger Heart had build for him felt to surreal for him to really process.
The headstone read:
FUTUREHEART BEAR HE WHO GAVE UP HIS PAST TO SAVE OUR FUTURE
No one knew what to say, there were words but it felt like too much, for the bear who had sacrificed everything he knew to come back and save them. Eventually, Anger Heart stepped forwards and began to sing, his magic creating the music he needed to accompany him. And then it started to rain as Independent Bear telekinetically lowered the coffin into the grave.
“I see in front of my eyes, All of these truth's and all these lies As their colors go and fade away
Although you're close to me And your warmth covers me, I can't keep these wandering thoughts at bay.
You told me to go onward And said my path will not be blurred As you turn away and say good-bye
Those words of empathy Do not encourage me And I cannot help but break down and cry.
All of these memories, ringing endlessly inside my mind, Have no intentions of forgiving me yet. If I close my eyes, they only grow and start surrounding me. These memories that I can't forget....
The rain falls, I wonder if it will ever end? It's so cold, straining my body for quite some time. The rain falls on me, and it is striking down upon my face. Why does it choose me, who has nowhere to escape?
Though this untainted morning, that I have finally reached to is entangled by the past I knew.
Instead of moving on, towards my own future I was stuck in my own remorseful past.
And though you tried to help And tried to motivate me to keep on All my fears of losing my way just made me weak. Walking around blindly, I think its time for my own teardrops to fall down my conflicted cheek.
I don't want my eyes to know about those past days I'll just wait till the rain starts to wash it away All my wounds of my past start to heal at a gentle pace I've finally found the end of my road today.
The rain falls, I wonder if it will ever end? It's so cold, straining my body for quite some time. The rain falls on me, but I wonder could it maybe, embrace me tightly, hide all my pain?
The rain falls, I wonder if it knows how to stop? But today, it falls without resolution. You held out your hand holding an umbrella over my head. You nestled with me, warming me with all your hope.”
A few umbrellas conjured form tummy symbols helped shield everyone from the rain as Indy finished and Sage Heart magically moved the removed dirt aside to fill in the grave and everyone dispersed to go home.
Anger Heart merely used his nine long tails to cover his family from the rain as they went home. As they stepped inside, his tails began to shrink and merge until he only had the one normal length tail again.
Guidance paused as she saw this happen, “Anger, I thought you weren’t afraid or ashamed anymore.”
“I’m not,” Anger Heart looked back at his tail, “but that thing I kept telling everyone about a bunch of tails being difficult to move around or even sit with: that wasn’t a lie, just an easier confession about why I kept them like this. Unless you want me knocking over everything in the house,” he gave a weak smile and wagged his one tail, “Besides, this is much easier now since I’m not holding back my power. But let me get supper started.”
“OK,” Guidance kissed him then let him go about the business of supper.
OoOoO
Indy had used a psionic umbrella to keep him, Take Care, Get Well and Cautious Heart to Take Care’s hospital without getting wet, other than their feet from the wet clouds. Both Get Well and Cautious were worn out and went to their rooms, either to sleep, read or just try to relax on their heartphones.
Take Care made hot chocolate for herself and Indy and they sat across from each other at her kitchen table. The only noise was the sound of the rain cascading off their roof and the occasional sip from their mugs.
Take Care looked up from her mug to see Independent Bear staring at his reflection in his mug, “Hey, Indy?”
Indy looked up, “Yeah?”
There was a long pause as Take Care was trying to choose her words carefully or not quite sure what to say, or if she should even say it. She didn’t believe in the notion that the male had to be the one to ask these things... but she wasn’t sure if he was ready for this step. She wasn’t even sure if she was ready. Was this too much, too soon? Logically, yes. It was. She almost stopped and told him ‘never mind.’ But then she decided ‘what the heck’ and she asked him anyway.
“Do you want to get married?”
She probably could have worded that better, but it was out there now. “I mean… I know we haven’t been together long. And if it’s too soon, that’s fine.”
“Yes!”
Take Care blinked and watched Indy stand up and walk around the table to her, “I want to marry you Take Care,” he gently took her hand, “I don’t think it’s too soon.”
Take Care was stunned for a moment, then she smiled and clasped his hand, stood up and smiled, “Really?”
“Really,” Indy nodded. “We can keep it small, just our closest friends and family.”
“I can ask Noble Heart to perform the ceremony, we just need to keep Love-a-Lot from finding out.” Take Care shuddered for a moment.
Indy chuckled, “Don’t worry, I promise she won’t.”
OoOoO
It only took a couple days to arrange things and Noble Heart was only too happy to perform the ceremony for Indy and Take Care. They stood in Noble Heart’s living room, neither having bothered to dress up. Love Heart, Confidence Heart, Miracle Heart and Shimmering Star sat on one couch and Bright Heart, Gentle Heart (who was still pregnant), Get Well and Cautious Heart on the other side of the room on a loveseat. True Heart was visiting Grams Bear for the day.
Noble Heart stood in front of the two who were facing each other and holding both of each other’s hands as he spoke. “Everyone, we’re here today to witness the joining of Take Care Bear and Independent Bear together in marriage. I know you don’t want this dragged out so I’ll let you two say your vows.”
Indy nodded, “Take Care, I didn’t know we’d come this far when we first met. I was just a loner who was afraid of his own abilities who liked to disappear to read. As I got to know you, you helped me open up to you and be more comfortable with who I am. You said you thought this might be too soon for us but we’ve been together longer than we realize, years of just spending time with each other, learning to be comfortable with each other’s odd habits, quirks and responsibilities. I don’t know if the world’s going to end soon or go on forever, but no matter how much or little time we have left, I want to spend it with you.” Indy was actually tearing up as he spoke but he held it together.
Take Care smiled, “I love you, Indy and I want to be with you. I’ve known that deep down for a long time. It thrills me and scares the heck out of me at the same time too. I’m not the easiest person to live with.... but my quirks and stubbornness don’t seem to faze you. You love me in spite of it, maybe because of it. I don’t really know. You’re right... whatever time we have, I want to spend it with you.”
Noble Heart had to wipe his eyes as he continued the ceremony. “Independent Bear, do you take Take Care Bear as your wife for the rest of your lives, no matter what is to come?”
“I do.” Indy said.
“Alright, Take Care Bear, do you take Independent Bear as your husband for the rest of your lives, no matter what is to come?”
“I do.” Take Care said.
“Good, now,” Noble Heart held out his hands, each containing a silver wedding band that he presented to each of them. First Take Care then Indy took a ring apiece and slipped it on to the other’s hand. “I now pronounce you married.”
Take Care and Indy didn’t need any encouragement as they embraced and kissed, to the small applause of their close friends and family seated there.
Noble Heart couldn’t help but leak tears of joy, “I never thought I’d see this day,” he whispered.
Before they left, Love Heart took Indy aside briefly and handed him a long package that was crudely wrapped. “Here, you should have this. I was going to give it to you anyway but might as well call it a weeding present.”
Indy took the package and easily tore off the wrapping, revealing a sheathed katana. Indy drew the sword and saw it had a black blade with a silver edge and five small blue gems set along the middle length of the blade. “I can sense energy flowing from it. What is this?”
“Tenderheart brought Futureheart’s sword back with him and Slippy studied the alloy. I asked them to use the material and psychonite fragments to forge this katana for you. It’s the same style as Futureheart’s, other than shape and the psychonite will amplify any psionic energy you pour into it while the durabilum increased the weight and the laminate titanium will project the energy across the blade to increase the power it projects from you.” Love Heart’s face hardened for a moment, “I know this is a bit much, but Futureheart would want us to have every advantage in this coming fight.”
Indy sheathed the katana and held it at his side, “Thank you,” He glanced over his shoulder at where Take Care was talking to Bright Heart and Gentle Heart, “I have even more reason to want to help protect everyone with this now.”
Bright Heart showed a contraption that looked like an elaborate coffee machine. “I was going to give this to you for Christmas, but I finished it early so here. It’s a hot chocolate maker.” He handed a folded manual to Take Care.
“And here. I didn’t make this myself but I think you’ll like this.” Gentle Heart handed a rather large a bulky, but surprisingly light, package to Take Care.
OoOoO
Later that night, Take Care lay under the new blanket that Gentle Heart had given her for a wedding present. She rolled over and came face-to-face with Indy.
“Are you ok?” Indy asked.
“I am. This is just a bit strange.” Take Care admitted.
“Not used to sharing a bed with anyone?”
“No one my own age, but Cautious and Get Well sometimes crawled in here when they were little and were scared by a bad dream, or a thunderstorm, and had to sleep with their mom.”
Indy chuckled, “Kids are like that. Love Heart says Mira used to do the same thing.” He leaned forwards and gave her a small kiss.
Take Care blushed slightly. “I feel embarrassed, it’s ridiculous but I’ve never been this intimate with someone before.” She wrapped her arms around Indy.
Indy did the same, he was blushing too, “I know what you mean, I mean… we’re married now, this is our life together…and I couldn’t be happier.” They pulled each other together and kissed, holding for almost a minute before they stopped.
“I love you, Indy.”
“I love you Take Care.”
Eventually they fell asleep, snuggled up together under the covers.
