“Erase Card! I command you to return to your power confined! Erase!” Love Heart swung his staff at the wisps of energy which turned into dark beams that arced into a card form which Love Heart grabbed from the air, showing a woman wearing a checkerboard patterned jester’s outfit with a double pointed hat.
Love Heart looked around to see the people who had disappeared over the course of the day fade back into existence, with Confidence and Loyal Heart solidifying from their half-faded forms.
Loyal Heart sank down, panting heavily, “That was too close!”
“Yeah,” Confidence patted herself all over to make sure she was all back only for Love Heart to run over and hug her. “Oof, thanks Love Heart.” She hugged him back.
“I was scared, I could have lost you!” Love Heart was crying slightly.
Confidence kissed him, “It’s alright. You saved everyone.”
“38, 39, 40,” Loyal Heart wiped his forehead and finally stood up, “Everyone’s accounted for.” He looked a bit forlornly at Bright Heart Raccoon and Gentle Heart Lamb, two of the first who had disappeared. He and Gentle Heart had been going out for a while bit it just didn’t work out. He put the thought from his mind as he watched Love Heart sign his name to The Erase Card then turned to make sure everyone would get clear safely.
Sweet Heart watched the events from the top of a nearby building and gave a huge sigh of relief before she flew home.
Love Heart walked Confidence Heart home, hand-in-hand, with Kero flying beside them.
“That was a good thinking. The Erase Card can be very dangerous; anything it erases can’t be brought back after a full day,” Kero said.
“Thanks for telling me sooner,” Love Heart glared sideways at the guardian beast.
“Oh forgive him, he likes to procrastinate on important stuff, like guarding the book,” The Jump had emerged from its card now that the crisis was over and was perched on Love Heart’s shoulder.
“Watch it!” Kero fumed at the now giggling Jump.
“One last exciting capture before school,” Confidence sighed as they reached her house.
“Oh right, School starts tomorrow,” Love Heart held up the Clow Book in his free hand, “How am I supposed to capture Clow Cards during a school day?”
“Everyone know about your little side job, just tell the teacher you might have to be excused for emergencies during class,” Confidence grinned, “I mean you are working for Indy with that so that counts as a job.”
“Speaking of jobs, how’s yours?” Love Heart asked.
“Both boring and hectic, somehow,” Confidence sighed, “I gave my two-weeks notice though. Dad says he doesn’t want me working while I’m in school, especially since I’m helping you with the Clow Cards.”
“I’ll make sure you come with me if a card shows up, if we’re in the same class anyway,” Love Heart pulled her into a hug in front of her house.
“Thanks,” they kissed. “Good night, Love Heart. I love you.”
“Good night, I love you too Confidence Heart,” Love Heart waited until Confidence was inside before he headed for home, deciding to just walk through the late afternoon light.
“So what’s school?” The Jump asked.
“It’s a place I have to go to learn things, math, science, literature, and a bunch of stuff I’m pretty sure I’ll never need to use once I finish.” Love Heart groaned, “I gotta spend five days a week there for most of the year.”
“Do I have to go?” The Jump asked.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Love Heart scratched The Jump’s ears, careful not to tear the pale green ribbons it still wore, “I need all the Clow Cards on hand and you’ll have to stay in your card whenever I’m in class.”
“Can I come? I want to see what school’s like,” Kero floated up in front of Love Heart’s face.
Love Heart rolled his eyes, “If you want, but I’m not sneaking you into class.”
OoOoO
Sweet Heart listened to her family eating supper from her bedroom door then sighed. She wanted to join them but just being near her family now tied her insides in knots. She slunk to her bed and flopped down with her wings pulled tight against her and curled up, crying softly.
A quiet knock at her door made Sweet Heart sit up as her brother’s voice came through, “Sweet Heart, mom made you supper too. We miss you down there.” Sweet Heart turned to face her door without saying anything, hands on her knees as she stared at the floor. “Sweet Heart, please talk to me. School starts tomorrow so I won’t have a much time and... I miss my little sister.” Still Sweet Heart said nothing. Love Heart sighed then there was the sound of a plate being set on the floor, “Just... good night, Sweet Heart.”
Sweet Heart waited until she heard Love Heart’s footsteps recede to his own room before she opened her door and carefully pulled the plate of supper inside. It tasted so good: her mother’s cooking seasoned with tears Sweet Heart couldn’t hold in. When she finished she set it back outside and pulled back into her room just in time to hear her mother’s hoofsteps come upstairs, followed by Life Heart’s sigh then her hoofsteps retreated downstairs once she retrieved the supper dishes.
Sweet Heart curled up on her bed and cried herself to sleep, hoping school would at least distract from all the emotions tied up inside her.
OoOoO
Love Heart had to resist the urge to smash his alarm clock the drag himself down to breakfast. Life Heart had already left since she was the school’s kindergarten teacher. Love Heart stared at his breakfast cereal for a minute before eating it.
“Ready for your last year of high school?” Sage Heart asked with a leading smile.
“No, but I want to get this over with.” Love Heart checked his side to make sure he had The Book of Clow with him, “Also wondering if I’ll be able to get out to take care of Clow Cards.”
“If it’s a serious threat you can, now get going.” Sage Heart was about to say more when they both heard the whoosh from above that signaled Sweet Heart leaving by her window. “I wish she would talk to us,” Sage Heart sighed.
“Yeah... hey where has Wish Bear been all summer?” Love Heart asked.
Sage Heart shrugged, “Where have Swift Heart and Proud Heart been?”
“I dunno but I never hung out with them,” Love Heart stirred the rest of his cereal then drank it, “Guess I’ll see her at school.”
“Speaking of school,” Sage Heart pulled a black lunch bag out of the fridge which Love Heart grabbed.
“Wanna meet Confidence, see ya!” Love Heart tore out the front door, thoughts of meeting with his girlfriend invigorating him. Sage Heart just shook his head and smiled.
Confidence Heart was waiting at the portal for Love Heart, which was right by Care-a-Lot escalator. She waved then caught Love Heart in a big hug as he all but crashed into her, “Good morning!” she gave him a kiss, “Ready?”
Love Heart blushed but smiled, “With you there, I’m ready for anything.”
“Good to see you two still going strong,” Harmony Bear said as she and Brave Heart passed the happy couple.
“Ready to face the school day?” Brave Heart held out his fist.
Love Heart chuckled and gave his friend a fist bump, “Seeing all of you, yeah I’m ready now. Let’s go!” he and Confidence held hands as they headed for the auditorium as did Harmony Bear and Brave Heart.
At the school entrance a large human boy was waiting for Confidence and sneered at her as she and her friends approached. “Well, Cassandra, still going to wuss out of the wrestling team this year?”
“Blow it out your ass, Brant, I’m done with that crap,” Confidence moved to push past him.
“Hey! What’s with the rocks in your ears,” he pointed to the stainless steel studs Confidence had replaced in her ears, not wanting to wear anything valuable to school, “Given up on pretending to be cool?”
Confidence rounded on him and threw a punch, stopping just short of his face which made him wince, “Don’t give me an excuse, besides I don’t need your bullshit to be who I am anymore,” she stepped back and put an arm around Love Heart, “I have better things in my life now.” They walked away and left the boy rather stunned at the entrance.
“Was that necessary?” Harmony Bear asked.
“I loved it,” Love Heart gave Confidence a kiss, “And I love you.”
“I love you too, just some catharsis from before I found out who I was,” Confidence leaned up against Love Heart as they entered the auditorium.
The entire faculty of Care-a-Lot Escalator, human and Care Bear, sat up on the stage waiting for the student body to file in, barely leaving any empty seats. Everyone went rigid as Principal Norman took center stage.
After his final defeat at the hand of the Care Bear Family and the loss of his magic power, the former No-Heart had presented a dilemma: the Care Bear Family didn’t want to just kill him nor could they leave him be or he would inevitably seek revenge. It was Tenderheart who offered the solution: to make him the principal of their new school they were in the process of setting up. Despite many initial grumblings No-Heart, now named Norman, had taken to the job and despite his constant unpleasant attitude the Care Bears suspected he actually enjoyed his job, somehow.
“Greetings, students, and welcome to a new year at Care-a-Lot escalator.” His voice hadn’t changed at all, still booming that felt like it was resonating inside your head, “For those who are new here I am Principal Norman and if you are lucky this till be all you see of me during the year. If I hear you’ve been bullying other students, disrupting class or disrespecting your teachers then you will be sent to see me and you will not like what happens! Are we clear?” The entire student body audibly gulped. Even the ones who had been there for the entire time the school was open and knew he was more bark than bite could still be intimidated by him.
“Now then I have a new teacher to introduce to you, Miss Layla Mackenzie.” He stepped aside to let the new teacher step up to the podium.
She was an English woman with long auburn hair and brown eyes who wore a long a white shirt and brown dress “Greetings, my name is Layla Mackenzie and I will be teaching language arts and the twelfth-grade homeroom A this year.” She gave a serene smile, “I hope I will get to know all of my students.” Love Heart could swear she stared right at him as she spoke the last words.
Confidence leaned over and whispered, “Suspicious?”
“Yeah,” Love Heart nodded.
Norman stepped up as Ms. Mackenzie sat back down, “Thank you. Now then we shall begin the classroom assignments.”
Life Heart Unicorn sat at the end of the row of teachers on the left side of the stage and stood up, “Can all the Kindergarten students please follow me.” The children eagerly followed her as she left, some talking excitedly about how their teacher was a ‘real-life unicorn’, while Norman began assigning more classrooms.
Love Heart sat to Confidence’s left in the classroom and looked around, mostly the same classmates: the same humans, Brave Heart, Harmony, Loyal Heart, Gentle Heart, Bright Heart, Swift Heart Rabbit, Proud Heart Cat and... he saw the empty seat to his left that no one was taking.
“Hey, where’s Wish Bear?” Love Heart turned to Confidence.
“Huh?” Confidence sounded confused.
“Wish Bear,” Love Heart pointed to the empty seat to his left.
“Who’s Wish Bear?” Confidence sounded even more confused
Love Heart’s eyes went wide and he was about to ask what was going on when Ms. Mackenzie entered the classroom.
“Good morning everyone, since this is just an orientation day for everyone I was hoping to spend the morning getting to know everyone. I’ll start,” she wrote her name on the digital board at the front of the classroom: Layla Mackenzie, “I’m from England thought I was born in Japan and I was trained to be a Miko, or shrine maiden, but I haven’t been able to do that for most of my life. I came here because I heard this was a very unique school, which became obvious when I saw the giant portal I need to get here.” This elicited a chuckle from the students. “Now, would anyone like to tell me about themselves?” She didn’t say his name but she was looking right at Love Heart when she spoke.
Love Heart stood up fast with his hand raised, “Ms. Mackenzie, my name is Love Heart Bear.”
“Nice to meet you, Love Heart, what can you tell me about yourself?”
Love Heart gulped, hoping this wouldn’t sound ridiculous, “I’m the Cardcaptor, that is I set a bunch of magical spirits called The Clows Cards free by accident at the start of summer and I have to go off to capture them when they show up to cause trouble and I’m still working on it. I may need to leave in the middle of class if I sense one.” He knew it sounded crazy as he said it, in fact if the whole city didn’t know about his card capturing adventures he would have expected most of them to burst out laughing.
“Oh really?” Layla’s question didn’t sound skeptical, only like she was confirming what Love Heart said.
Brave Heart shot up, coming to his friend’s defense, “Yes really, one of those cards took me over and made me attack him, I don’t remember much of it but I accidentally cut down that tree in the park.” Other voices joined Brave Heart, recounting other times they’d heard about Love Heart’s exploits or even the attack at the YMCA by The Shadow Card or the plush animal incident from The Jump Card.
“Alright settle down.” Ms Mackenzie waited for everyone to sit back down and be quiet, “I believe you, Love Heart, though I’m surprised everyone knows about this.”
“Hard to keep it a secret these days,” Love Heart chuckled.
“And I’m his card capturing ally,” Confidence stood up with a grin, “I’ve helped Love Heart captures a lot of the Cards he has today.”
“She has,” Love Heart confirmed, “If we’re in the same class we both might need to run off to capture them.”
“Very well, just try to exit discreetly if you can, now how about you,” she turned to Brave Heart Lion, “What can you tell us about yourself.”
Love Heart sat down with a sigh of relief, “That went better than I hoped,” he whispered just loud enough for Confidence to hear him. She just smiled and nodded.
OoOoO
“Alright class settle down, settle down,” Teacher Bear was a dark blue female Care Bear with brown eyes who was the same age as Grams Bear, she wore thick brown-rimmed glasses and a light and dark brown schoolmarm dress with white sleeves and wore a button with her tummy symbol on it: an apple and a chalkboard with a heart drawn on. She looked at her 5th grade class and smiled, seeing her seven adopted children (which included Pretty Heart Skunk), Hugs, Tugs, Get Well Bear and Sweet Heart Pegasus were in her class this year.
“Now then, my name is Bluebelle Mulcahey but you can call me Teacher Bear, of course most of you know me already since I raised a lot of you,” this elicited chuckles from her adopted children, “And I am pleased that I am finally allowed to teach the Care Bear cubs that I helped raise, but I won’t be going easy on you, we’re here to learn. Now then,” she clapped her hands together, “Before we begin I want to introduce someone to you. Syaoran, please come in.”
The classroom door opened and a ten-year old boy walked in. He had short brown hair and amber eyes that were fixed in an intense stare; he wore what looked like a school uniform consisting of black pants and a short-sleeved white shirt with the crest of what they presumed was his old school’s emblem on the sleeve.
Teacher Bear put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, even though they were close to the same height, “This is Li Syaoran from Hong Kong, he will be joining our grade this year. Now I should let you know that Li is his surname and Syaoran is his given name because in some cultures the order of names is reversed, right Syaoran?”
“Yes, Miss Mulcahey,” the boy’s voice was polite though his intense stare remained.
“No need to be so formal, you can call me Teacher Bear. Now where should we seat you, there,” she pointed to a desk right behind Sweet Heart.
Syaoran marched down the aisle then stopped and stared hard at Sweet Heart, who recoiled from his gaze.
“Syaoran, please sit down so we can begin,” Teacher Bear raised her voice slightly which made Syaoran take his seat behind Sweet Heart.
Even as the class wore on, Sweet Hear could feel the transfer student’s eyes boring into the back of her neck which only made her more nervous throughout the day.
OoOoO
“Very suspicious, right?” Confidence asked as she sat down for Lunch with Love Heart, Brave Heart, Harmony Bear, Loyal Heart, Proud Heart and her boyfriend Swift Heart Rabbit: a light blue rabbit Care Bear Cousin boy with a winged heart for his tummy symbol.
“You mean the new teacher right?” Swift Heart Rabbit took a long drink from his carrot juice, “What’s suspicious exactly?”
“You need to watch more anime,” Confidence said, “A new teacher at the start of the school year who just happens to be teaching Love Heart’s home room?”
“Maybe you watch too much,” Swift Heart rolled his eyes.
“No, Confidence is right,” Loyal Heart was the one who spoke up, “She wasn’t even fazed when Love Heart brought up the Clow Cards. I think she knows something.”
“Loyal has a point,” Brave Heart said, “Should we be worried?”
“I don’t know,” Love Heart folded his arms.
“Big brother,” Sweet Heart’s voice took them all by surprise as she had approached their table, “I need to talk.”
“Hey, Sweet Heart, what brings you to the high school lunch room?” Proud Heart asked.
Sweet Heart didn’t answer but spoke directly to her brother, “There’s a transfer student in my class and he’s... he keeps staring at me and I think he wants something.”
“What can I do?” Love Heart asked.
“I don’t know I just...” Sweet Heart shook, “Please just be careful!” She suddenly turned and bolted, catching everyone’s attention.
“What was that about?” Swift Heart asked.
“I don’t know, but that’s the first time she’s talked to me since The Mirror Card incident,” Love Heart watched Sweet Heart until he vanished down the stairs to the elementary school lunch room.
“And a transfer student huh?” Confidence smirked, “Sounds even more suspicious.”
“OK so maybe you have a point,” Swift Heart said, “But why are they just getting here now instead of right when the Clow Cards were released?”
“Because this is the real world, they can’t just warp here a moment after things go wrong,” Confidence took a bite of lunch, “They gotta,” she swallowed, “make arrangements, apply for the school, get admitted then arrange places to stay. Even with magic or connections they needed all summer to get here and other than observant people like us them arriving at the start of the school year isn’t anything anyone’s really going to notice.”
“Only question is, what do we do about it?” Love Heart asked.
“Just wait and see if they do anything,” Harmony said, “It might just be a coincidence.”
“I doubt it,” Love Heart returned to his lunch.
OoOoO
After school, Sweet Heart had retreated to a mostly out of sight place behind a tree next to the chain-link fence at the edge of the school’s playground and that also divided the elementary school’s playground from the main entrance, something that had been mandated during the school’s construction.
Sweet Heart held the fence and stared at her card before hastily stuffing it into her skirt pocket when she heard steps coming up behind her. She whirled around and found herself face-to-face with Syaoran.
“Syaoran, what are you doing here?”
“Give me the Clow Cards!”
Sweet Heart took a step back, “What? I don’t have The Clow Cards.”
“Don’t lie to me!” Syaoran produced a large board shaped like two overlapping squares with a yin-yang symbol at the center and covered in Chinese lettering she didn’t have time to read before Syaoran held it flat and began chanting in Chinese.
"King of gods gods command god, Appear from all directions, Gold, Wood, Fire, Earth, Thunder. The new command: Soft Thunder Spinning Thunder."
The board lit up with a blue dome of light that focused into a beam that fired right at Sweet Heart. She just stared in disbelief as the light faded and Syaoran glared at her. “This is a compass that tracks magical energy and it’s especially sensitive to the Clow Cards,” he stepped forwards arms outstretched, “Give them to me now!”
“Hey! Leave my little sister alone!” They both turned to see Love Heart and Confidence Heart running right at the fence and Sweet Heart started shaking.
“Stay out of this, you’re not invol-” his words caught in his throat as he saw Love Heart reach down to what was unmistakably The Book of Clow at his side and pull out a Clow Card.
“Jump!” he called and the card flowed into wings on his feet which let him jump over the fence. Confidence jumped up on her own, grabbed the top of the fence and flipped over, landing right next to Love Heart on the other side.
“You have the Clow Cards?” Li sounded shocked.
“Ha! I knew he had something to do with the Clow Cards!” Confidence grinned.
“What do you know about the Clow Cards?” Love Heart took an aggressive step towards Syaoran.
“Big brother, please,” Sweet Heart’s voice was barely a whisper as she clutched the card in her pocket.
Syaoran took an equally aggressive step towards Love Heart, “My name is Syaoran Li, a direct descendent of Clow Reed. The Clow Cards are mine by right! Why do you have them?”
“I released them by accident so it’s my job to capture them, Keroberos made me the Cardcaptor.”
“That’s right I did, brat!” Kero floated down to the meeting, “What’s going on here?”
“Don’t call me brat you little stuffed animal!” Syaoran shot back.
“I’m not a stuffed animal, I am Keroberos the guardian beast of the seal!” Kero pounded his chest.
“Well you just look like a smaller stuffed animal like the big stuffed animal that all live here!” Syaoran’s temper was rising.
“Watch who you call stuffed animals, kid!” Confidence shot back, cracking her knuckles.
“Stay out of this! And why do you know about the Clow Cards?” Syaoran rounded on Confidence.
“Everyone knows, to keep people safe and I’m not giving you the Clow Cards!” Love Heart shot back.
“You let everyone know!?” Syaoran just stared at Love Heart, “But you’re not the cardcaptor, my compass tracks magical energy and it told me your sister is!” He pointed at Sweet Heart, who was shaking and had collapsed to her knees during the argument.
“Our mother’s a freaking unicorn of course we both have a lot of magical energy!” Love Heart bared his teeth, he was about ready to start a fight.
“LOVE HEART STOP!” Sweet Heart’s cry stopped the argument dead in its tracks.
They all turned to see Sweet Heart on her knees, shaking and crying as she held something to her chest.
“A Clow Card?” Love Heart stared. It looked like a Clow Card except it was pink instead of red and the elaborate sun and moon motif on the back was replaced by a yellow star.
“I’m sorry, Love Heart, I’m so so sorry...” Sweet Heart lifted her head so everyone could see the tears streaming from her eyes as she held her card forwards.
Love Heart crouched down and stared, mouth agape, “Wish Bear?” his voice caught in his throat. The picture on the card was indeed Wish Bear, complete with her shooting star tummy symbol, wearing an elaborate Chinese dress. At the bottom of the card the name THE WISH was written on a ribbon and below that the name SWEET HEART PEGASUS.
Sweet Heart had broken down completely, sobbing apologies until Love Heart knelt in front of her and hugged her.
“It’s alright, Sweet Heart,” Love Heart rubbed her back under her wings.
“I’m sorry, Love Heart, I’m so so sorry!” Sweet Heart sobbed out as she hugged her brother back, her wings unfolding to hold him close.
Everyone just watched in silence until Sweet Heart finally calmed down to a few sniffles. Love Heart let her go and gently pulled back, “Sweet Heart, please talk to me. Tell me what’s been wrong all this time. Why do you keep apologizing?”
Sweet Heart wiped her eyes and took a moment to catch her breath. “It started on the last day of school, when I was the one who unsealed the Clow Cards...”
The plot thickens! This was a really good chapter. The beginning was a high stakes battle but it was resolved pretty quickly^^ I absolutely love the fact that no heart is a teacher now lol. In the mystery behind the new teacher and the new transfer student has really got me excited^^ and to find out that sweetheart has wish in card form! I can't wait to figure out what is going to happen next such a great chapter looking forward to the next one^^
The plot thickens! This was a really good chapter. The beginning was a high stakes battle but it was
Thank you and I hope to answer the questions about Sweet Heart. As for the new student and Teacher, they are directly from Cardcaptors/Cardcaptor Sakura
Thank you and I hope to answer the questions about Sweet Heart. As for the new student and Teacher,
