Christmas was fast approaching and the feeling of joy in the air was palpable, especially since the teachers at Care-a-Lot escalator were wrapping up the last of the homework assignments before the winter break officially began.
However with each day that passed Love Heart was growing increasingly nervous and on edge. So much so that he jumped when Loyal Heart called to him while he was heading for the portal, “Yow!” he spun around as Loyal Heart reached him from behind.
“Sorry!” Loyal Heart pulled back, “What’s wrong?”
“A lot on my mind,” Love Heart adjusted his winter coat, “About the Clow Cards. I’m meeting Confidence and going to Li’s so we can talk about this. Want to join us?”
Loyal Heart smiled, “Yes. Thank you.”
They walked in silence for a minute before Loyal Heart spoke up again, “So... about what I told you after The Maze...”
“About you being gay, and having feelings for me?” Love Heart asked.
“Yeah,” Loyal Heart coughed nervously, “sorry, I wanted to talk more about it but with all the rehearsals and the play and school, life just kinda got in the way.”
“I get it,” Love Heart nodded, “So... you have a crush on me?”
“Yeah... is that awkward?” Loyal Heart turned to look at Love Heart as they walked.
“Kind of,” Love Heart rolled his eyes away from Loyal Heart, “I mean I like you. You’re a good friend, Loyal Heart, but I like girls and I’m in love with Confidence Heart,” Love Heart smiled as they approached to portal and he saw Confidence waiting there, still bundled up even if it wasn’t that cold today.
“I know, and I wouldn’t try to break you two up,” Loyal Heart sighed in relief, “I was afraid you’d hate me over this.”
“I could never hate you for this,” Love Heart stopped and grabbed Loyal Heart’s shoulder to stop him, “You be who you are: loyal, caring and gay, I mean maybe if you tried to make us break up I’d be mad but even if this going to take some getting used to it doesn’t change anything, not really.”
Loyal Heart smiled then hugged Love Heart, “Thank you.”
“Hey! Stop flirting with my boyfriend and get over here before I freeze to death!” Confidence’s voice made Loyal Heart jump and he and Love Heart made a dash to the portal.
“Sorry! I mean I wasn’t! I...” Loyal Heart stammered.
Confidence Heart chuckled, “Relax, I was just trying to be funny,” she patted the top of her head, “This doesn’t block out as much sound as you think.”
Loyal Heart gasped in relief as the three of them headed for Syaoran’s house, “So you’re fine with this too? It’s not weird?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Confidence shrugged, “I mean you aren’t trying to steal Love Heart from me and you’re still the same Loyal Heart Dog, you just like a different kind of bone now.” She chuckled at her bad joke before shivering again as Loyal Heart blushed and averted his eyes from her.
“Besides,” Love Heart waved a hand off before he put his arm around Confidence, “With all the Clow Card stuff this year that doesn’t even crack ‘strange’ let alone weird.”
Loyal Heart sighed, “Thanks. I just... well... I don’t know anyone else at home who is compatible with me and I’m not interested in humans.”
“Compatible?” it took Love Heart a moment to process, “Oh you mean no other gay Care Bear guys.”
Loyal Heart nodded.
“Cheer up, there’s probably other lost Care Bears, like me,” Confidence leaned up against Love Heart.
“Or maybe there’s someone else still in the closet,” Love Heart added, “I’m sure you’ll find someone some day.”
Loyal Heart wagged his tail, “Thanks. Both of you.”
By now they had arrived at Syaoran’s house where Wei invited them in to the living room. Before long they had been served hot tea and were seated on a couch across the coffee table from Syaoran.
“So what did you need to talk about?” Syaoran asked.
“Who’s Yue?” Love Heart was straight to the point.
“Yue?” Loyal Heart looked sideways at him.
Love Heart nodded, “Yeah, The Light and The Dark Cards mentioned him when I captured them. They said ‘the final challenge will come from Yue.’ Keroberos isn’t answering any questions about him and he took off earlier before I could ask again.”
Syaoran was silent for a moment before he answered, “Yue is the other guardian of the Clow Cards. Keroberos is the Beast of the Seal and represents the sun and Yue is The Judge who represents the moon. Clow Reed created both of them to guard the Clow Cards.”
“The judge of what?” Confidence took a deep drink from her tea, and sighed happily as the warmth spread through her.
Syaoran stared at the Clow Book at Love Heart’s side, “I don’t know, Clow Reed didn’t leave any information about him in any of the books he left behind. All I know is that the beast on the front cover of the Clow Book is Keroberos and that there’s a crescent moon on the back cover is Yue.”
Love Heart pulled the book out and looked at the cover, remembering the image of Keroberos’ true form that had been there before he released the cards. He flipped the cover over to see magical circle on the back but, “There’s no moon.”
“That means Yue has taken on a physical form as well,” Syaoran said.
Confidence suddenly smacked a fist into her open palm, “Hey, maybe one of the Clow Cards knows something about Yue! Why don’t you ask The Jump?”
Love Heart smiled and opened the book to fish out The Jump Card, “Good idea.” He held up the card, “Come out, Jump.” It flashed then materialized into the winged rabbit.
“Wow it’s cold out there!” it shivered, “Good thing I rode in the book.”
“Right,” Love Heart smirked and rolled his eyes then sighed and turned back to serious, “Jump, do you know anything about Yue, The Judge?”
The Jump folded its arms and tapped its foot, straining to remember something, then finally sighed and shook its head, “Not much, sorry. We didn’t get to interact with the guardians much back in Clow Reed’s time. I remember Yue was human shaped and had long hair and wings but he rarely spoke and I don’t know what he could do.”
“Wonder if any of the other Cards know,” Loyal Heart turned to stare at the book.
“I talked to them about it,” The Jump turned back to the book, “They don’t know any more than me. All we know is that Yue left the book a long time ago and he never spoke to us even before then.”
“How long ago?” Love Heart asked.
“No idea, sorry.”
“How can you not know?” Syaoran glared at The Jump.
“We can’t exactly tell time in there!” The Jump shot back, “No day and night, no clocks and no idea to tell how long we spend asleep. I guess ‘years ago’ is the closest guess I can give but we have no way to tell for sure.”
“Not like knowing would help,” Love Heart sighed, “But I’m more worried about the last Clow Card, the Earthy Card.”
Syaoran blinked, “How do you know that’s the last card.”
“Educated guess,” Love Heart pulled out three more Clow Cards from the book and held them up, “I’ve already captured The Windy, The Watery and the Firey Cards. Since the Clow Cards use the four western elements then, process of elimination, The Earthy is the only one that’s left.” Love Heart turned the cards over and stared at them hard, “I’m worry because these three were hard to detect and each of them got more destructive than the last. If The Earthy is as damaging as the Firey then someone might get killed.” He put the cards back in the book, “And it’s only a matter of time.”
“So what are you going to do?” Loyal Heart asked.
“Stay alert, keep the Clow Cards on hand and train when I can,” Love Heart picked up the book.
“What about Keroberos?” Syaoran asked.
“He took off before I got up this morning. No idea where he is,” Love Heart sighed, “He won’t tell me anything about what’s going to happen except that I have to be ready and ‘expect the unexpected’ or something like that.”
Confidence rolled her eyes, “Great advice.”
“Maybe, I mean you don’t know what’s going to happen so just being ready is the best you can do,” Loyal Heart said.
“Maybe...” Love Heart sounded uncertain.
OoOoO
In her house, Ms. Mackenzie was preparing her own tea and watching the door. She answered the knock at the door and didn’t even flinch when she saw who her guest was. “Keroberos. I was wondering when we would have a chance to talk.”
“Yes, though not for long,” Keroberos pulled his wings in and stepped inside which let her shut the door, “I wish to know what your connection to all of this is.”
“Ahh I see, that is a long story,” She led him to the living room after she poured her own cup of tea, “As you might have guessed I have an interest in the fate of the Clow Cards and the Cardcaptor, though I was surprised when I learned who the Cardcaptor turned out to be. Love Heart is much older than was predicted.”
“He was not supposed to be,” Keroberos sat on his hind legs, “His younger sister, Sweet Heart Pegasus, was supposed to be the Cardcaptor, and she was for a time. Unfortunately she failed.” He saw the slight surprise on the woman’s face, “You see she was the first to unseal the Clow Book, at least at one time she was...”
OoOoO
As it was too cold to train outside Syaoran’s furniture had been moved aside to allow him, Love Heart and Confidence Heart to train against each other in the living room. Loyal Heart sat on the couch that was now against the wall and watched them with a semi-distant look on his face.
“Is something troubling you, Loyal Heart Dog?” Wei sat down next to the blue dog.
“Sort of, I mean maybe, I dunno,” Loyal Heart sighed, “I mean I’m just watching them and wishing I could do more to help with the Clow Cards. Confidence Heart is always in there fighting and helping and I just... well I don’t know what I do.”
“From what I’ve heard you have contributed, you don’t need to be a fighter to help or even have magical powers.” Wei nodded towards the group, “Back home Syaoran has a cousin who helped him train since they were five and without her he never would have pushed himself to become as skill as he is now. I do think that your kind teach that sometimes one just needs to be a good friend to help those they care about.”
Loyal Heart smiled, “Yeah, maybe but I still want to try and do more, somehow. Maybe start going to the gym instead of just chasing my tail,” he chuckled slightly, “But I guess I always feel like I’m just observing everyone around me do incredible things instead of doing things myself, even my two ex-girlfriends I feel like I just helped them get into a relationship with someone better for them than me.”
“Don’t undervalue yourself, and if you feel lonely then I’m sure you’ll find someone,” Wei looked back to the three as they stopped.
“OK, don’t think I can do any more without breaking something,” Love Heart swiped his forehead and re-sealed The Sword Card.
Syaoran also put his sword away and walked over to the couch. Loyal Heart stood up so they could move it back and paused for a moment, “Not scared of me anymore, Li?”
Syaoran gulped as he looked at Loyal Heart, “I was never scared of you, I just felt weird around you.”
“Weird how?” Loyal Heart helped Syaoran move the couch back where it had been when they entered.
“I don’t know, just some strange... something from you,” Syaoran averted his gaze and Loyal Heart decided not to press the issue any further.
Love Heart was getting his coat back on when he stopped and stared out the window. “It’s coming,” he said, “I don’t know where but it’s coming soon.”
“The Earthy Card?” Confidence Heart paused in the middle of wrapping her first scarf around her face.
“I feel it too,” Syaoran moved to grab his own winter clothing.
“Can you track it with your compass?” Love Heart asked as they headed outside.
Syaoran nodded, he already had the magical compass in his gloved hand.
"King of gods gods command god, Appear from all directions, Gold, Wood, Fire, Earth, Thunder. The new command: Soft Thunder Spinning Thunder."
The beam fired off towards the center of town.
“Thanks,” Love Heart pulled out the Clow Key.
“Key of Clow Power of Magic Power of Light Surrender the Wand The Force Ignite Release!”
He grabbed the staff, “Let’s go!” and took off with the other three right behind him.
OoOoO
Ms. Mackenzie’s expression turned more serious as Keroberos finished retelling the story that Sweet Heart had told them, “I see. That’s quite the harrowing tale, and it does explain a lot. She doesn’t resent Love Heart taking the responsibility from her?”
“Not at all,” Keroberos stuck one of his claws through a cookie she had brought out during his retelling and popped it into his mouth in one bite. “In fact she seems to be relieved... that he’s doing so well... compared to her,” he swallowed. “Even if Clow Reed knew she would be his successor, Love Heart has taken the role and made it his own without fate on his side.”
“Indeed,” Ms. Mackenzie stood up to clean her tea mug, “Even if it was her destiny, these Care Bears seem to defy the path that destiny has defined for them. It wasn’t that long ago that they were designated as the ‘distant defenders of feelings’ and yet chose to place themselves next to humanity to become better people than mere abstracts of emotions and powers.” She walked to her entrance closet and pulled on a knee-length rose colored winter coat and brown gloves then retrieved her ‘moon bell’, “I think we have business in town now though. Can you feel it?”
“Yes,” Keroberos brushed the crumbs from his whiskers and stood up, “The last card approaches.” He followed Ms. Mackenzie as she exited the house and extended his wings, taking flight as Ms. Mackenzie followed along the ground.
OoOoO
Love Heart slowed down as they reached the outdoor mall area where Twin Bells was located and began searching around. The wind had stopped as had the snow and yet Confidence Heart still shivered.
The blue beam from the compass faded and Syaoran put it away then pulled out his sword, “It’s nearby but this close I can’t tell where.”
“Me either,” Love Heart closed his eyes and tried to reach out as Confidence Heart and Loyal Heart tried to listen for something.
“It’s here!” Keroberos’s voice from overhead came an instant before the ground started shaking. Love Heart jumped back on instinct a moment before a massive pillar of rock shot up from the ground where he had been standing.
“The Earthy Card!” Love Heart and Syaoran shouted at the same time as someone nearby screamed.
Love Heart turned to his two friends, “Confidence, Loyal, get everyone out of the area, now!” as he shouted more pillars erupted from the ground and Love Heart pulled a card from the book, “Jump!” the little wings appeared on the sides of his boots and he jumped into the sky to get a better look at what was going on.
“Love Heart!” Sweet Heart caught up with her brother in mid air, shivering as she had to carry her coat in order to be able to fly. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll be fine, what about you,” Love Heart was reaching the apex of his jump, “Aren’t you cold?”
“Yes, but I needed to make sure you were ALRIGHT!” She had to shout as Love Heart started to plummet before diving after him.
More pillars of rock had shot up as Love landed, with Sweet Heart and Keroberos landing nearby as well. “I’ll be fine, Sweet Heart,” Love Heart jumped back as another rock pillar shot up in front of him and he pulled out another card, “Sword!” the staff changed into The Sword and Love Heart sliced the pillar multiple times, turning it into tiny chunks, “Help Loyal and Confidence get people out of here, please!”
Sweet Heart nodded and pulled her coat on before joining the other two in trying to keep panic from escalating.
“Well now what?” Syaoran ran up, sword still in hand.
“I have to find the spirit and seal it,” Love Heart looked around as another rock pillar jumped up nearby, “I need a better view, no time to get The Fly out.”
“Then on my back, I’ll be your wings,” Keroberos lowered one of his wings to let Love Heart on.
“Li, if you find something let me know!” Love Heart said before Keroberos took off.
Love Heart looked down at the rock pillars that had sprung up all over the city. “It’s causing so much damage, how do I force it out?”
“You need to get its attention so it can focus on you!” Keroberos shouted.
“That should be easy, aim at that pillar,” Love Heart pointed to a rock pillar nearby and Keroberos turned to face it.
“Care Bears countdown! 4! 3! 2! 1! Care Bear Stare!” Love Heart fired off a green beam of energy the shape of his tummy symbol at the pillar and at the same time Keroberos breathed a stream of fire from his mouth that merged with the beam as it struck. The pillar lit up with bright orange light until they stopped their attack, then shattered as a giant snake made of sharp segments emerged.
“There! That’s the visible form!” Keroberos shouted.
“I thought you couldn’t help me with this?” Love Heart sounded annoyed.
“I can’t tell you how to capture it but if you tell me to help you directly then I will,” Keroberos countered, “I am here to assist physically but not give you the answers.”
“Right, well then time to slay a serpent!” Love Heart jumped off Keroberos to a nearby building, landing softly with The Jump’s aid, then launched himself at the giant rock serpent. It turned to face Love Heart just in time for him to slice it in half, the separated part dissolving into dust as it did so.
“AHA!” Love Heart spun around as he landed, only to gape as the part he sliced off regrow before his eyes and let out a roar like an earthquake.
Nearby Loyal Heart had a small group of scared people huddled together as he searched around for some place to lead them. Then he saw it and called out, “Everyone! Follow me into the park!”
“What?!” Confidence Heart yelled from nearby, “but that’s in the middle of this whole mess, Shit!” she swore as another rock pillar shot up nearby at the same time that serpent regrew itself.
“Just trust me! Hurry!” Loyal Heart frantically waved him arms to guide everyone into the park and they all followed, desperate to find any place that was safe.
Love Heart jumped out of the way as the Earth Serpent dove at him, “Why didn’t that work, Kero!” Love Heart shouted as the winged lion swept under him and caught him on his back.
“The visible form is not the same as the card’s spirit, it is a focus for its power but not the full force so you can’t just attack it.” Keroberos swept around to avoid The Earthy’s next attack.
“So I have to hold it still long enough to capture it, but how?” Love Heart re-sealed The Sword.
At that moment Love Heart felt his Heartphone rung. He groaned and answered, “Hello? This is a bad time right now!”
“It’s Loyal Heart, Love Heart I think I have an idea for you!” Loyal Heart shouted so the bear would listen, “I led everyone into the park down here because it’s safe, no rock pillars, no shaking, nothing. It’s actually very calm down here.”
“Huh, why?” Love Heart turned to look towards the park and indeed it was the same sea of trees it always was, now bare for winter but still untouched.
“I don’t know, I’m just trying to keep everyone calm but that might be something you can see from up there. I gotta go there’s a kid crying and I have to help them,” Loyal Heart hung up then ran over to the crying child.
Love Heart put his phone away and zipped his coat back up, “OK so the park’s safe, but why?” Love Heart had to hang on to Keroberos as the guardian beast dove to avoid another attack from The Earthy.
“Think think,” Love Heart stared at the trees... The trees! “Trees wrap their roots around the dirt! Their roots keep the Forest of Feelings stable! That’s it!” Love Heart pulled out another card, “Alright here goes!” He threw the card forwards and spun the staff around, “Wood Card! Use your roots to entangle and entrap the Earthy! Release!” He struck the card and The Wood spirit emerged. Immediately it flew right at The Earthy’s serpent form as it charged and wrapped long branches and roots all over its body. At first The Earthy resisted but as the roots grew thicker it slowed down and eventually stopped in its tracks, even the quakes ceased.
“Alright!” Love Heart jumped down and landed next to the Earthy Serpent, only for it to begin shaking again.
“Capture it, quickly before it escapes!” Keroberos called.
“Right! Earthy Card! I command you to return to your power confined! Earthy!” Love Heart swung the staff at the serpent and the card formed. As The Earthy was sucked in as streams of dirt it changed into the shape of an elegant stately lady wearing a long sleeved dress with large crystals on its shoulders, stone-like hair and a large spiky crystal on its chest, and it was in that shape that it appeared on the card that Love Heart grabbed.
Almost immediately the giant pillars of rock around the city faded into nothingness, which surprised Love Heart, “Why’d they go away?”
“Those rock pillars were all magic, unlike the Firey Card which used magic fires to start normal fires,” Keroberos landed next to Love Heart, “So once the card was sealed its magic effect vanished.
“Good, was afraid I might have cost the city millions to rebuilt,” Love Heart let out a sigh of relief then stared at the card, “So this is it, the last card. Once I write my name on this I’ll have all the Clow Cards.”
Keroberos nodded, “Exactly, and my full power will be restored as well.”
“Right, but first I need to make sure everyone’s alright.” Love Heart clutched the Earthy Card tightly before he jumped towards the park.
Ms. Mackenzie had arrived in the park before The Earthy’s attack had finished and now that everything had calmed down the people were dispersing and heading home, most thanking the Care Bears and Syaoran for getting them to safety.
Love Heart landed at the edge of the park when they all exited. Confidence hadn’t even wrapped her face in a scarf, having worked up a lot of heat and sweat from the excitement and she ran up to meet Love Heart, “Did you get it? Show me please!”
Love Heart smiled and held up The Earthy Card, “Here it is: the last card.”
“Very well done,” Ms. Mackenzie clapped for Love Heart, “I am very proud of you.”
“You haven’t sealed it yet?” Syaoran approached and looked at the card.
“No, I haven’t,” Love Heart turned to Keroberos as he landed nearby, “I’m not sealing this until I get some answers. Keroberos, who is Yue? Li told me he’s the judge but even he doesn’t know anything abou thim.”
Keroberos looked up at Love Heart for a moment before he answered, “Since you have the last card, there is no harm in telling you. When the last card is sealed Yue will appear to judge your worthiness to be master of the Clow Cards.”
“Worthiness?” Confidence glowered at Keroberos, “I think capturing all 19 of these cards proves he’s worthy enough.”
“Yeah, I mean... no one got hurt this time, or trapped,” Sweet Heart pulled out The Wish Card and stared at the still unmoving Wish Bear on the front.
Keroberos shook his head, “No, that was merely the second test with the first one being able to unseal the book in the first place. Using your wits, friends and the other cards to capture the Clow Cards has proven you are worthy of this last test.”
“So where is Yue, or who?” Loyal Heart asked, starting to shiver again as the heat from running around was wearing off.
“I don’t know, only that he has hidden himself and will emerge once the last card is sealed,” Keroberos turned to Ms. Mackenzie, “When Layla appeared I thought she was the judge, but the judge’s role is only to test not to help as you have.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not the judge,” Ms. Mackenzie shook her head.
“Any idea who it is?” Love Heart turned to his homeroom teacher.
Layla Mackenzie shook her head, “I’m afraid I can’t say.”
“You mean you don’t know or aren’t going to tell us?” Loyal Heart folded his arms.
“Don’t ask, she probably can’t either way,” Sweet Heart pulled out her Heartphone, “I’m going to call mom and dad to tell them the good news.”
Keroberos turned back to Love Heart, “Now that I have answered your questions, will you seal the card?”
“Alright,” Love Heart pulled a pen out from inside his coat, thankfully not so cold it had frozen, and wrote his name across the bottom of The Earthy Card and said it aloud as he did so, “Love Heart Bear. There.”
A bright glow suffused Keroberos as numerous glowing particles were absorbed into his body. “And now my full power has returned. I will be able to reassume my smaller form from now on.”
“Good, then you can sleep in my room again,” Love Heart smirked.
“Guuhh, Uggggg.”
Everyone turned to Loyal Heart as he stumbled back a couple steps and his eyes became distant and vacant.
“Loyal Heart? What’s wrong?” Sweet Heart was about to reach for him when sudden two massive white wings sprung from his back. The wings enfolded Loyal Heart’s body, hiding him from view before they spread and revealed what was inside.
In the Care Bear Cousin Dog’s place was a tall man easily the same height as Ms. Mackenzie, with long moon silver hair that flowed down his back in a loose ponytail, short bangs and icy-blue eyes. He wore white silken robes set with dark blue armor, a jeweled earring on his left ear and a long side cape that hung on his right shoulder all framed by the still massive wings.
Everyone stared at him as he folded his arms and stared down at Love Heart.
“I am Yue, The Judge. Cardcaptor Love Heart Bear, prepare for Final Judgement.”
