Love Heart slept in far longer than anyone expected. After managing to strip down to his underwear, Love Heart collapsed onto Confidence Heart’s bed and immediately fell asleep around 8 pm and didn’t get up until almost noon. Confidence Heart stayed in bed with him as long as she could until she had to get up.
When Love Heart finally did wake up he found Confidence sitting on her bed with him. She smiled softly, “Hey, I was worried you’d never get up.”
“Still don’t feel like it,” Love Heart mumbled then yawned and forced himself to sit up, “I still feel drained.”
“Well, some lunch should fix that, get dressed and come downstairs.” Confidence got up then paused at the door, “Oh yeah, Kero said to bring the new Love Heart Book down,” she couldn’t help but grin as she said that then left Love Heart to get ready.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup was the lunch of choice, even Kero drank some soup from a coffee mug despite preferring sweets. “I got Tori to call Syaoran, he should be over soon.”
Love Heart nodded, feeling better now that he had eaten four sandwiches much to the surprise of Confidence’s Family. “Yeah, gotta figure out what this all means.”
Tori just watched the two then turned to his sister, “So you haven’t done anything with him yet, Cassandra.”
“Other than make out and sleep in the same bed,” Confidence knew what her brother was angling as but didn’t rise to his provocation. Tori just shrugged and returned to his lunch.
Syaoran arrived as they were loading the dishwasher and once that was done, Love Heart, Confidence, Kero and Syaoran sat in the living room with the new book on the coffee table.
“The book changed?” Syaoran touched the cover and felt a shiver up his spine. “The magic feels different, not like Clow Reed’s anymore.”
“It transformed two nights ago, and that’s not all,” Kero waved an arm over the book which opened the cover and The Fiery floated up for everyone to see. The background had changed from white and yellow to pale and dark green and the back was now lime green with a magic circle on the back nearly identical to what it had been before except that the sun and moon emblems had been replaced with valentine hearts; on the front there was a sun on the left and a moon on the right and the upside-down top half of a valentine heart on the top above the image of the Fiery Spirit, “When Love Heart used The Fiery last night it transformed as well. I was up all last night trying to find out why and I think I know now.” He floated The Fiery over to Love Heart then floated The Jump Card out and over to Love Heart, “How do they feel?”
Love Heart held The Fiery and The Jump each in a hand, “The Fiery feels alive, like it’s literally warmed from inside, but The Jump… feels cold and almost dead.”
“Because they’re losing their power,” Kero’s pronouncement made them all jump but he continued, “When Clow Reed created the Clow Cards he created a new kind of magic by combining eastern and western magic traditions and in order to prepare them for his successor he created them with magical power imbued within them so anyone with the right words could summon them.”
“You mean like batteries?” Confidence asked.
Kero nodded, “Something like that and now their power is running out. They’re fine for the moment and it won’t happen right away but eventually their power will be drained, and when that happens they’ll become desperate to find any source of magic to sustain themselves; they could go on a rampage.”
Love Heart set The Fiery down and touched the eight-pointed star on his forehead, “And the Kingdom of Caring is a beacon of magical energy, it could all collapse and my family…”
“So how do we stop it!” Syaoran sounded desperate while Confidence Heart just grit her teeth to stop from shouting out.
“Love Heart has to transform the rest of the Clow Cards into Heart Cards, like he did with The Fiery,” Kero levitated The Fiery Card back up next to him, “the magic inside The Fiery is Love Heart’s now and it will be able to take energy from him to sustain itself. Not too much now but the amount needed to transform it will be massive and very draining.”
“Which is why I slept like 16 hours last night,” Love Heart stood up, “I don’t want rampages on my hands so I need to do this fast,” Love Heart grasped the Heart Key around his neck, “If I do one a day until school starts that’ll get most of them finished, even if it means I spend most of the holiday unconscious.”
“Maybe not,” Kero said, “The Fiery is one of the four elements so it needs a lot more power to transform, the other cards shouldn’t be so hard and if you keep it up your magical energy will increase as well.”
“Like any sort of exercise, break it down then let it build back up,” Confidence grinned, “Go on try it.”
Love Heart nodded then held up the key in his hand.
"Key of the Heart With Powers Burning Bright Reveal the Staff And Shine Your Light Release!"
The staff spun around and Love Heart grabbed it before he threw up Jump Card.
“Wait! I don’t think you should do that!” Syaoran jumped up from the couch but couldn’t stop Love Heart as he spun the staff around.
"Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall Ancient forces heed my call! Jump Card, discard your former might And draw new power from my light Heart Card!"
The Jump transformed just like The Fiery, turning green and gold, before floating down into Love Heart’s hand. Love Heart took a deep breath as his legs felt wobbly, “Not as bad as The Fiery, but it worked.”
Syaoran relaxed for a moment then saw The Jump Card squirming around in Love Heart’s hand. “Love Heart! The Jump!”
Love Heart felt The Jump squirming around in his hand before it suddenly jerked upwards, pulling his arm upwards. “What the hell?!” The card flashed and The Jump spirit popped out.
“TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH!” it shouted as it bounced around the room, thankfully not hitting anything. Confidence ran to the window and quickly unlatched it, pulling it open just enough to let The Jump bounce out of the house before it could break anything.
“After it!” Love Heart was already running for the front door, only stopping to pull on his boots before he burst into the cold winter air. Confidence was right behind him, doing her best to ignore the cold as Kero flew past her, his wings growing and enveloping him and he emerged in his true form. Syaoran wasn’t far behind, his magic sword already out as he ran to catch up.
Love Heart finally slowed down when he saw The Jump bouncing around buildings and trees, thankfully not damaging anything.
Keroberos landed next to Love Heart right before Confidence and Syaoran caught up, “We should call for Yue.”
“No!” Love Heart held up his arm, panting from the exertion on top of his already low energy, “I’m not going to hurt Loyal Heart again.”
“Don’t worry,” Confidence Heart jabbed her thumb towards her face and grinned, “Leave it to me!” She took off towards where The Jump was boding around.
“Wait!” Syaoran tried to stop her but was unable to catch her then just watched as she fearlessly dove into the fray.
Confidence didn’t notice the cold but instead just grinned as she watched and listened for The Jump, her ears twitched as she heard the nearly silent sounds of its feet hitting the trees and buildings then suddenly turned and jumped, snatching The Jump out of the air and landing hard on the ground.
“Gotcha!” Confidence lay on her back, feeling The Jump struggling in her grip.
Love Heart ran up to where Confidence lay, “Now what?” he asked, “I can’t just seal it again.”
“Do something!” Confidence’s voice became worried but her warning came almost too late as The Jump forced itself free from her grip and bounded upwards.
“I got it! Get back!” Syaoran pulled out one of his scrolls and shouted.
"Obey the command! Ice Flower, Come Forth!" Love Heart and Confidence had just barely enough time to get out of the way as a pillar of ice formed and shot up, catching and entrapping The Jump in a solid block of ice. Syaoran let out a sigh of relief, then started to shiver as he started to feel the cold.
Confidence was shivering as she stood up and Love Heart put an arm around her shoulders for warmth, doing his best to ignore the cold, “Now I just need to figure out how to wear him out, what?!” the pillar of ice started to shake and crack and then shattered as The Jump broke free.
“TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH!” it shouted as it started careening around the area again.
Love Heart ducked under The Jump as it ricocheted past, “I gotta find somewhere to tire it out before I lose it… I got it!” Love Heart pulled another card out of the new book.
Kero saw the card, “The Maze? Love Heart can you handle it?”
“No choice, gotta trap it somewhere.” Love Heart threw The Maze Card up and spun the staff around.
"Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall Ancient forces heed my call! Maze Card, discard your former might And draw new power from my light Heart Card!"
He threw the staff up under The Maze Card as it changed like the others, “Create a labyrinth to entrap The Jump!” Love Heart pointed at The Jump as it flew right towards them. The world around them warped and twisted and a moment later they were all inside a giant green hedge maze. It blocked out the cold and they all watched at The Jump just bounced up and over all the walls, too fast for The Maze to react.
“I need something different like… that!” Love Heart raised his voice, “Maze, please create a 3D maze for The Jump!” At Love Heart’s command the maze warped around then, walls growing and shifting as stairs grew until the whole thing resembled an M.C. Escher painting.
Love Heart sat down, breathing hard, and watched as The Jump rebounded all around the new maze, new walls forming and warped passages forcing it to take new directions that it hadn’t planned on, but more importantly keeping the spirit trapped and always nearby.
They watched The Jump bounding around the three-dimensional maze for what felt like hours until it finally slowed down and landed in front of the group, appearing to be panting.
“Jump, are you alright now?” Love Heart stood up despite his legs feeling like jelly.
The Jump nodded, “Yes,” then bounded at Love Heart, who easily caught it.
“Good, let’s go home.” Love Heart held out a hand, “Maze Card, return.” The maze around them dissolved into green mist that flowed into Love Heart’s outstretched hand, forming the newly transformed Maze Card and leaving them back in the real world.
The cold hit them hard so they immediately turned to head back to Confidence’s house. Love Heart held The Jump in his arms despite how tired he was and talked to the spirit to keep himself focused, “So what happened to you, Jump?”
“I felt weak and tired and I couldn’t hear you properly,” it seemed to shiver, “then I felt your energy pour into me but it was so much I couldn’t control it! So I panicked because I had to burn it off somehow.”
“But The Fiery and The Maze didn’t go nuts, why just you?” Confidence Heart had to resist the urge to lean up against Love Heart lest she knock him over.
“It seems that in order to make sure the cards change a lot of magic has to be poured into them,” Keroberos walked alongside them, still in his true form, “If you don’t let the excess energy burn off by finding an immediate use for them then they may go berserk.”
“Good thing it was just The Jump or it might have done some real damage,” Confidence sighed in relief.
“Hey!” the Jump sounded indignant for a moment, then sighed and sunk back into Love Heart’s arms, “Yeah…”
“So no changing them without purpose, guess this will take a while,” Syaoran said as they arrived at Confidence’s house. “How did you make the maze three dimensional?”
“I just thought of it, you’re saying it couldn’t do that before?” Love Heart took a look at The Maze Card, “I wonder if the other cards can do something like that. Jump, what do you think?”
“I don’t know, maybe… What should I do?” the Jump looked up at Love Heart.
“We’ll figure it out later.” Love Heart stepped out of his boots then yawned, “I’m tired.”
“Guess you’re staying the night again,” Confidence gave Love Heart a kiss on the cheek, “you’re always welcome to stay here.”
“Thanks,” Love Heart smiled weakly, “I just hope this doesn’t take too much longer.”
“Don’t worry about it, we have time and there’s so many fun adventures we can have together!” Confidence skipped through the living room.
Love Heart just stared at her with a look of confusion. Fun? Adventure? Was this all a game to her? He yawned again, too much for now. Rest first, question later.
OoOoO
Elsewhere, in a formerly abandoned house, a small black cat with insectoid wings lay on a couch with their head in a book. They looked up as someone entered the room.
“What do you think?” the other asked in a feminine voice as they spun in place.
“Well you certainly look like one of them, but why the long hair?” the cat asked.
The other looked like a red Care Bear with ruby-red eyes and they ran their hand through their long red hair, “I hear he had a thing for girls with long hair and I need to draw him in.”
“Just be careful,” the voice came from a young boy with large glasses who sounded far older than his appearance would suggest, “Their whole family has strong magic, even their father has experience with the Clow Cards despite his lack of practical skills.”
“Oh relax, I’ll be fine,” the bear turned to leave.
“That doesn’t put my mind at ease,” the small cat rolled its eyes and returned to its book.
“Don’t worry so much, Spinel,” the boy said, “Ruby knows what she’s doing.”
“That’s what worries me, master.”
OoOoO
Love Heart was roused far too early by his and Confidence’s Heartphones ringing. Confidence Heart was snuggled up close to him and reached out to shut off the alarm.
“Five more minutes,” she mumbled and buried her face into Love Heart’s shoulder.
“Or ten more hours,” Love Heart whispered back and pulled her close too.
Eventually the noise was too much for Confidence to ignore and she grumpily pulled herself up to grab her phone and passed Love Heart’s over to him.
“What the fuck’s so important that we have to get up this early on vacation,” Confidence stared bleary-eyed at the phone, trying to silence the alarm to avoid a headache.
Love Heart didn’t sit up but squinted at the screen as he opened the message. He sat bolt upright when he saw the news, “A new Care Bear found us!”
“What?” Confidence checked her messages and saw a group text from True Heart about a new Care Bear having shown up earlier that morning and wanting to introduce her to the entire family for lunch.
Love Heart forced himself out of bed, “Let’s get going, lunch is in thirty minutes.”
Confidence yawned then followed suit, “No time to waste, let’s shower together,” her voice became sultry as she dragged a blushing Love Heart into the bathroom.
One short shower later, Love Heart and Confidence were out the door and driving for the portal in a cloud car Love Heart conjured. The adrenaline from the excitement lasted enough for Love Heart to get to the lunch buffet and let him and Confidence catch a glimpse at the newly arrived Care Bear. She was a ruby red furred bear with amber colored eyes and long red hair and wearing what looked like a Japanese school uniform that outlined a sultry body. Love Heart was too hungry and tired to catch more than a glimpse as he and Confidence sat down for lunch: mac and cheese with hot dog chunks.
True Heart stood with the new bear up by the lunch line. “Alright everyone listen please. I know you’re all hungry but I want to introduce the newest found member of the Care Bear Family. What did you say your name was?”
The red bear smiled sweetly, “Well my parents named me Nakuru but they always called me a gift to them before my little brother was born, so maybe call me Gift Bear?” There was some silence, “sorry was that too fast?”
“Oh no,” True Heart waved her arms, feeling a bit flustered, “Usually there’s more to talk about before we get to the naming thing but we also don’t usually do this over lunch. Tenderheart?” she turned to where the brown bear was sitting, “Would you do the honor of giving Gift Bear her tummy symbol please?”
“Of course,” Tenderheart stood up and fired off an emblem from his tummy symbol that circled around her before settling on her tummy. It seemed to splutter for a moment but then Nakura smiled somewhat sinisterly and it flared up again.
“Wow!” the red bear fanned herself with her hand, “that felt strong.” She carefully lifted up her shirt to show off her new symbol: a red gift box with a green ribbon tied around it, “cool!”
“Welcome to the Care Bear Family, Gift Bear. Want to tell us about ourself while we eat?” True Heart offered.
Gift Bear grinned, “Well my family’s from Japan, they found me on a vacation one day and adopted me because they were having trouble having kids. Then my little brother came along and we only just found out about all of you so they sent us here to see and experience what my people are like. Just me and him since I can look after him and he doesn’t want to be without me plus it’s a nice break from how severe Japanese high school is, though I’m more than ready to graduate this year too!”
“I remember how brutal it was,” Sage Heart said from where he had just served Noble Heart his lunch.
Gift Bear turned around seemingly surprised, “Really?”
Sage Heart nodded, “Indeed, I grew up in Japan. Actually I was born a human before I became a Care Bear. Don’t think you can slack off this year because you do have a lot to catch up on.”
“Don’t worry. Hey can I get some lunch too, please?” Gift Bear turned to face Sage Heart to be served.
Love Heart felt a chill go down his spine as Gift Bear passed by but didn’t pay it much attention as he finished his lunch and sat back in his chair.
“Feeling better?” Confidence looked at Love Heart’s face.
“Yeah, but I still just feel like sleeping all day,” Love Heart shook his head to try and keep himself from nodding off, “I’m gonna head home,” he forced himself to stand and shakily made his way towards the exit. Confidence was at his side and supporting him a moment later as they headed for his house.
Gift Bear watched them go for a moment then approached the table where Life Heart Unicorn and Sweet Heart Pegasus were seated. “Hi, I’m Gift Bear, I’m new! Can I sit here please?” She smiled as sweetly as she could.
Sweet Heart just stared wordlessly at Gift Bear but Life Heart was more forthcoming.
“Please do,” she smiled warmly back at the newcomer, “So what do you think of the Kingdom of Caring?”
“It’s not what I expected, with all the clouds everywhere I thought I was gonna fall through when I first saw it.” Gift smiled at Sweet Heart, “So are you really a Pegasus?”
Sweet Heart looked at the red bear with some suspicion then half-spread her wings, “Yes, and I can fly.”
“And I am a unicorn as well,” Life Heart tapped her horn, “My son and daughter are half-unicorns.”
Sweet Heart touched the eight-pointed star on her forehead, “Yeah, like this.”
“That’s so cool! Can I meet your brother?” Gift Bear seemed to have forgotten her lunch as she looked around the cafeteria.
Sweet Heart turned to look around too, “Guess he went home already, you’ll see him at school.”
“OK!” Gift Bear suddenly remembered she had food and devoured the mac and cheese in no time, “Yummy!” She looked around and spotted Loyal Heart who was going back for a second serving, “I didn’t know there was a dog here, I love dogs!” She got up.
Sweet Heart couldn’t help but shudder as she turned to see Loyal Heart, “Oh that’s Loyal Heart dog, he’s had some issues lately and,” Sweet Heart didn’t get any farther as Gift Bear had left to go greet him.
Loyal Heart asked for an extra full bowl to try and fill his stomach, which didn’t seem to be able to get full since the final judgement. He almost jumped when he turned around and found Gift Bear right in his face. Time seemed to hang still as the new Care Bear’s smile turned from sweet to sinister unnoticed by anyone else.
“Umm, hello?” Loyal Heart felt his stomach turn.
“Hello, how are you?” Gift’s seemingly innocuous question made Loyal Heart shudder, “My name’s Gift Bear, Loyal Heart Dog.” She spoke his name with a mocking tone.
“Hi, Gift, and welcome to the family. Excuse me!” Loyal Heart sidestepped her and marched back to his seat to eat in silence, trying to pile food into the pit that had opened in his stomach when she spoke to him. Gift Bear giggled and returned her dishes before leaving the Hall of Hearts cafeteria.
Gift Bear returned home to find Spinel still reading his book. The cat looked up at her with a mild glare, “So did everything go according to plan, Ruby?” the condescension in his voice was completely lost on Gift Bear.
Gift grinned as a pair of black butterfly wings with red spots emerged from her back and enfolded her body for a moment then spread to reveal her true form: a tall girlish human with long rose-colored hair done up in two buns and wearing a black Chinese dress with long black gloves on an androgynous body.
“Almost, I met the Cardcaptor but not her brother but I did find Yue’s Vessel.” Ruby smiled coyly. “I’ll find her brother at school if I have to.”
“No need to rush, Ruby,” The young boy sat in a large armchair as looked out the window, dressed in the Japanese boy’s school uniform and large round glasses with short black hair and gray eyes. “There will be plenty of time for our mission and after what I sensed earlier today she will need her rest. Three Clow Cards in two days, I hope she doesn’t overdo it or she will fail.”
“Very well, Master Eriol,” Ruby bowed slightly, “So until then I get to pick out what kind of cute outfits I get to wear!”
“Why are you so obsessed with your clothes,” Spinel glared at her somewhat contemptuously.
Ruby just winked coyly at the bat, “Because, Spinny, girls get to wear cuter clothes than boys so as long as I’m here I’m going to be a Care Bear girl, especially since I don’t have to wear a school uniform anymore,” she giggled and changed back into her Care Bear disguise of Gift Bear.
Spinel visible bristled, “Please don’t call me that.” If Ruby was listening then she gave no indication as she began looking for something to wear. Spinel just sighed and went back to his book.
OoOoO
The rest of winter break passed without incident and by the end Love Heart was back on his feet. He was eager to get back to mostly normal, especially since this was the end of their final year of school. He got his first good look at Gift Bear when Ms. Mackenzie introduced her but didn’t pay her much mind. Loyal Heart watched her nervously as she passed by him, her smile turning sinister as she walked past. Love Heart shuddered as Gift took a seat two spaces away from him and Confidence noticed their reactions but said nothing.
Teacher Bear’s class was receiving a new student as well as Eriol was introduced. The boy had far too serene smile on his face for someone of his age as Teacher Bear introduced him.
“I know it’s unusual but Eriol Hiiragizawa is Gift Bear’s younger brother, obviously adopted,” she turned to look at the boy, “why don’t you tell us a little something about yourself, Eriol?”
“Thank you, Ms. Mulcahey,” Eriol spoke in a higher-pitched voice much more suited to his age in front of the class, “I just moved from Japan and I must say it was odd growing up with a bear for an older sister, but I see that’s not as unique as I thought it was here.” This got a laugh from most of the class.
“That’s good, Eriol, now why don’t you take a seat and we’ll get started.” Teacher Bear pointed to a seat that was next to Syaoran.
Sweet Heart felt her fur and feathers stand on end as Eriol passed her and behind her Syaoran tensed up at his presence. Eriol’s serene smile didn’t change as he looked at Syaoran.
“I see from your uniform you must be from Asia as well, China if I’m not mistaken?”
“Yes,” Syaoran’s reply was short and he was thankful when Teacher Bear started the class so he could focus on the studies instead of the feeling he was getting from the new student.
OoOoO
Love Heart was on his way to lunch when he heard someone running up behind him, he expected Confidence Heart but before he could turn he heard a high pitched shout as someone tackled him from behind.
“HELLO, LOVE HEART BEAR!” Gift Bear latched onto Love Heart and wrapped her arms around his chest over his shoulders. “I’ve been dying to meet you!”
“Gah!” Love Heart spun around trying to throw her off but Gift was just a little shorter than him so she swung around with her feet off the ground, “What the hell! Gift Bear?” all he saw was her red arms and heard her voice.
“Oh don’t be so coy, I saw you staring at me in first period,” she pushed her head over his shoulder with a seductive grin, “Want to have lunch together?”
“What! No I don’t!” Love Heart tried to grab and pull her off but felt a shiver run through him. Everyone else in the corridor had stopped to stare at the spectacle, including Loyal Heart Dog.
“Hey!” Confidence Heart’s shout rang through the corridor which made everyone turn to her, including Love Heart with Gift still clinging to his back, “What the fuck are you doing!” the fennec’s voice was furious as she stomped towards Love Heart, her hands clenched into fists.
“Oh I was just greeting this adorable green bear, is he a friend of yours?” Gift Bear pressed her face up against Love Heart’s cheek, “I was just getting ready to eat lunch with him.”
Everyone gulped as Confidence Heart approached, most being too familiar with this situation from various sitcoms and cartoons they had watched but too stunned to try and correct what was sure to be a devastating misunderstanding, then jumped as Confidence grabbed Gift Bear’s arm and successfully wrenched her off Love Heart’s back which made the red bear lose her grip and fall to the floor.
“What’s the hell’s your problem just trying to strangle him from behind when you’ve barely met, keep your hands off him bitch!” Confidence’s harsh language made everyone jump but most breathed a sigh of relief and continued on their way to lunch as Love Heart and Confidence hurried away from where a stunned Gift Bear sat on the floor.
“Thank the stars that didn’t go like I expected,” Loyal Heart also breathed a sigh of relief, despite his current crisis he didn’t wish anything bad to happen to them. He tried to follow them to lunch only to find Gift Bear had recovered and now barred his way. “Umm… can I help you?”
“Maybe,” Gift’s voice changed from excitable to malicious as she stared at Loyal Heart with a sinister smirk, “But you don’t have to do anything to help.”
Loyal gulped then side-stepped around Gift Bear and hurried into the lunch room, too scared to turn back and see if she was following him.
Love Heart and Confidence took their seat at the table with Bright Heart, Gentle Heart, Brave Heart and Harmony Bear, all of whom were looking at Love Heart with concern.
“Are you alright?” Harmony was the first to speak.
“Yeah, just a little shaken,” Love Heart let out a long breath as he dug out the lunch his mom had made for him.
“At least you didn’t get mad at him for that, I was worried-” Brave Heart was cut off by Confidence Heart.
“That I’d just dump him because some new girl tried to latch on to him when he was clearly distressed and scared by the whole thing?” Confidence rolled her eyes and took an apple out of her lunch bag, “Please, Brave Heart, this isn’t a crappy high school sitcom, I trust Love Heart more than that, even if he does find her attractive.” She paused before taking a bite, “I mean you did right? She’s not exactly hard on the eyes even if she’s flat.”
Love Heart nodded but his expression stayed somewhat moot, “Yeah, like an angler fish.” He shuddered, “Not like she’s pretty but like she was drawing me in to eat me. Just her touching me felt… disturbing.” Everyone stared at Love Heart and Confidence set her food down to put a comforting arm on her boyfriend’s shoulder.
“Are you alright?” her tone changed from dismissive to one of concern.
“I am now, thank you, Confidence,” he turned and gave her a quick kiss.
“Good, because now I’m sure she’s part of that whole snowstorm incident from last week,” Confidence turned to the group, “Just like Syaoran and Ms. Mackenzie she and her little brother arriving right after that can’t be a coincidence.”
“I’m feeling the same thing,” Loyal Heart’s voice made them all turn to greet the dog holding an overly full lunch tray. He continued before any of them could speak up, “When she first showed up and just now she kinda ambushed me, looking like she was trying to seek her prey.”
Love Heart pulled out his Heartphone, “We should talk about this then, with Syaoran too. Can you come by his house after school, Loyal?”
“As me or Yue?” none of them missed the slight bitter tone in his voice.
“As my friend, Loyal Heart Dog,” Love Heart replied.
“Right…” Loyal Heart turned and walked away to sit with Proud Heart and Swift Heart.
Love Heart watched him go for a moment then looked to the other empty seat at their table, “Where’s Wish Bear?”
“I don’t know,” Gentle Heart also looked around, “I saw her in math class but she left the classroom before I could talk to her.”
Love Heart sighed sadly, but Confidence jumped up, apple in hand, “I’ll go find her!” She took off before anyone could say ‘no running’ to her.
Confidence didn’t have to go far before she heard Wish mumbling to herself from under a stairwell and peaked in to see her chugging soup from a thermos and muttering to herself, “Just breathe, it’s over, just breathe, it’s over.”
“What’s over, Wish?” the teal bear jumped to her feet dropping the thermos to the floor which spilled the chicken soup within as Confidence seemed to appear before her.
“Nothing. There’s nothing!” Wish all but shouted, startling Confidence with her shout.
“Why are you eating here alone, we were wondering where you got off too,” Confidence reached a hand out but Wish just grabbed the now empty thermos and speed walked away.
“I told you it’s nothing! All nothing!” Wish paused in the stairwell doorway and took a deep breath then turned and put on a forced smile, “I just was- needed! Some alone time! Gotta go!” She took off before Confidence could stop her.
The fennec just stood there until the approaching voice of Beastly snapped her out of it.
“Oh, another spill? Yes! Free soup!” he bent down to suck up the spilled soup before mopping the sticky spot. Confidence returned to the lunch room, eating the apple she still had in her hand and tossing the core in a garbage can before returning to her seat. Wish was still nowhere to be found and all she told her friend was that Wish wanted to be alone.
OoOoO
Sweet Heart’s day passed relatively peacefully, until she and Pretty Heart were getting the winter clothes on at the end of the day.
“Hello, Sweet Heart,” Eriol seemed to come out of nowhere which made her jump.
“Oh, hi Eriol,” Sweet Heart, “Did you want to talk.”
“I’d like to talk!” Tugs Bear was there in an instant, “Hi Eriol, I’m Tugs.”
“Well nice to meet you, Tugs,” Eriol’s attention was diverted from Sweet Heart.
“Thanks, so tell me what’s Japan like?” Tugs was getting dressed as they spoke.
“Well it’s not nearly as fluffy or cloudy over there,” Eriol and Tugs chuckled.
Sweet Heart and Pretty Heart dressed and retreated as fast as they could while the two boys were talking.
“That boy’s kinda weird,” Pretty Heart looked back over her shoulder.
“He feels weird,” Sweet Heart shuddered.
“You felt it too didn’t you?” Syaoran joined them, “Sweet Heart your brother wants to meet at my house to talk about this stuff.”
“Yeah, alright,” Sweet Heart turned to Pretty Heart, “sorry, I thought we could hang out today but…”
“It’s fine,” Pretty Heart smiled, “I’ll see you later.”
Sweet Heart still felt guilty as her friend walked away, joining up with the rest of her family. She didn’t say anything as she and Syaoran made their way to his house.
Syaoran’s living room was packed now, Love Heart, Confidence, Syaoran, Sweet Heart and Loyal Heart were all gathered together. Even Kero who had flown over after Love Heart phoned home to ask him to come.
They all sat and stood in silence for a minute before Syaoran spoke.
“There’s something about that new kid, Eriol, I don’t trust him.”
“Same with Gift Bear,” Confidence Heart said, “and not just because she tried to force herself on Love Heart. She and Eriol arrived just like you did, Syaoran, especially since its after winter break in the middle of the school year.”
“Gift Bear disturbs me,” Loyal Heart said, holding his sides, “Just being close to her feels like I’m being hunted.”
“Maybe Yue has some insight about this,” Kero floated over to Loyal Heart which made him cringe.
He felt a cold feeling spread through his body, “No! please just-”
“Stop it Kero!” Love Heart’s voice cut across the room and stopped the icy feeling in Loyal Heart’s chest, “Loyal Heart’s been through enough and I’m not going to force him to let Yue out.”
Kero backed down and Loyal Heart managed a brief smile.
Love Heart sighed and sat down, “This whole thing is crazy. Eriol and Gift are part of this but if they can just make a blizzard that strong then what are we supposed to do?” He folded his arms, “For now we just need to wait and watch and see what they’re planning. All we can do is wait and see, and hope I can handle it.”
“Are you sure, Love Heart?” Sweet Heart finally spoke from where she sat next to her older brother, hands in her lap.
“No, but for now there’s not much else we can do.” He stood up and offered a hand to his sister, “Let’s go home.” He motioned for Kero to follow them. “Loyal Heart, want to come with us.”
Loyal Heart nodded, “Sure.”
Confidence smiled, “I’ll come with you!”
“Sorry, not tonight, Confidence,” Love Heart tried to smile but failed, “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
“OK,” Confidence Heart sounded dejected as he watched the others leave until it was just her and Syaoran. Then she dressed in her winter clothes and left. Syaoran watched the whole event in front of him, then sighed and went to work on his studies. No sense getting involved in their personal affairs.”
Kero decided to fly home on his own while Love Heart and Sweet Heart walked Loyal Heart to his house. It was when they were halfway there that the dog spoke. “Thank you, Love Heart.”
“For what?” Love Heart turned to look at his friend.
Loyal Heart smiled, “Standing up to Kero like that, for me, even if it’s not the real me.”
“Of course it’s the real you,” Love Heart stopped and grabbed Loyal Heart’s shoulders, “You are real, Loyal Heart, not just some vessel or shell. I know you’re real, my friend Loyal Heart Dog.”
Loyal Heart blushed, “Oh man, I really want to kiss you right now.”
Love Heart laughed but let go of Loyal Heart’s shoulders, “Sorry, but even if I wasn’t with Confidence I’m not into guys.”
Loyal Heart sighed, “I know.”
“If I was, I probably would though,” Love Heart continued on the way to Loyal Heart’s house.
“Don’t tease me like that,” Loyal Heart hurried to catch up.
“You two would make a cute couple,” Sweet Heart giggled which just made Loyal Heart blush harder.
Thankfully they reached Loyal Heart’s house shortly thereafter and he mumbled a goodbye before shutting himself inside.
Love Heart smiled then sighed, “One more stop before home. I need to see Wish Bear.”
Sweet Heart just nodded as they turned to walk towards Wish’s house.
Wish Bear sat in the dark in her house and flinched when she heard the knock on her door.
“Wish? It’s Love Heart. Are you home?”
“No…” Wish whispered too low for him to hear.
“Wish Bear? It’s Sweet Heart, can you hear me? Please talk to me.”
“Sweet Heart?” Wish got up and walked to her front door, “Sweet Heart, is that you?”
“Yes. Please can we talk?”
“I don’t know,” Wish Bear leaned back against the inside of her door, “Was it real, that world we saw, the Kingdom of Caring destroyed by a lightning monster…”
There was almost a full minute of silence before Sweet Heart answered, “Yes, it was real, because of me…”
“And I was trapped in darkness for so long,” Wish held her chest, “I’m sorry, Sweet Heart, Love Heart, I need to be alone.”
There was almost a full minute of silence before Love Heart answered, “Good night, Wish Bear.”
Wish heard them leave then slumped down against her door and held her head in her hands.
