All is cleared by Fritti < Submission | Inkbunny, the Furry Art Community

Keywords male 1177606, female 1068180, cat 210972, rabbit 136877, bear 48350, parody 4646, lamb 3967, puma 3716, fanfiction 2944, carebear 760, carebearcousin 340, custom character 209

*cue a funny Merry Melodies tune*

And once again, it was a beautiful day in the Kingdom of Caring... The smiling yellow sun looked down upon Care a Lot, her smile setting the fluffy clouds aglow. A little further down, her warm rays caressed the trees, bushes and flowers of the Forest of Feelings and made the water of the Rainbow River glitter with multi-colored sparkles. The Care Bears and Cousins, woken up by the cheerful song of the birds, went about their daily routines. Since it was relatively quiet on Earth, there was plenty of time for the Care Bear Family to enjoy some leisure. For some members of the Family, it was all too easily guessed how they spent their free time. For instance, Frolicheart Puma... well, I don't have to say what he did, I reckon. Anyway, him being busy in his workshop gave Proudheart Cat the chance to give their cloud cottage a good and thorough cleaning.

Wish Bear, who had swapped staroscope duty with Grumpy Bear for that day, also had found a wonderful way to spend her free time, and needless to say, that way involved a whole lot of Love-a-Lot Bear. Harmony Bear and Opposite Bear were seen driving around Care a Lot in Opposite's special Jeep-like Cloudsmobile again, scouting locations to shoot a new music video.

Down in the Forest of Feelings, Brightheart Racoon and Swiftheart Rabbit had finished moving their stuff out of Loyalheart Dog's cloud cottage and into Brightheart's some time ago already. They had decided to move in together when the purple racoon's cottage had been rebuilt, like so many Care Bear Cousins and Care Bear Cousins were living together these days. That morning, Swiftheart was enjoying her morning jog through the Forest of Feelings, just running along and listening to the latest song that Harmony Bear had recorded on her headphones. Just running along, the blue bunny was minding her own business when she suddenly tripped over something. She went flying, rolling head over tail, over and over again until she came to a skidding halt at the base of a tree. Getting up, she dusted herself off and walked back to where she'd tripped, going for a look at what it had been she had stumbled over. There was a sort of mound of leaves at the base of one of the trees, with a white-tipped, reddish orange brush tail sticking out of it.
     'Feralheart,' Swiftheart thought to herself.

Not being able to resist playing a small trick on the reclusive vixen, she bent down a dew-laden branch to just over the mound, and then she pulled sharply on the tail. The fox sat bolt upright, getting drenched by the small droplets of water clinging to the wispy branch. Swiftheart fell back laughing.
     "I don't see what's so funny. It's getting so a guy can't take a mid afternoon nap anymore?"
Swiftheart sat bolt upright when she heard the distinctly male voice.
     "Oh, I'm sorry; I thought you were someone else," she apologized.
     "No harm done," Fearlessheart said as he stood up and started brushing himself off.

Swiftheart looked at him rather surprised. She couldn't make heads or tails of this fox. He was definitely a Care Bear Cousin; she had seen him before at other functions. And besides, he had a tummy symbol, which quite obviously distinguished him as being a Care Bear Cousin. The cargo shorts he wore were a little odd, but she shrugged it off. Realizing that she had never properly introduced herself, she stepped up to the fox and extended a paw.
     "Hi, I never really introduced myself before, I'm Swiftheart Rabbit," she said friendlily. "It's nice to meet you."
As soon as he heard the name, Fearlessheart stood stone stiff, a cold chill running over his entire body. He slowly looked up and saw the light blue bunny looking right at him, smiling one of her classic smiles.
     "Uh, um... I, I..." he stuttered.
Swiftheart giggled a little. Reaching over, she took his paw in hers and shook it heartily.
     "Well, now that we shook paws, can you tell me your name?" Fearlessheart just stood there, his arm still extended after Swiftheart let go of it. The blue bunny giggled softly. "My, you're not much for greetings, are you?"
Fearlessheart was still frozen.
     'Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. What am I going to do?' he thought to himself. 'She's here and she won't leave. How do I keep getting myself into these messes? Oh squid! What if Gentleheart sees this?!' Finally able to find his voice, he came up with a flimsy excuse as fast as he could. "Uhm, I have to go. I, uh... have somewhere to be that I'm late for. Bye."
He turned around and started running as fast as he could manage. The trees whipped by him as he ran through the forest. Without warning, the blue bunny was right there running next to him.
     "Wow, you're pretty fast. I bet you're even faster than Champ or Loyalheart," she commented, with a hint of impression in her voice.
     "Oh squid!" he yelped when the bunny surprised him.
Changing course quickly he took off running in another direction. Dropping to all fours, he took off like a bullet through the dense undergrowth of the forest. Yet again, the blue bunny popped up, running beside him.
     "Wow, you really are fast. Look, I'm actually starting to break a sweat here." Fearlessheart did not need to hear that. "You know, if you're trying to outrun me, you're wasting your time, I'm the fastest thing on two legs in the Forest of Feelings," Swiftheart informed him.
Changing course again, Fearlessheart twisted and looped through the forest in a desperate attempt to lose her. Leaning against a tree, he panted heavily, sweat dripping from his fur.
     "Hi there," Swiftheart said merrily, coming from around the other side of the tree and badly surprising him, again.
     "AAAAHHHH!" Fearlessheart yelped, jumping high into the air and grabbing onto a tree branch.
Swiftheart giggled a bit.
     "You're pretty funny!"
Fearlessheart managed to situate himself into a more stable position on the branch.
     "Could just please go and leave me alone?" he pleaded. Swiftheart sighed.
     "Okay, fine, I need to get some breakfast anyway," she said, shrugging a bit.

She slowly walked back into the underbrush. Fearlessheart waited until he was sure she was gone. Carefully making his way down the tree, he wearily dragged himself back home and practically collapsed on the bed once he was able to get to the bedroom. Gentleheart heard him come in and checked on him.
     "Foxy, you look so-o-o tired and worn out. I thought you we-e-ere going to rest outside for a whi-i-ile."
Fearlessheart lifted his head slightly and looked at the mintgreen lamb, the love of his life.
     'What do I tell her?' he thought desperately. 'I promised I wouldn't keep secrets to her anymore.' He thought about it some more, and then finally came up with an answer. "Ask me again when I've had a chance to recuperate, my little lover-lamb," he said wearily.
He sank down on the bed, and as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was knocked out. Outside, Swiftheart was sitting in the bushes, having followed the fox to the house.
     'Interesting,' she thought to herself.
Dashing back through the forest, she eventually slowed into a more relaxed pace and leisurely walked back home. Out in the shop, Brightheart was tinkering with one of his inventions.
     "Hi Swifty. How was your jog?" he called out to her when he noticed her coming home.
     "Oh, it was okay. I met someone new, although he seemed a little scared of me. You haven't been spreading rumors again have you, you sneaky purple racoon you?" she asked giggling.
     "What, me? I would never," Brightheart responded a little sarcastically. "So who was this someone new?"
     "I don't know, he wouldn't tell me his name."
     "Well, what did he look like then?" Brightheart asked from underneath the invention he was lying under.
     "It was a fox, he sort of looked like Feralheart but his muzzle, the front part of his neck and his belly were white, and he had a really weird tummy symbol," Swiftheart said. "It sort of looked like a heart split in two, on one side was a sunny day, and on the other was the full moon on a clear and starry night."
Brightheart dropped his wrench with a loud clang on the floor. Rolling out from under his invention, he looked up at the blue bunny.
     "And you're sure you've never met him before?" he asked.
     "Oh, I've seen him around at various functions, and if I'm not mistaken we held a party for him and Gentleheart a short while back," Swiftheart said with a shrug. "What was his name again? Forgetfulheart, Fretfulheart, it was something like that. I was really tired after my mission; I can't remember half of what happened that night."
Brightheart got off the rolling dolly and removed his coveralls, placing them on a nearby hook.
     "Bunny, this is going to take some explaining, so you'd better come with me," he said.
Swiftheart looked up with surprise at Brightheart's sudden seriousness.
     "Why, what's going on? Are there things happening around here I don't know about?" she said.
     "Not anymore," Brightheart muttered under his breath. He placed a paw on Swiftheart's shoulder and led her to his cloud cottage, planting her in a garden chair and sinking down in one himself. "Swifty, this is going to get real serious, and probably even painful. Can you remember what happened a couple of months back?"
     "Be specific, will you?" Swiftheart said. "A couple of months back is rather wide. So many things happened in that time. So what period exactly are you talking about?"
     "Owh, uhm..." Brightheart said, thinking deeply. "What I mean is... about a month or four, five ago. You were sent out on a mission to a mature person on Earth, a vulpine adult."
Swiftheart wrinkled her brow.
     "That sorta rings a bell..." she muttered. "Uhm... A teacher-guy, if I remember correctly. What was his name again? Matthew... no... Matthias! Yeah, that was it. Matthias Andrews. I remember him alright." She looked at Brightheart with her head slightly tilted to one side. "So what about him?"
Brightheart ran a paw over his muzzle, trying to win some time so he could find the proper words.
     "Do you... remember what happened after your mission with this person?"
Swiftheart wrinkled her brow even deeper, obviously doing some heavy duty thinking. She kept it up for quite some time too, but eventually she looked back at Brightheart, with an expression of puzzlement on her face.
     "You know, strangely, I can't. The only next thing I can remember is Frolicheart going down to Earth without having a caring mission to carry out, and coming back with this really sassy foreign car to restore. But... that was weeks later."
Brightheart let out a sigh.
     "Oh boy." He slowly looked back at his blue lapine lover. "You really can't remember anything from what happened in those weeks, Swifty? Not a single little thing?"
     "No?" Swiftheart said surprised. "I try to recall, but things are kinda... blurry."
     "Aw man..." Brightheart muttered. "How'm I gonna tell you this... I shoulda invented a memory-reviver or something."
Swiftheart now started to get slightly worried.
     "Hey, Brightheart? What is going on here?"
The purple racoon ran his fingers through the tuft of fur upside his head.
     "Uhm... Could you hang on for just a second, Swifty? I've gotta make an urgent phone-call first, okay?"
Swiftheart shrugged a bit.
     "Hm, well, okay then," she said. As Brightheart got up from his garden chair and walked into his cottage, she called after him. "Oh, and when you come back, be a doll and bring back a lemonade from the fridge for me?"

Brightheart waved an acknowledgement with a paw, not turning his head to look back at Swiftheart. He stepped right up to the phone and called Take Care Bear.
     "Take Care? It's Brightheart. Yes. No, don't worry, everything's fine. Or well, there is one thing. Hm? No, but Swiftheart ran into Fearlessheart this morning, and she talked to him. No, no, that's just the thing, see. She still doesn't know who he is. Hm..? Well, I guess, but... No, from what I gathered, Fearlessheart freaked out a bit from Swifty talking to him, and that of course triggered her curiosity. I've been talking to her just now, and I asked if she could remember anything from... well, that time, you know. Yes, no, indeed, not a spark. But I wanna ask you, Take Care, is the process reversible? Whaddaya mean, why? I love her, Take Care, and I don't want to do something like this to her. It's more than three weeks of her life missing, and I want her to know what happened. It's only fair, we can't keep hiding this from her forever, you know. She'll run into Fearlessheart again, and that'll also make it really hard for him since he does still remember everything. And his reactions will only get Swiftheart more suspicious. So I ask you again, Take Care, is the process reversible?" Brightheart sagged a bit at the response he got through the phone. "Oy. Not at all? Aw, darn. Is there any other way we could get her to remember what happened that time? Hmm..? Well, she did say that the things from between her last memory of Matthias Andrews, as we then still knew Fearlessheart, and her next clear memory of Frolicheart bringing home that Ferrari, were kinda blurry. Oh? And how could we... Oh, really? Does she know how to do that? Oh, okay. Yes, we'll pay her a visit then. Thanks, Take Care."
The purple racoon put down the phone and pushed his fingers in his eyes, sighing. Then he shook his head sharply and walked back outside. Swiftheart looked up at him with a grin.
     "Well, fluffy-boy, where's the drink you promised me you'd bring back for me?"
     "Sorry, I forgot," Brightheart said. "But answer me this, Swifty: what would you like first? A drink, or your memories of what happened in those few weeks?"
A look of surprise slid over the blue lapine Care Bear Cousin's face.
     "What?" A tone of worry crept into her voice. "Brightheart, what's going on?"
Brightheart put a paw on her shoulder.
     "Bunny, things have happened; serious things. Things so serious even that Take Care Bear had to block them in your memory. That is why you can't remember anything from those few weeks."
Swiftheart jumped up.
     "What?!? But that's not fair! That's my life, what does Take Care have to do meddling with that?!"
     "Believe me, at the time it made sense," Brightheart said softly, a little guiltily even.
     "Like heck it does!" Swiftheart said. "If I understand what you're saying here, then a couple of weeks from my life were stolen from me! No one has the right to do that! I have a right to know what happened in that time! Tell Take Care to unblock my memories!"
     "I just now called her, bunny mine, but unfortunately the process is irreversible," Brightheart said with a sigh. He placed his other paw on Swiftheart's other shoulder. "But she did say that Trueheart can possibly help you retrieving those memories, Swiftheart. The fact that they are blurry proves that they are still present inside your mind, and apparently Trueheart knows a way to unblock them."
     "Well, take me to Trueheart then!" Swiftheart said. "Right now!"
     "I was gonna suggest just that, Swiftheart," Brightheart said softly. "Come on, let's go."

They got into Brightheart's Cloudsmobile, and the purple racoon quickly drove the two of them to Care a Lot. When they reached the cloudly hill where Trueheart's cloud cottage was on, they found the multi-colored speckled yellow Care Bear already waiting for them.
     "Take Care called me, Brightheart," she said when the two Care Bear Cousins got out of the car. "She told me what you had asked her. Are you sure about this?"
     "As if he's the one who should have a thing to say about it!" Swiftheart said, rather upset. "It's my memories, my life that's been messed with! I won't stand for something like that! I want my memories back! Right now!"
Trueheart sighed softly.
     "You're right of course. Well, come on inside, I'll help you."

The two Care Bear Cousins followed Trueheart into her cloud cottage. In the livingroom, Trueheart set them down on the couch and took a seat in a chair right opposite them. She looked at Swiftheart seriously.
     "Okay Swiftheart, this is all a matter of the mind. Tell me, what is the last thing you can clearly remember from your caring mission with Matthias Andrews?"
     "Uhm..." Swiftheart said, thinking deeply. "I remember I was kinda surprised that he was an adult, and I remember going down to his house. And... I remember him and me talking about his problems."
     "Can you picture that scene in your head, Swiftheart?" Trueheart asked. "Try as best as you can."
Swiftheart ran a paw over her muzzle, and she closed her eyes in thought.
     "Uh, well... we... were sitting on a couch in his living room, talking."
Trueheart nodded.
      "Alright. Keep your eyes closed, Swiftheart, and focus on that image. Try to see it before you." The speckled yellow Care Bear rose up and walked around the couch, placing her paws on Swiftheart's shoulders from behind. Her voice became a bit slow and languid, yet remained clear enough to be heard. "See the scene before you, Swiftheart. You are there. In your mind, you are there on the couch, sitting next to Matthias Andrews, and you are talking to him. And you know what happened next. Your mind has registered it all. Let it roll out in your mind's eye. You are there. You are experiencing it. You are there."

It almost seemed as if Trueheart's soft voice had hypnotized Swiftheart. The blue bunny's muscles relaxed, and she sank back a bit on the couch. Like a movie-reel projecting vivid images in her mind, she relived the few weeks that had been wiped by Take Care Bear. She saw herself kissing the young fox Matthias Andrews and leading him to his bedroom. Her breath deepened, and one of her paws started slowly sliding over her chest while her other paw ran down her tummy to her loins as she relived the sweet sexual night they had shared. Her breath came out in soft, short gasps and silent tears ran down her cheeks as she relived the next day, when the Care Bear Counsil forbade her to ever see Matthias again. She twitched a bit and breathed irregularly when she saw herself going to Frolicheart and Proudheart for help. She relaxed again while a smile slid over her face as she relived the few weeks of sneaking back and forth between Earth and the Forest of Feelings in the Mini Cooper Frolicheart had lent her, and again her paws started gently caressing her body as she remembered each sexual encounter between her and the fox. But she gasped hard and shivered when she again was caught in her mind by the Care Bear Counsil outside Matthias' house, and she sagged in the couch as she went through the procedure of having her mind blanked by Take Care Bear.

Trueheart stepped back to the front of the couch and softly shook Swiftheart. When the bunny gave no response and remained in her sagged position with her eyes closed, Trueheart slapped her against the cheek with a paw. That helped. Swiftheart startled up and opened her eyes with a shock. Again some silent tears ran down her face. With an accusatory look in her wet eyes, she looked at Brightheart and Trueheart.
     "Why?" she whispered.
Brightheart sighed and rubbed Swiftheart's shoulder with a paw.
     "I'm so sorry, bunny mine," he said softly.
Swiftheart shook his paw off her shoulder, rudely wiping at the tears in her eyes with the back of a paw.
     "Why?!" she demanded. "What has that been necessary for?! What could possibly justify an action like that?!"
     "At that time, Swiftheart..." Trueheart said softly. "We only acted with the best things at heart. For you, for us, for the whole Kingdom of Caring. Your actions endangered our law of secrecy, jeopardized the very existence of our Kingdom of Caring. We just didn't know at that time..."
     "What!" Swiftheart almost shouted. "What didn't you know at that time! What more have you been hiding from me!"
Brightheart put his paw on Swiftheart's shoulder again, a little firmer this time.
     "That fox you met this morning, bunny mine, is one of our cousins, named Fearlessheart Fox. He only recently was taken up in the Family, for he has been lost for a long long time," he said softly. "And, the reason... the reason he acted so strange when you two ran into each other, is... is that Take Care could not manage to complete on him the procedure she did on you."
The blue bunny looked at Brightheart with wide round eyes, gasping hard.
     "You're saying... you're saying..." She clapped her paws over her face. "Oh my stars! Fearlessheart is Matthias?! Matthias was Fearlessheart, all the time?!"
     "Yes, Swiftheart," Trueheart said softly. "We did not know that. We did not know it until Take Care tried the procedure on him. He broke out of it, and his emotions revealed who, and what, he really was."
     "Oh my stars!" Swiftheart cried. "And... and all the time... I didn't know!"
Trueheart sat down on the couch next to Swiftheart, and she softly placed a paw on the blue bunny's shoulder.
     "Swiftheart, I have to ask you this; do you still love him?"
Swiftheart lowered her paws and looked at Trueheart. She drew a couple of deep breaths to regain herself, and she wiped the backs of her paws along her eyes.
     "I... I... don't know. I... We've had such good times together, but... I've... I've fallen in love with Brightheart. And... I followed Matt... Fearlessheart home this morning. Gentleheart's home. And... it seems like..."
Trueheart nodded.
     "That's right," she said softly. "They are in love too. It's taken them a quite rocky start because of Fearlessheart's deep emotions, but they have fallen in love, Swiftheart. I'm sorry if..."
Swiftheart looked up at the speckled yellow Care Bear, her eyes still wet.
     "I don't... I don't wanna ruin that," she whispered with a trembling voice. "I don't want to break up a true couple again. I... I saw how they reacted to each other, and... I've already almost ruined something precious like that once. I don't want to do that again."
Trueheart smiled, but sighed at the same time.
     "Swiftheart," she said softly. "What happened between Proudheart and Frolicheart was not all your fault. You should not take the entire blame for that."
     "Maybe, but it was because of me that they got into such trouble," Swiftheart said, sniffing hard. "And I can't stand to be the cause of such troubles again. I've seen that Ma... Fearlessheart and Gentleheart are truly happy together, and... and that's good. That's how it should be. I don't wanna break into that." She sniffed hard again. "If... if he has been able to remember it all, then... then he must have had a very hard time getting over it, and... he doesn't deserve to have to go through all that again."
     "That is very big of you, bunny mine," Brightheart said softly.
Swiftheart shook the racoon's paw off her shoulder again and looked at him with a glitter in her eyes.
     "You..! You can stop speaking to me for a while!" she said a bit angrily. "You have some serious thinking to do! You've deceived me, you have been part of this and you've kept that from me all this time!"
     "I know," Brightheart said softly, hanging his head. "And I'm truly sorry about it, bunny mine."
     "Sorry is not enough!" Swiftheart said. "Not for now!" She stood up from the couch with a jolt. "Trueheart, thank you for giving me those few weeks of my life back. I can process this now and learn to live with it. And... maybe, at one point, I can get to terms with... Fearlessheart, about all this too."
Trueheart nodded silently.
     "If you ever feel a need to talk about it, Swiftheart, you know I'm always here for you."
     "Yes," Swiftheart said. "Thank you again. Goodbye now."
She walked out of the living room and left Trueheart's cloud cottage. Brightheart was still sitting on the couch, a bit defeated. He sighed a bit, then also got up.
     "Maybe I'd better go after her."
     "If she refuses to speak with you, Brightheart, give her time, please give her some time," Trueheart said softly. "She will be needing some time to process all this, it's been a deep shock for her after all."
     "I know," Brightheart nodded. "And I love her, I'll give her all the time she needs. But I still think I should try and talk to her now."
Trueheart sighed softly.
     "As you wish. But please be considerate to her state of mind right now."

Brightheart nodded silently and left Trueheart's cloud cottage. When he got outside, he looked around him, and then sighed again. His Cloudsmobile was there, but Swiftheart wasn't. In fact, the blue bunny was nowhere in sight.

That was, of course, because Swiftheart had set off in a frenzied run after all that had been revealed to her. At first, she had just ran back to the Forest of Feelings, running aimlessly, not seeing where she was going because her vision was clouded by tears. As she got into the forest, her first thought was running over to Gentleheart's cloud cottage to confront Fearlessheart and yell at him. Halfway there, however, she got her senses back, and she stopped so suddenly that her feet drew smoke tracks over the rainbow path.
     'No,' she suddenly thought to herself. 'No, I can't do that. It's so unfair. He can't help it, and he really must've had it hard enough already.' Thinking deeply, the blue lapine Care Bear Cousin considered who'd she then go to for help. An idea lit up in her mind as she remembered another thing, but it was an idea that plagued her heart with doubts. 'Would it be a good idea? Would she... let me?' The blue bunny considered again, and finally decided it was worth a shot at least.

Meanwhile, deep inside the Forest of Feelings, Fearlessheart woke up again after his insane run through the forest in his attempt to lose Swiftheart. As he sat up in the bed and looked around him, he found himself alone. Gentleheart was probably in the living room, or outside on the porch, reading. The fox quietly thought over his course of action.
     'What to do?' he thought to himself. 'This can't go on like this; I've got to get it out in the open, at least with Gentleheart.'

Deciding to just get it over and done with, Fearlessheart rose up from the bed and walked to the living room. Finding Gentleheart not there, he walked outside to find the mintgreen lamb sitting on the porch swing, reading the antique copy of Cyrano de Bergerac that Fearlessheart had given her for her birthday. A smile crept over the fox's face, and the mintgreen lamb looked up when he stepped onto the porch.
     "A-a-are you feeling better no-o-ow?" she asked.
     "Yes, thank you," Fearlessheart answered, sitting down next to Gentleheart on the porch swing. He placed a paw on her leg. "Gentleheart, listen, something happened this morning. I, uh... I met Swiftheart."
Gentleheart was surprisingly calm about the news. She just put a bookmark in her book, closed it, lay it on the small table next to the swing and turned a bit to face Fearlessheart better.
     "And wha-a-at happened?"
     "Well... it was strange, really," Fearlessheart said. "She introduced herself to me and asked me for my name."
     "Tha-a-at's not so surpri-i-ising," Gentleheart shrugged. "She still doesn't remember wha-a-at happened between you two ba-a-ack then."
     "Oh crud, that's true of course," Fearlessheart muttered. He looked back at Gentleheart's face. "Well, anyway... I kinda freaked out, Gentleheart," he confessed. "I ran away, but she just kept catching up with me. I really kept trying to lose her, but she just kept popping up everywhere I ran."
To the fox's unspeakable surprise, Gentleheart started giggling.
     "Well of course, wha-a-at did you think?" she giggled. "No one ca-a-an outrun Swiftheart! She's the fa-a-astest thing in the enti-i-ire Forest of Feelings!" The mintgreen lamb giggled even harder. "I wa-a-anna bet she can even outrun Frolicheart's ca-a-ars!"
     "So... you're not mad at me?" Fearlessheart said, rather astounded at Gentleheart's reaction.
     "Of course no-o-ot," the mintgreen lamb smiled sweetly, softly running a paw along Fearlessheart's face. "Wha-a-at did you think, tha-a-at I would be? Come on no-o-ow, you should know me better than tha-a-at. We all live in the sa-a-ame forest, it's inevitable tha-a-at you two would run into each other so-o-ome day." Gentleheart softly took the fox's head in both her paws and looked him straight in his eyes, smiling sweetly. "I'll even tell you wha-a-at, foxy. One of these da-a-ays, you should visit her and ta-a-alk to her."
Now Fearlessheart was totally at a loss. All he could do was stare at Gentleheart with his eyes large and round, and his mouth hanging open. Gentleheart giggled again and pressed a soft kiss on the fox's orange heart-shaped nose.
     "Wha-a-at are you looking so astonished fo-o-or?" she giggled.
     "I... I just... I can't..." Fearlessheart stuttered. He suddenly drew a very deep breath and also took Gentleheart's head in both his paws, softly kissing her. "Oh wow, I love you, Gentleheart."
     "I lo-o-ove you too, foxy," the mintgreen lamb smiled.

She embraced Fearlessheart and pulled him close to her, holding him tightly. With a happy sigh, Fearlessheart returned the embrace and buried his face in the ultra-soft fur on Gentleheart's shoulder.

A couple of miles furtheron in the Forest of Feelings, Swiftheart cautiously approached a certain cloud cottage. It was a well-known cottage, for it had two large buildings standing behind it, and a number of cars around it. For a few moments, Swiftheart hesitated, squatting behind a bush and straining her long ears. They picked up the sounds of tools in use.
     'Of course,' Swiftheart thought to herself with a smile. 'That guy just can't get enough of that.'

She slowly rose up and stepped over to the cottage. After her cleaning spree, Proudheart had gone outside and was now lying on a comfy stretcher, just outside the front porch, a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses on her nose. Swiftheart slowly walked over to the sun-bathing kitty.
     "Proudheart?"
Proudheart slowly lifted her sunglasses, and she looked kinda surprised when she saw who had mentioned her name.
     "Swifthearrrt? What arrre you doing herrre?"
     "I need to talk to you, Proudheart," the bunny said softly. "Please?"

Proudheart looked even more surprised. The tone of Swiftheart's voice was not at all like her usual cheery, wise-cracking tone, and the look on the bunny's face was alarmingly serious. Quickly rising up, Proudheart sat down on the edge of the stretcher and patted it with a paw, motioning Swiftheart to join her.
     "Come sit with me, and tell me what's the matterrr, Swifthearrrt."
Heaving a deep sigh of relief, Swiftheart sat down next to Proudheart on the stretcher. She sighed again.
     "I... ran into that new fox today, Proudheart," she started softly. "Or more, I tripped over him on my morning jog. And something so weird happened. I... I introduced myself to him, and apparently scared him out of his wits with just that. A-and... when I went home, I... talked with Brightheart about it, and he... he told me..." In a sudden move, Swiftheart flung her arms around Proudheart's shoulder and buried her face in the orange kitty's fur. "He told me what Take Care has done to me, some time back!" she finished with a sob.
Proudheart, kinda startled by Swiftheart's sudden move, shook her head and wrapped her arms around the blue bunny.
     "Oh my starrs," she muttered softly.
     "That's... that's not all," Swiftheart said, breathing deeply. "We... we went to Trueheart, and... she... she helped me to... to remember it all."
Now Proudheart was truly shocked.
     "Oh my starrs!"
Swiftheart nodded into Proudheart's fur.
     "I... I also remembered how you guys helped me, and... I just didn't know who else to turn to." She took her face out of Proudheart's fur and looked at the kitty's face. "I don't know how to handle this, Proudheart. Please help me." Some tears welled up in her eyes. "Now... now that I know everything, this is going to be so hard. I mean, we both live here in the forest now, and he still knows about everything that happened, and now I do again as well. But we can't avoid each other forever, I know we can't. And... how will we ever be able to look at each other? I mean, I've seen he's with Gentleheart now, and... I could even tell how true they love each other. But... with our history... could we ever look at each other, talk to each other?"

Proudheart softly held Swiftheart, comfortingly. She felt how true the bunny's anguish was, and she so wanted to help her like she had helped her in the time she'd been sneaking back and forth to Earth to see someone the Care Bear Counsil had forbidden her to see.
     "Let me ask you this question, Swifthearrrt," she said with a soft smile. "Do you still love him?"
Swiftheart looked up, and a small smile formed between her tears.
     "That's what Trueheart asked me as well. And I told her... Well, I told her I don't really know. I've fallen in love with Brightheart. I've always had a funny thing for him, and I really really love him. But... I do have had a wonderful time with Matthias... I mean Fearlessheart." She softly shook her head. "Sheesh, that's gonna take some getting used to."
Proudheart smiled again.
     "Okay, I can see that. But therrre's no chance you would want him back?"
Swiftheart shook her head, determinedly.
     "No. No, I just... couldn't do that. It would be too unfair. I mean, I'm in love with Brightheart now, and he and Gentleheart are really in love too. I can't break that up. As I told Trueheart as well..." She gulped. "I... I couldn't stand to be the cause of a true couple breaking up again. I already almost ruined the love between you and Frolicheart with what I've done."
     "But forr which I have forrrgiven both him, and you," Proudheart said with a soft smile.
     "And which was as much my fault as it was yours, so please stop blaming just yourself for it," sounded a voice behind the two Care Bear Cousins. "I'm as much to blame for what happened as you are, Swiftheart."
Proudheart and Swiftheart looked up with a shock, seeing Frolicheart standing right next to the stretcher, looking at them seriously. Swiftheart's lower lip started trembling a bit.
     "But... i-it was my fault," she said softly. "I seduced you, I took the initiative."
     "Swiftheart, that first time, I took the initiative," Frolicheart said. "And the other times, I should have withstood you, refused you, discouraged you, whatever, but at least I shouldn't have agreed to it. But I did, Swiftheart, and that makes me as guilty as you." The fawn puma smiled a bit. "But as Proudheart says, she has forgiven both of us, so that's a thing of the past now, and we should stop thinking about it. As it is, it seems to me there's a much more serious problem at paw we should now be thinking of." He sat down next to Proudheart on the stretcher with a smile. "Now, since I missed most of it, please tell me what's going on, and then let's see if we can find a solution for it, okay?"

Proudheart smiled, and even Swiftheart managed a smile, and the blue bunny again told the two felines about all that had happened. All the while Frolicheart listened quietly, every now and then running a paw over his whiskers. When Swiftheart was done talking, Frolicheart sat thinking deeply for a while, now even twirling his whiskers around his fingers.
     "Just like that fluff-head, to react like that," he mumbled under his breath. "Whenever something major happens that goes above his head, he either freaks out and panics, or goes depressed. Man, I should really give him such a kick against his fuzzy behind that his tail comes out his nose some time. Hmmm, but what to do about this situation? It should be talked about with all parties, obviously, but how to go at that?"

Lapsing into deep thought, the fawn puma reached into his fur and produced a small red packet. To Swiftheart's great surprise, it turned out to be a packet of Australian cigarettes, and she watched wide-eyed as Frolicheart took a cigarette out of the packet, stuck it between his lips, also withdrew a lighter from the packet and lit the cigarette. As he released a large cloud of smoke, Swiftheart actually rubbed her eyes with her paws to make sure she was seeing it correctly. And Proudheart wrinkled her nose with a frown.
     "Sweethearrrt, do you rrreally have to do that?" she said disapprovingly.
Frolicheart smiled a little apologetically.
     "I'm sorry, Proudheart, but it just happens to help me think clearly, you know."
     "Might be, but you know how I hate it," Proudheart said.
     "That I do, and I'm really sorry, and I'll really try to quit," Frolicheart said. "But for now, I've just gotta try to let me help it find the proper solution for the problem we have here."
Swiftheart was still looking at the fawn puma wide-eyed.
     "You... you... smoke?" she stammered. "I... I... never knew that."
     "Yeh, I do, and don't worry, this is not a memory Take Care wiped from your mind," Frolicheart said with a little smile. "In fact, Take Care doesn't even know herself I do it. Which is for the better, because if she would know, she'd probably turn me inside out to air me out. Now, let me think for a while, okay?"
Swiftheart nodded silently, and Frolicheart lapsed back into thought, taking a drag from his cigarette every now and then and letting the smoke escape from his nostrils. After some time, he rose up.
     "The best solution I can find is you and him talking this over and getting it out in the open, Swiftheart," he said. "So you just wait here, and I'll go get him."

Before Swiftheart could reply, Frolicheart got into a car and drove off. At Gentleheart's cloud cottage, he found the fox and the lamb sitting on the porch swing, and he urged Fearlessheart to come with him. The vulpine Care Bear Cousin protested at first, but after some gentle urging from Gentleheart and a threat to get his fuzzy butt kicked and then be dragged over to his cottage by the ears anyway from Frolicheart, he gave in and went along with Frolicheart to the puma's cottage. Back there, the fawn puma put a paw on the fox's shoulders and firmly led him inside, to the room where Proudheart was waiting with Swiftheart. Setting the two apprehensive Care Bear Cousins down in front of each other, the two feline Care Bear Cousins removed themselves from the room and went into the next room, giving Fearlessheart and Swiftheart some privacy to talk, but being ready to rush in at any time that might be needed.

The two Care Bear Cousins sat there, staring at each other for a while. Neither of them said a thing, they just sat there until Swiftheart finally spoke up.
     "Why didn't you say anything? You knew what they did, and you just moved on," she said in a weak voice that was barely above a whisper. Fearlessheart just sat there, frozen by the accusation. Without a response, Swiftheart was starting to get upset again. "You have nothing to say for yourself?" she asked. "Was I that easy to get over? Be honest, did you hook up with Gentleheart the next day, or did you at least wait a week out of respect?" she asked, nearly shouting at this point. Fearlessheart got up from his chair and walked over to the door. "You're leaving now?" she shouted. "Is this how you solve all your problems, running away?"

Fearlessheart locked the door, and walked back to the bunny. Sitting down in the chair, he looked back at the blue bunny, the girl whom he had loved so much. His vision had blurred with the tears that were welling up in his eyes, and Swiftheart saw how her words had stung him. Speaking softly at first, he answered her questions.
     "I couldn't say anything. The memory wipe on you was total and complete; you couldn't even remember who I was or what I looked like," he said. "It was tearing me apart inside not to have you with me anymore, and I couldn't put you through that. I watched you for a while, and you seemed happy. I didn't want to ruin that, so I left. Yes, I ran away instead of facing my problems, and it nearly killed me. Then, after Frolicheart found me, I tried to do that myself, but he stopped me," Fearlessheart confessed.
Swiftheart was shocked. Never in her worst nightmares could she have imagined a member of the Care Bear Family attempting suicide.
     "But why, why would you even try something like that?" she asked, her tone becoming softer.
     "Because of you," he said flatly. "I couldn't bear to live without you. No one had any idea how to restore your memory and after I heard that you and Brightheart had hooked up, I just couldn't interfere anymore."
     "But that's just a different type of running away," Swiftheart explained.
     "I know, but I just couldn't bring myself to face you anymore. I had resolved myself to the fact that you and I were never going to get back together. It was only weeks later that I met Gentleheart. I didn't mean for it to happen, but we started dating, and then we hooked up too. Even after that, I still had dreams about you and what we shared. So much even that I wrecked the Dodge."
Swiftheart looked at him with wide eyes.
     "You wrecked that yummy car?"
Frolicheart and Proudheart had their ears pressed against the wall in the next room.
     "Ohh, I knew that was going to come out," Frolicheart said, squeezing his eyes and shaking his head, remembering the wreck that had formerly been a beautiful shiny black Dodge Challenger. Back in the room, Fearlessheart tried to explain.
     "No, I didn't wreck the car; I completely totaled it. There wasn't anything either Frolicheart or I could do to fix it, it was too badly damaged. And I spent over a week in the hospital because of it. That's when me and Gentleheart got really serious."
     "I noticed that," Swiftheart commented.
     "For a long time I carried the burden of that sadness and the hate I felt for certain members of the family around," Fearlessheart said. "Gentleheart helped me in the way I needed the most. When everyone else was afraid of me because of what had happened the night they took you away from me, she was the only one who even tried to get close to me. She showed me that I could love again and that my emotions were not something to be afraid of."
     "You really do love her, don't you?" Swiftheart asked in a soft voice.
     "Yes, I really do, but as I explained to Gentleheart, I'm always going to love you too," the fox said softly. "And while I love her more, I'm never going to be able to get over what you and I shared. You were the first person to look at me and love me for who I was, and not out of pity." Swiftheart smiled a bit, and Fearlessheart slowly looked up at her face. "I doubt that Brightheart told you this, but when he visited me in the hospital I threatened him that if he ever hurt you, he'd have to deal with me. It looks like now I'm going to have to make good on that promise because he should never have told you about this."

The smile immediately ran away from Swiftheart's face. Having her memories revived, she knew that Matthias Andrews was not a fox to break his word or to come back from a commitment or a vow he made to himself, and she very much doubted that that was anything different now that he turned out to be Fearlessheart Fox, Care Bear Cousin. Looking at him seriously, she shuffled a bit closer to him on the couch, reaching out with a paw, wanting to place it on his leg but thinking better of it.
     "No, don't you dare," she said, almost in a whisper. "It's not Brightheart's fault. I insisted on this. It's my life they've messed with, three weeks of my private time that they stole form me, and I insisted on having it returned to me. Brightheart helped me out very good by getting that done. And besides, he could do nothing else but tell me, because after I ran into you this morning I asked him about all that's been going on. You can't hold him responsible for that and harm him for it." The blue bunny smiled weakly. "I won't even let you. If I'd find out you've been after my racoon, I'll personally kick you off the clouds."

For some time, Fearlessheart regarded her in silence. Then, slowly, a smile started forming on his lips, and he also shuffled a bit closer to Swiftheart. Just in time thinking better of putting his paw on her shoulder, he masked the fact that he wanted to do that by resting his arm on the back of the couch.
     "If only you know how glad I am to hear that," he said with a soft smile.
Swiftheart tilted her head to one side a bit.
     "What... Are you saying you were testing me here?"
     "No." Fearlessheart shook his head, still with a small smile. "No, I wasn't testing you; I meant what I said. But by what you answered to it, I know... that you really love him. And that means to me that... we can move on now." Drawing a deep breath, the fox now did place his paw on Swiftheart's shoulder. "As I said, I will never get over what we shared together, Swifty, because you've been the first who really made a difference in my life, who made me feel wanted. And even though we both are in love with someone else now, I still believe that we can have a very special friendship because of that, and I want that. I want us to be friends, Swifty."
Slowly reaching up with a paw, Swiftheart rested her paw on the one Fearlessheart had placed on her shoulder, and she smiled at the fox.
     "I want that too," she smiled. "You're right, I do very much love Brightheart. Quite honestly, I've always had a special thing for him. And..." She smiled a bit apologetically. "I followed you this morning, after you thought I'd left you in that tree. I saw how you and Gentleheart reacted to each other, and I could tell how much you two love each other. I'm really happy that you also found your happiness here, Ma... Fearlessheart. And if we can be friends, I want us to be, but I don't wanna come between you and Gentleheart now. I've been feeling bad enough the first time when I almost broke up Frolicheart and Proudheart, and I don't want to be the cause of something so terrible again."
With a shock of surprise, Fearlessheart pulled back his paw, resting both of them in his lap and looking at Swiftheart with wide eyes.
     "What... do you mean, you almost broke up Frolicheart and Proudheart?"
     "That's a very tender issue I never told you about because you already had troubles enough getting over her as it was," Frolicheart's voice sounded from somewhere further in the room.
Quite surprised, the two Care Bear Cousins on the couch looked around, seeing the fawn puma leaning on the small table with the telephone on it.
     "I thought I'd locked the door?" Fearlessheart said.
     "That door ain't the only one leading into this room, buddy," Frolicheart said with a small smile. "The door you locked just leads to the back room. I went outside from there, went back inside through the front door and then simply came in here through that door." He nodded at the door leading from the living room to the hallway. He walked up to the couch and sat down in the chair near it. "Now, seeing as that we're clearing up dark and difficult matters, I'd better tell you now what Swiftheart meant with what she told you just now. Last year, I've had a short, but stormy affair with her, Fearlessheart. She looked me up when I was working on some of my cars, and I brought her along to a race I drove in, and we've made out several times. I really felt bad about it afterwards, knowing how disloyal it had been of me to Proudheart, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to telling her about it. When it finally came out, my kitty and I had one of the worst fights in the history of the Kingdom of Caring, and she walked out on me. We got this close to never getting back together anymore."
Fearlessheart looked at the fawn puma silently, shocked at first to her of the problem his friend'd had, but then a look of displeasement slid over his face.
     "And you never told me about that? I thought we were friends?"
     "We are, Fearlessheart, and that's why I haven't told you about this earlier," Frolicheart said seriously. "With the troubles you were going through, I knew that mentioning Swiftheart around you was a really stupid thing to do, so I just waited until the time would be right to tell you. And I also knew that the right time to tell you would only be when you and Swiftheart had overcome your troubles. Which seems to have happened now, so now I'm telling you that she and I had an affair once which almost broke up me and Proudheart." He turned his look to Swiftheart. "And again I'm telling you, Swiftheart, that you should not take the entire blame for it, because as I already told you before, I was as much to blame as you."
     "You're too good for this world," the blue bunny remarked skeptically, but with a small smile.
Frolicheart laughed softly.
     "I know, but I'm trying to live with that."

The little joke lifted the atmosphere of seriousness that had been in the room, and both Swiftheart and Fearlessheart also managed a cheerful reaction. After unlocking the door to the back room, sweeping Proudheart up in his paws, playfully carrying her into the living room and plunking her down in the love seat and sinking into it next to her, Frolicheart talked some more with Swiftheart and Fearlessheart, and a little while later both of them left the two felines' cloud cottage in a much lighter and cheerier mood.

About two weeks had passed, a time that had found Gentleheart and Fearlessheart visiting Brightheart and Swiftheart to talk the last things over. It now really seemed like every last bit of darkness and sad depression had been cleared out of the Kingdom of Caring, and finally the Care Bear Family life could continue as it had for years: happy and cheerful and undisturbed by serious issues between any of the family members.

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