I don't have an enormous interest in Care Bears, but this story just begged to be written. It is primarily based upon the Care Bears episodes with No Heart, and Care Bears Movie II. I don't own Care Bears, but all the original characters in this story are mine.
I've finally finished a major rewrite of the whole story. Among other things, I substantially altered the ending, and added a character or two that I meant to put in the first draft, but somehow didn't get to. I hope those of you who read the first draft will agree that this new draft is an improvement. All the chapters are basically finished, so I just have to upload them after I go over them one more time.
Don't copy part or the whole of this story without permission. That said, on with the story.
Darkest Hearts
by Maelstra
Ch 1: Forgotten Motive
It was a bright and sunny day; the sunbeams danced across the sapphire sky, and a warm breeze carried the scent of springtime and flowers. Carealot drifted by, far above the human world, its pure white, fluffy clouds supporting a multitude of happy buildings, roofed with white clouds and painted all the colors of the rainbow. Within one such building, a small, blue-furred bear bounced up, giggling, to gaze out a window.
"Ooh! Look at the birdies!" the cub chirped. "Wow!"
Grams Bear chuckled, but did not move, still leafing through a recipe book. "What kind of birds, Sparkle, dear?"
"Gray ones - lots of them. Oh! What's that?!"
The silver-furred, grandmotherly bear placed her still-open book on the shelf, and went over to look. Beyond the plateau of white clouds, at the blurring edge of the horizon, a dark cloud was forming, apparently pulling itself together out of nothing. It was visibly growing larger as they watched. Several flocks of birds flew swiftly toward Carealot, as if fleeing from the cloud as quickly as they could.
"I'm scared!" The blue cub trembled, hiding behind Grams Bear.
"Don't worry, Sparkle. The other carebears are taking care of it," she reassured, leading her young charge away from the window. "Why don't I tell you a story . . ."
Meanwhile, Proud Heart Cat yowled at the top of her lungs, "Carebears, carebear cousins! Every bear, get over here!" The tan cat lashed her tail, left to right, for emphasis. She stood on a cloud puff, at the base of the Caring Meter's cloud platform, impatiently waiting for the others to join her.
Puzzled by the outburst, but heeding Proud Heart's urgent tone, the few within the sound of her voice arrived quickly. Cozy Heart Penguin waved a purple wing and asked for all present, "What'S the matter, Proud Heart?" her cute lisp whistling on the "s."
"Look over there," Proud Heart, pointing one paw, directed the others' gaze to the rapidly growing storm cloud churning in the distance, already dwarfing every other cloud in the sky.
"No Heart . . .?" Wish Bear whispered, raising her sea-green paws to cover her mouth.
Tugs Bear, the blue-furred twin, gazed nervously at the storm cloud, then hesitantly spoke up, "I thought all the other bears said No Heart had gone to Prism Falls."
Hugs Bear continued for her twin brother. ". . . And so, everyone but us had to leave at sunrise to go stop No Heart's latest scheme." She lifted a pink paw to scratch her head in confusion.
"Uh oh. I have a bad feeling about this . . ." Good Luck – a spring green bear – stated ominously. He then hurried over to the edge of the cloud to take a closer look at the ominous cloud through the mounted telescope.
"You've got that right." Proud Heart's voice rumbled a little as she spoke. "That cloud is building up right by No Heart's Castle. I'm worried that all the others may have gone off chasing a decoy, while the real No Heart hasn't gone anywhere."
The twin bears gasped and grabbed each other's arms. Wish Bear, rubbing one paw on her forehead, muttered to herself, "I wish I didn't agree with you . . ."
Good Luck Bear rubbed his fuzzy green chin, thinking, still gazing through the telescope. "I can't make out anything beyond the dark clouds – they've completely swallowed up No Heart's castle." He turned around, and met Proud Heart Cat's gaze. "So, what should we do?"
"We can't juSt go off and leave Carealot undefended," Cozy Heart spoke up, flapping both wings in distress. "We Said we'd Stay here to defend Carealot, 'juSt in caSe'."
"But if we don't do something, it may be too late. I'll bet that No Heart thinks all of the carebears will be away at Prism Falls until after he finishes his new spell. If the six of us go now, maybe we could surprise and stop him. Or at least delay him until the others get back." Proud Heart crossed her arms and waited hear the others' thoughts.
"We'll need a lot of luck . . ." Good Luck said.
"I'll wish for us." Wish Bear added.
"Yeah, let's go!" The twin bears jumped up and down with great energy.
"Oh, I gueSS," Cozy Heart reluctantly agreed to Proud Heart, but with a glance at Hugs and Tugs, she added, "But I'm not Sure the cubS Should go."
"Hey!" protested Hugs Bear.
"We're not cubs anymore,"agreed Tugs Bear, determinedly folding his arms.
"Even Tender Heart says we're old enough to help!"
"Please let us go?"
Cozy Heart, faced with double "sad puppy dog" faces, turned to the other adult bears and cousins for help, who each just shrugged.
"I think we'll need all the help we can get." Wish Bear smiled. "Just be very careful," she said specifically to the twins.
"Sure!"
"Hey, I know the perfect thing we could bring! We'll be right back - don't leave without us!" Hugs ran off. Tugs immediately followed, evidently already knowing what his sister meant.
Good Luck Bear glanced at each of the others. "Should we wait for them? Cozy Heart does have a point; they've never been out on a real mission before."
"I think so," Wish Bear declared. "They've obviously been wishing for a chance to prove that they're grown up now."
"But they're not totally grown up yet," Proud Heart purred uncertainly.
"Neither were we the first time we had to face the forces of Hate."
No one wanted to add anything to that, each taking a moment to remember past battles and past dangers. Good Luck abruptly changed to subject back to the present. "I think we'll need two cloudcars. I'll take care of one."
"Good. I'll manage the other," Proud Heart accepted. She and Good Luck began focusing. Cloudcars could be formed from a carebear's "stare" or a carebear cousin's "call," but it took deep concentration for an uninterrupted minute.
Wish Bear and Cozy Heart gazed again at the cloud, which had swollen far beyond the point where it could be deemed merely a rain cloud. Cozy Heart took a turn at the telescope, and studied the cloud itself more closely. "I can See lightning," she declared, "and it lookS pretty SeriouS, WiSh Bear."
"I wish . . . I . . ." she trailed off, deep in thought, and stood silent even though Cozy Heart waited for her to say more.
"We're ready," Good Luck tapped Wish Bear's shoulder to get her attention, startling her.
"Hey!" The twin bears came running back. "We're all set."
Wish Bear looked at her friends, took a deep breath, and smiled weakly. "Well, let's go."
Two cloudcars flew toward No Heart's Castle as fast as they could without the cars disintegrating back into the clouds they were made from. Violent gusts of wind battered them from every side, so they did not try to fly parallel. Due to the distance between them, conversations between the two cars were impossible, but even those in the same car had little to say to each other. In the car that Proud Heart flew, Hugs and Tugs in the backseat stared at the cloud, as silent from fearful awe as Proud Heart was quiet from grimly focusing on maximizing her speed. Over in the other car, Cozy Heart whistled nervously to herself in the backseat.
"It looks like the Cloud of Uncaring," Wish Bear said to Good Luck with a shudder. "Do you think No Heart has decided to try it again?"
Good Luck Bear thought a moment before he replied, "I don't know. He's never repeated a spell before . . . but he's never come as close to beating us with one, either."
Wish Bear didn't answer. Cozy Heart paused a moment, then continued her musical contribution to the flight. The thunderings soon grew louder, totally drowning out Cozy Heart's shrill whistling.
As the cars neared the castle, the carebears and carebear cousins could barely discern the top few towers of No Heart's Castle – the dense black cloud seemed to be pouring out of them – but the rest of the castle was enveloped entirely in dark mist. The lightning bolts suddenly leapt closer, and Proud Heart and Good Luck had to swerve to dodge the streaks of dangerous energy.
"Hang on!" Proud Heart yelled to her passengers as she threw the car into a sharp loop to avoid a sizzling bolt.
"Oh no!" Good Luck managed to dodge two near strikes, warned by a preceding feeling of tingling static – but it seemed inevitable that the car would be struck by a third.
"I wish . . . !" Wish Bear muttered with all her heart. Her tummy symbol glowed, and sent out two golden beams of light. Each coalesced into a glowing half-sphere, open at the back, around the front of each cloud car. A bolt of lightning smashed straight onto the dome around Good Luck's car, and harmlessly deflected off.
"Wow! Lightning shields! Good job, Wish Bear!" Good Luck gasped in relief, resuming a straight course to the castle.
Proud Heart flew up close beneath Good Luck's car, and shouted over the near-constant rumbling of thunder, "I think we can't sneak in this time! We'll just land wherever looks safe, and go from there!"
"Right!" Good Luck yelled back.
The frequency of the lightning bolts increased as they flew closer. Suddenly, they entered the calm center of the storm, and the entirety of the lower towers and open corridors of No Heart's castle became visible. They could see none of No Heart's shadows outside, but Beastly was obvious, running back and forth in front of a window in an upper room.
"I See a Spot up ahead, where the lightning iSn't Striking!" Cozy Heart declared, leaning over Good Luck's seat to point so that he could see.
"I see it. Cozy Heart, signal Proud Heart that we're going to land!" He started guiding the car gently downwards, ignoring the ricocheting lightning bolts as much as he could. He confided to Wish Bear in a loud shout, "You'd better have more wishes ready, because I think we're going to need all the good luck we can get!"
"I thought that was why we brought you!" she hollared back, weakly grinning.
Good Luck tried to laugh. "Yeah . . ." He landed on the black cloud that acted as the foundation for No Heart's dark and towering lair, then drove the car forward until it rested beneath a large, black balcony. Proud Heart pulled up beside him a moment later, and only then did Wish Bear's shields melt away. Everyone climbed out, and looked around nervously.
"We've only come part way, So don't give up yet. We Still need to do our beSt," Cozy Heart coaxed, speaking loudly.
"Yeah," Wish Bear and Good Luck Bear said. The rest just nodded, not wishing to try to talk over the thunder.
"This way," Proud Heart Cat indicated a doorway with a flick of her tail, rumbling deeply in her throat.
Squeezing behind dusty furniture and cobweb-bound statues, hugging the cold, stone walls, the group slowly infiltrated their way into the heart of No Heart's castle. Only occasionally did one of the gargoyle-faced shadow servants of No Heart float into sight. The carebears all immediately ducked behind corners or under furniture – but as best as they could tell, the shadows were all too preoccupied with other business, and failed to notice them.
Proud Heart cautiously peered around a corner and studied the long, dark corridor beyond. She cocked her ears to listen, then finally motioned everyone to follow her. The walls in this hallway were lined with unpleasant-looking, stone gargoyles. Hugs cringed when she looked at them: they almost seemed to be alive, watching their every move.
"Grrr! It's not fair!" A shrill voice floated up the corridor, coming from behind the carebears.
Hugs Bear jumped at the sound and stumbled into Proud Heart.
"Oh no! Hurry, everyone – hide!" Good Luck gasped while looking around desperately for cover.
"Why can't I go to Prism Falls and help trick the carebears? If Uncle No Heart would just give me the chance, I'm sure I could trap them all . . ." Shrieky sulked as she stalked down the hallway, stomping with every step and making her green-streaked purple ponytail bounce rhythmically. Then, she stopped suddenly, staring. "What . . . ? Hey!"
The carebears had tried to hide behind the statues, but it was fairly futile as their brightly colored fur stood out sharply against the black walls and gargoyles.
Wish Bear immediately jumped out and started sprinting for the far end of the hall. "Run!"
"Carebears! I'll get you!" Shrieky recovered from her surprise a moment slower than the carebears, but then swiftly reached into a bottomless pocket of her red dress and drew out her magic mirror.
By then, all but Cozy Heart had reached the end of the corridor and disappeared around one of the corners. She had to throw herself around to the left to avoid the magical bolt that Shrieky fired from her mirror – but Cozy Heart made it, and resumed running as fast as she could after Wish Bear and Good Luck. Several more bolts of energy struck the wall at the intersection, knocking bits of the stone loose.
Meanwhile, Hugs, Tugs, and Proud Heart had turned right. They had to take an immediate, sharp left turn to get away from the dangerous magic bolts that blasted the stones behind and beside them. Then, just to the left again, they started down a steep flight of stairs that descended into nearly total darkness. Proud Heart suddenly grabbed the twins and pinned them to the ground, still on the stairs.
"Wha –?" Tugs started to protest, but the carebear cousin shushed him.
"Come back here, you wretched . . . caring freaks!" Shrieky pounded up after them, skidded to a stop, then charged down the staircase. "I'll show you!" She shot bolts from her magical mirror ahead of her, into the darkness.
Hugs and Tugs, having caught on to Proud Heart's plan, silently got back to their feet and followed the tan cat back around to the hallway where they had last seen the others. The hall was empty, except for one of No Heart's horned, sentry shadows that slowly floated across into a solid stone wall and disappeared.
Proud Heart motioned for them to continue forward, and the twins nodded then quietly complied. They climbed a curving flight of stairs at the end of the corridor that spiraled up until they passed through the ceiling and went outside. The thunder storm was still raging, and the dark cloud – though quite black before – seemed to have somehow become darker still, despite the frequent lightning exploding throughout it.
"PSSt! PSSt pSSt!"
Proud Heart and the twin bears instantly recognized Cozy Heart's whistle. She waved to them from further up on the curling flight of stairs. Greatly relieved, they hurried up to join her. After verifying that everyone was still unharmed, they continued on, and ascended the stairs until they reentered the castle. They followed the path of the only hallway available, and shortly found themselves in No Heart's Magic Chamber.
A bottomless chasm opened up in the center of the floor, and only a thin stone bridge led out to a small, floating platform in the center of the pit. Currently, the platform was almost completely obscured by the heavy, black fog which rose from the pit and exited through a hole in the top of the chamber, feeding into the massive thunderstorm outside. All the carebears and carebear cousins stayed in the doorway, studying the vast chamber, but they could see no sign of anyone. Hesitantly, they spread out some, and looked in the holding rooms closest to the archway where they had entered. Finally, a bit confused, Proud Heart Cat motioned the others over. "I don't understand it," she muttered. "It's like he's not here."
"Yes, it is like that, isn't it?" a familiar, sinister voice observed mockingly.
"No Heart!" everyone yelped, and looked up just in time to see a large, metal cage materialize above their heads. It fell, crashing with a harsh clang on the floor. Everyone clung to each other in the center of the thick, black bars.
A very malevolent-looking green and purple wasp – wearing a triangular, silver pendant with a round, red jewel – flew down out of the dense fog. "I expected that not all of the bears would go chasing after my decoy, so I had a trap ready for those who were sure to come here. How 'considerate' of you not to disappoint me." The wasp hovered at the carebears' head level a moment. Then, in an explosion of smoke, it shifted form into a tall, sinister man wearing a deep blue robe, with a red sash hanging over his shoulders and a pointed, purple hood obscuring his face. Red eyes beneath spiky, green eyebrows glowed briefly, then faded as No Heart resumed speaking. "Now I can destroy you at my leisure, then simply wait for the next batch of foolish bears to come to me. Beastly!"
No Heart's irritating assistant, a brown furball with a fighter pilot's hat, arrived unusually promptly, through a side door. "You called, boss?" Beastly asked carelessly.
"Yes. I want you to make sure they don't try anything while I complete my spell. Do you understand?" No Heart's eyes flared red again for emphasis.
"Sure thing." Beastly strutted over near the cage, and waved a key just out of the bears' reach. He snickered, then taunted, "You're trapped in there, and there's nothing you can do about it."
The carebears rolled their eyes, and steeled themselves to ignore the furball's obnoxious antics.
Meanwhile, No Heart stood at the edge of the pit, working on his spell. A large portion of the cloud came to him and coalesced into a glowing green ball between his green hands. He muttered arcane words to the ball, and it flared orange once, twice, then settled into a sickly gray color. With a laugh of triumph, he walked towards the caged carebears, still carrying the magical sphere between his hands. "Look at this, carebears. Only a touch is necessary to drain all the caring from you. And, with each creature it drains, its power will grow. It is my ultimate revenge!" No Heart broke off into maniacal, villainous laughter.
"But, why do you say you want revenge on us?" Hugs Bear interrupted.
No Heart broke off laughing, his eyes glowing, and Cozy Heart tried to warn the bear quiet, but Hugs ignored her and continued, "Sure, we've been thwarting your evil plans for years, but that's just because you attacked us first."
"I think years of being frustrated by you is more than enough reason to destroy you," No Heart growled, but sounded almost amused. "Not that I care about justification, anyway," he added snippily.
"But why did you attack us in the first place?" Hugs persisted, turning on her cute-charm full blast, fluttering her eyelashes and smiling dazzlingly.
No Heart choked and made a noise that sounded rather like "blecch," then walked right up to the cage, holding the gray orb near Hugs Bear. Coldly, he hissed, "I don't remember, and I don't care. I am evil, I am hate, and that is all that matters!! And now – you will be the first one to test my ultimate spell!" He remained standing in place, but slowly spread his hands apart, which made the spell ball slowly float closer to Hugs Bear.
Hugs Bear already had a hand in her jacket pocket. "No thank you!" she hollered as she threw a handful of something right into No Heart's lavender hood.
"What was – ?" Good Luck Bear started to ask.
No Heart's shrieks of pain drowned out any other sound. The evil orb vanished the instant his concentration was broken, and No Heart staggered away from the cage, clutching at his cowl. "You – horrible – creature!" He screamed indistinctly and collapsed to kneeling, writhing. Acrid, white smoke starting seeping out from under the purple hood.
"B-boss? Uh, boss? . . . What should I do?" Beastly walked in indecisive circles, waving his arms.
"Hey, Beastly! Come here," Tugs Bear whispered loudly.
"Huh?" Beastly stopped walking. "Hey, you're just trying to trick me into giving you the key! Well it won't work. I'm much too smart to fall for a trick like that." Beastly snickered derisively.
"No, really. I just want to show you something," Tugs assured the furball with an innocent smile.
"Show me what?" Beastly cautiously stepped closer to the back of the cage, to where he could easily see Tugs.
"Hugs Bear . . . what did you do to No Heart?" Wish Bear finally asked, unable to take her eyes away from the smoking, cursing arch-villain.
"I . . . I don't know," Hugs answered, equally surprised. "I just used some caring crystals on him . . ."
"Caring crystals, on a person as uncaring as No Heart –" Proud Heart folded her arms and flicked her tail authoritatively. "That would definitely have bad side-effects for him."
By then, No Heart could barely hold his body off the ground with his arms, and his vision was totally obscured by the smoke pouring out from within his hood. His whole body felt as though it were dissolving, and his soul were burning. The caring crystals, an antithesis to his existence, were sapping his energy, and possibly even draining his very being.
No Heart twisted his involuntary shouts of pain into a growl of rage, and he bent his entire will to fighting the abomination that was destroying him. His will of evil, grown powerful over the years, was nearly not enough to combat the crystals – but slowly it drove the despised energy away. As the power of the caring crystals reluctantly receded, it left deep gouges in the darkness of No Heart's mind, returning memories that No Heart had long ago wished forgotten. The memories paraded through his head, and he shoved most back into forgetfulness in disgust; but a handful he held onto, some part of him unwilling to throw them away. One in particular galvanized his trembling soul into motion.
Pure rage burned within his heart, fueled by all the rediscovered memories, as he drew on his deepest magic to return some of his strength. The acidic smoke ceased flowing from his hood; he could again see the floor and his trembling, green-gloved hands. "You wish to know why I fight you, carebears?" he rasped, his voice now painfully hoarse. "I will tell you why: you destroyed my twin brother! I swore on that day that I would hunt you down, even to the ends of the world, to get my revenge. And, I assure you, I will yet have my revenge!" With supreme effort, No Heart pushed off the ground, and wobbled to hover upright again.
"Oh, boss, you don't look too good. Maybe you should lie down and rest a while. I could make you a nice glass of potion - just perfect for an upset tummy," Beastly smiled, sparkling all over. The cage beside him was empty, and all the carebears stood behind him, eyes focused solely on No Heart, uniformly startled by No Heart's sudden proclamation.
"What! More accursed caring crystals! I'll get you! I swear I'll – !" No Heart stumbled and fell as he tried to float menacingly toward the carebears.
"Here, boss, let me give you a hand!" Beastly wandered over and cheerfully offered a helping hand to No Heart, which the evil man swatted away in disgust.
"What did he mean – ?" Tugs started to ask as Proud Heart nudged him toward the exit.
"No time for that now!" Cozy Heart interrupted, simultaneously hurrying Hugs along.
"I agree," said Good Luck, already at the doorway. "This may be our only chance to escape."
The carebears fled from the room, but Wish Bear took one last backward glance before leaving. "I wish I knew what really just happened," she muttered, then turned and ran after her friends.