A/N- Hey everyone! Though this is not 'technically' a sequel to my other fic, A Story of Pure Hearts, I would recomened reading it first so that you will understand who a few characters are. Here's the link- It's a short fic but for those of you who don't have time (or forgot what happened) here's a quick summary-
Lost Heart Leopard and Pure Heart bear were best friends in the care bear family. Pure Heart was captured by Dark Heart and he stole her tummy symbol to gain extra power. True Heart and Noble Heart made an attempt to rescue Pure Heart from Dark Heart but failed when he attacked the other cubs. So they split up the care bear family so that Dark Heart could not destroy them and defeat all hope of bringing caring to earth.
This story takes place about a month after the cubs are separated. Enjoy!
Ch. 1- Rainy Day Party
Wild Heart Wolf here, Lost Heart leopard told me that it was my turn to tell the story this time. He said that this one is my story…Well I don't know what he's talking about, all the cousins were involved not just me. Heck the same thing would have happened even if I hadn't been there. Anyway, on to the story. I'll do my best to tell it, even though I'm not half the storyteller Lost is.
"Lift it higher Lotsa Heart!"
"Cozy can you give me a hand?"
"Hurry up, he'll be back soon!"
Balloons, streamers and a giant yellow banner with the word "Thanks" in blue letters decorated the clearing in the forest of feelings. Noble Heart had gone over to Care-a-lot to check in with True Heart and the care bear cubs, and the cousins were preparing a surprise party for him.
"Oh no!" Brave Heart lion moaned as he dropped all the fruit he'd been carrying to one of the tables and it rolled all over. On hands and knees he hurried to pick up the oranges and bananas before someone could step on them and trip.
"Here," a tan paw offered Brave Heart one of the dropped apples.
"Thanks," he said sincerely, then looked up. "Lost Heart!" The lion was so surprised he dropped all the food he had just gathered up again.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," the leopard apologized, helping Brave Heart re-gather the dropped items a second time.
"You didn't scare me, I was just surprised. I don't think anyone's seen you for a week. How are ya?" Lost Heart shrugged, not looking Brave Heart in the eye. The lion watched his friend for a moment and went back to work, trusting that Lost Heart would talk when he was ready. But the half-grown leopard didn't speak as he walked around, helping the rest of his family with the decorating.
"He's back! He's back!" Playful heart monkey hollered from the trees, swinging down to the ground to help with some last second preperations.
"Surprise!" the teenaged cousins yelled as Noble Heart appeared from around the multi-colored trees. Stunned, the horse allowed Losta Heart Elephant and Treat Heart pig to pull him forward, looking around at the colorful decorations.
"We wanted to thank you." Proud Heart Cat said.
"Yeah, for everything you've done for us Noble Heart." Piped up Cozy Heart penquin.
"Wow guys…" the purple horse stammered. All the care bear cousins were still shorter than their foster father, so even from the back of the crowd Lost Heart could clearly see the happy tears wetting Noble Hearts eyes.
"And we wanted to have a party!" Playful Heart monkey laughed, doing a cartwheel in front of the crowd. "Now who wants to play pin the tail on the donkey?" Laughing the cousins rushed forward to enjoy the celebration, pulling Noble Heart with them. From the edge of the forest Lost Heart watched the festivities, sipping some of the punch he'd helped make, face devoid of expression. When no one was watching he slipped forward, returning the empty cup to the table and turning to melt back into the shadows.
"Are you leaving already Lost?" The leopard looked up in surprise, Wild Heart Wolf stood before him, a colorful cone shaped party hat perched on the gray-blue fur of his head. "We'd all like you to stay a while you know." Wild Heart said simply. Lost nodded in understanding, but kept walking into the forest. "Well bye then, see you later?" Wild Heart watched the silent care-bear cousin disappear, into the Forest of Feelings, then turned, a little subdued, back to the party.
As the forest trees closed in around him Lost Heart breathed a sigh of relief, closing his eyes and welcoming the cool silence. "That's not my place anymore," he murmured to himself. Raindrops began to fall, splashing on the tan fur of his upturned face. It had been raining that day too, he thought. Taking a deep breath, the leopard cousin began walking again. Lost in thought he stepped mindlessly through the trees, instinctively pushing the dripping leaves out of his way as he wander through the memories of his mind.
"Come on Lost! Catch me if you can!" Pure Heart giggled as she raced up the stairs to the slide, throwing a daring grin back over her shoulder at him. Lost Heart pelted up after the black cub, throwing himself headfirst down the slide in an effort to catch her. Pure Heart yelped in surprise as he slid off the end, trying to tag her with a paw as he rolled by. "Missed me!" she laughed, racing off again. Leopard and bear chased each other all over the playground, oblivious to anything but their own game.
"Gotcha!" Lost Heart finally declared, tagging Pure Hearts shoulder as she tried to climb up the chain link ladder. A peal of thunder frightened both cubs, and they yelped as raindrops began pelting them from the sky.
"Under here," Pure pointed to one of the rainbow tube tunnels. She crawled in and Lost Heart followed, shaking his head to get the raindrops out of his ears.
"I hate getting wet!" he whined, trying to wipe the damp from his spotted coat. "I don't like when it rains!"
"But the rain's neat!" Pure Heart contradicted, peeking past him into the storm.
"I still don't like it." He grumbled, looking angrily at the water dripping from the top of the tunnel to the ground.
"Come on." Pure Heart tugged at his arm.
"What?"
"Let's go play in the rain!"
"Are you crazy?"
"No! The thunder stopped now, come on!" With that Pure Heart crawled out of the tunnel, jumping into a newly formed puddle as the gently falling rain darkened her gray-black fur.
"Pure!" Lost Heart called after her, anxious about being left alone.
"Come on!" Pure yelled back, gesturing with a paw for him to follow. Lost shrunk back, trust in his best friend fighting against his fear of the storm. Swallowing and closing his eyes the Leopard cub rushed out before he could change his mind. Reaching Pure, Lost tried to stop himself, but fell and skidded across the slippery, wet clouds.
"Fun!" Shouted Pure, taking a few running steps then throwing herself on her belly. Laughing as she slid by and splashed him with a wave of water Pure looked back at Lost and he couldn't help but grin.
"Bet I can go farther!" he challenged.
"No way!" The two cubs lined up, counted down, and raced forward a few steps, sliding across the solid clouds, spraying water everywhere.
The rain was only a light mist when Lost Heart reached the tree-house he had built when he needed to be away from his family. He'd been spending more and more time here as the summer wore on. Carefully he climbed up the wet rungs, going inside and grabbing a towel to dry off his fur as he looked out and watched the rain fall—alone.