Nobody Cares Like a Bear
Separation Anxiety
Valiant tried to ignore the pain he was feeling, it was the same pain he'd gone to see Take Care about a few months ago, but he had found nothing wrong, said it was likely growing pains. He stopped in the Forest of Feelings, feeling the pain in his head. He fell to his knees as it intensified. He groaned in agony as the pain built up, all around him there seemed to be a build up of energy, the trees near him began to get pushed back by the energy as it was released.
Nearby, the release was felt by Loyal Heart Dog and Snowy Heart Fox, who rushed over and saw what was happening with Valiant. As they attempted to get closer they could feel the energy pushing on them. Each of them managed to grab a hold of one of Valiant's arms.
"Valiant, can you hear me, what's happening?!" Loyal shouted to Valiant. Valiant didn't respond but a moment later, whatever was happening, stopped. Both Loyal Heart and Snowy helped him up. The area surrounding them had taken some rather serious damage, the leaves had fallen off the trees immediately adjacent to where Valiant had been, and the ground had begun to erode slightly.
"Ok, that was no growing pain, I need to see Take Care," he said.
"Would you like any help?" Snowy Heart asked.
Valiant shook his head, "I'll be fine," he said, before marching off. Both Loyal and Snowy exchanged looks, they knew something was wrong.
"Well even I can admit when I was wrong, but I still can't find anything medically wrong with you," Take Care said, examining the test sheets he had from Valiant.
"Take Care, what happened to me there was real. Heck I almost tore a hole in the ground of the Forest of Feelings!" Valiant was clearly angry, but also worried.
"When did those spasms first start?" Take Care asked.
"Well, they started when I was younger, a few years ago, I don't know how long. I snuck along with Noble Heart on a mission to help some little orange haired kid who's mom had just died. I spent some time playing with him, or trying too, he was too depressed to do much, and by the end he seemed so serious. The spasms started shortly after that, and now this," Valiant sighed.
"Well I don't know what I can do," Take Care said sadly, "I can't find any real medical reason for these events, maybe someone else in the family can help."
"Well thanks anyway," Valiant got up and left. He ended up wandering for a while, not really sure what to do.
"Hey Valiant, what did Take Care say?" Valiant turned to see Snowy Heart jogging towards him.
"He can't find anything wrong so he can't help me. I can't stand around waiting for another incident like that, hey where's Loyal Heart?" he asked, realizing the other person who had come to his aid wasn't there.
"He got assigned to a caring mission," Snowy said. The white fox thought for a moment before suggesting, "I don't know if it will help, but I can show you how to do a vision quest."
"A what?" Valiant asked sounding confused.
"A vision quest, I told all of your I had training as a shaman, I can help you see a message from your guiding spirit, if you're willing," Snowy explained, hopefully.
"I don't know if I trust that stuff, but at this point, I'm willing to try anything. Lead the way," Valiant said, sounding a bit defeated. Snowy nodded and led him back to his house.
***
Everyone in the family stood stunned as Valiant Heart Wolverine made his announcement.
"I'm sad to say, that I have to leave."
"Leave? But why, what's wrong?" Noble Heart asked, clearly concerned.
"A short time ago, I had another one of the spasms I usually complain about, but this time it actually did some damage, and if it happens again it could get worse," Valiant sighed sadly, "Snowy helped with something he called a 'vision quest' and while I'm not sure if what I saw was real or not, but it's all I have to go on. I'm leaving tomorrow."
The entire family left the Hall of Heart feeling sad. Most of them said their good byes to Valiant on the way out and wished him luck as he headed home. One of the few who didn't was Love-a-Lot. Wish Bear noticed and walked over to her.
"Is something wrong, Love-a-Lot?"
"Of course, the same thing that's wrong with everyone else, we're losing a member of the family, maybe forever," she sighed sadly.
"You know, for a bear of love you can't seem to tell when you're feeling it," Wish Bear said, teasingly. Before Love-a-Lot could reply the caring alarm connected sounded. Not wanting to continue the conversation, Love-a-Lot left to grab the mission. She grabbed the mission sheet that printed out from the meter and checked the location before creating a cloud car and taking off for Earth.
The mission subject was sitting in a park in a small town on a bench. Love-a-Lot hoped this would help get her mind off the unpleasant revelation she'd just experienced. The subject in question was a teenage girl. Love-a-Lot approached her and cleared her throat to get her attention.
The girl looked up and gave a sideways squint to Love-a-Lot, "You a Care Bear? What do you want?" she asked, clearly not appreciating the bear's presence.
"I'm here to help you, we can tell you're feeling sad."
"Well I don't know why you're bothering, you can't help me," The girl looked away.
Sighing, Love-a-Lot went to sit next to her, "Try me. Tell me what the problem is."
"It's a friend of mine. I've known her since the first grade. Her dad was offered a good job in England, so they're leaving in a few days, probably for years and I don't know if I'll ever get to see her again."
Love-a-Lot blinked and then hung her head, "I know how you feel," she said.
"How would you!" the girl snapped back.
"Because, I have a close friend who's leaving our home too," the pink bear sighed, "I'm going to miss him a lot."
"Really?" the girl's apparent anger and irritation had faded to sympathy.
"Yes, and you know, I guess I figured out what I need to do about it. I need to spend what time I have left with him, with him and hope that some day we'll see each other again," Love-a-Lot stood up, "I'm sorry but I have to go, someone else will be along to help you soon." She conjured a cloud car with her symbol.
"Thanks, but I don't think I need help, I hope you can tell him what you need to." Love-a-Lot paid no mind as she got into her car and drove back to Care-a-Lot.
***
Valiant Heart was just finished packing, not that there was much he could take, just his clothing really and some minor keepsakes. He closed the trunk of the Cloud Car he was using, deciding to leave early so as to as to avoid a long tearful good bye.
"Valiant!" he turned at the voice calling his name and was surprised to see Love-a-Lot running towards him.
"Love-a-Lot, what's going on here?" he asked surprised.
"I could ask the same of you," she said, panting a bit, "why are you leaving now, I thought you were waiting 'till tomorrow."
"I don't want long tearful goodbyes, but I guess I can't avoid this one," he sighed, "What do you want?" he asked.
"What I want? Well to say goodbye and," she paused, hen without warning grabbed Valiant's shirt, pulled him in, and kissed him. Valiant was too stunned to react until she released him and he blinked then smirked.
"Whoa, Love-a-Lot. Is that how you say goodbye to everyone?" he asked.
"No," she said, "I just wanted to say, I hope you'll come back before too long."
"Relax," Valiant Heart moved closer and put his arms around her, she was quite a bit shorter than he was, "I'll be back, I don't know when but I will, I promise," he kissed her softly then let her go. Before he drove off he looked back and said, "just promise me you won't get all mopey when I'm gone. Can't have the bear of love acting like Grumpy now can we," then he drove off.
"Hey! I won't be acting like Grumpy Bear!" she shouted after him in mock anger, then she laughed a little, then began to cry. After a while she managed to stop the flow of tears mostly and looked inside Valiant's house. It looked so empty, so lonely, "Don't worry, I'll keep being the way I always am, I just hope you come back someday."
Up in the air, Valiant checked a map he had taken and spoke out a bit, "I hope she's that enthusiastic when I come back. Now I need to find that man from my vision, that strange green bucket hat of wore should be obvious."