An Unusual Day
Hunter landed back in the castle and focused, grimacing as his bat wing arms turned back to human arms. "I'll show Fauna, No-Heart needs me and I will show that I'm worthy to be at his side." He said, moving slowly to No-Heart's chambers. He stopped just outside to listen as he heard No-Heart speaking aloud to someone.
"I can't believe I ever listened to you. They are not succeeding in any thing I send them out to do!"
A female sat in the chair in front of No Heart. She was finger combing her black hair and admiring her green complexion in a small mirror. "It is not the spell that is to blame, but rather the wizard who cast it."
No Heart's eyes flared, "How dare you insinuate this is my fault! They are all useless. Even that Pegasus. I figured if he shared Fauna's DNA then he would share some of her craftiness, but he has proved to be the biggest failure of them all!"
'Biggest Failure!' those words rang in Hunter's head as he slumped against the wall. Was he just as expendable as the rest of the opposites? He stayed there for a moment listening to more of the conversation.
The woman got to her feet, "No Heart it is not my spells fault that they are not living up to your expectations. I told you they were unleashed too soon. You didn't even have that sorry excuse of an assistant give them information on their counter parts."
"I am also the one who released you from that ratty old spell book so I don't think you should be criticizing anyone."
She waved him off, "There is still a chance those other two will succeed. And if so you can dispose of all the others. We could always collect more DNA and try again."
When he heard the work 'dispose' Hunter suddenly knew that Fauna was right. No-Heart did consider him to be just a resource to be used and disposed of when his usefulness had run out. He carefully moved away before shifting into his Pegasus form and flying away. He had to find Fauna and Blue and talk to them. He didn't know what he would say but he knew they were the only ones he could possibly talk to about this.
Terra Heart poked her head out of her tunnel to sniff around for the others who had exited her tunnels a short time ago. She felt Defiant Heart approach and spoke up.
"So, how's everyone doing Defiant Heart?" she asked. The badger was taken aback, she may have been blind but her other senses often caught him off guard.
"Things are just fine, though everyone is worried cause the others haven't returned from looking for the rest of our crystallized family."
"I see," Terra Heart said, "What about Fauna, the shape shifter?"
"I don't know, she should be back soon, it's just you me, True Heart, and Proud Heart and her son until someone gets back," Defiant Heart said.
A golden eagle carrying a book landed nearby. Dropping his cargo to the floor he gained his human form, revealing to the others that it was Blue. "Here, we got the spell book No Heart used," kneeling in front of the book he began to flip through the pages.
"Welcome back Blue," True Heart said, heaving herself up from where she was sitting, careful not to overbalance with her pregnant tummy.
Proud Heart looked at the book and gasped, "That's the Spirit Book!" she declared, backing up a bit, "I remember it from when it controlled Nicholas."
"Didn't you say it had a spirit trapped inside it, I don't see anything like that," Defiant Heart pointed out.
Proud Heart turned around and gasped, "Where's Trust Heart?" she asked, panic stricken," I set him down for a moment to see Blue's return."
"Calm down, Proud Heart," True Heart said, patting her shoulder, "he's only just stated crawling, you'll find him."
"I hope so, excuse me," Proud Heart said, leaving to search for her son.
It was then Fauna returned, landing in her hawk form, beak open, the bird version of panting. "Got here...as fast...as...could." She slowly regained her human form, and bent over hands on her knees regaining her breath.
Defiant Heart blinked, "You're out of breath, are your arms tired?" he asked, trying to stifle a smile.
Terra Heart shook her head, "I'm not sure I could stand to fly, I know you're fine with it but I rely on contact with the earth to see, if I was up there I'd be completely blind."
Fauna sneered at Defiant Heart, "No no. I just completely overtaxed myself to get here as quick as I could but my arms are fine. Come over here and I'll show you." She massaged her biceps even as she raised a fist.
Blue grabbed her hand, "We think we found the spell. We just need someone to test it on."
"Great." Looking around she noticed Proud Heart was missing, "Where's Proud Heart?"
Defiant Heart look around, "She said she was going to look for her son, but he couldn't have gone this far and she should have been able to smell him out by now."
At that moment Proud Heart was searching frantically for Trust Heart. There was no way her son could have crawled this far so quickly, something was terribly wrong. This was confirmed when she pulled aside some branched and saw her opposite, the dark blue Depression Heart Cat, holding her son in his arms and grinning at her.
"You!" she hissed, "Put my son down right now!"
"Take it easy, I'm not hurting the lad. Not yet anyway." He bounced the little pup up and down in his arms. "He certainly takes after his daddy doesn't he?"
Proud Heart advanced, unsheathing her claws from her fingertips, "I said to put him down and give him back to me. He's my son and I won't let you do anything to him!"
Depression Heart hissed, unsheathing his own claws. "Now now, don't be rash. You take one step closer and I'll give the pup a taste of what his first immunizations will feel like. If you and your friends come quietly, you can have your son back." He held his claws over Trust Heart's face, causing him to wail.
Proud stopped dead, her ears lying flat across her head and her tail's fur stood on end, "Leave everyone else out of this, this is between you and me. If you want me then come and get me and leave Trust Heart out of this!" she pleaded.
"I don't recall that being an option." He traced a claw down the baby's cheek. "It's all or nothing mommy dear."
Proud Heart retracted her claws, but noted that Trust Heart was blocking Depression's tummy symbol, which meant that if he wanted to try and stare her he'd have to set Trust Heart down or move him aside. "All right, I'll go, but please just leave my son out of this, he hasn't done anything to you, if you want to get to anyone then go after Loyal Heart, he's the one that gave you that scar across your chest."
The cat opposite retracted his claws, "Offering the husband in place of your young. I see where your love lies." He motioned to Proud Heart, "Show me to your friends then."
"My love lies with both of them, but I know Loyal Heart would prefer to face you rather than let me or Trust Heart get in danger," she had to figure out someway to get him to drop his guard, she knew no one would lift a finger as long as the infant was in his clutches. She stepped away and motioned the way she had come, "they should be that way," she said, sounding very sad at what she was admitting.
As he walked towards Proud Heart he accidentally stubbed his toe on a large stone. As he cursed he jostled Trust Heart who then began to cry loudly. His gaze left Proud Heart as he hushed the infant. Proud Heart's natural cat reflexes jostled her into action and she pounced, scratching Depression Heart as hard as she could, hoping he'd release his hold on her son.
Trust Heart rolled from his captor's arms as he tried to counter the attack. He instantly turned his attention to the attacking female cat. "You were warned Proud Heart."
Proud Heart hissed back at the dark blue cat, "Never try to separate a mother from her child!" she turned and bit Depression Heart's hand as he tried to scratch her.
With his other hand he swiped her ears viciously, leaving deep gouges on her head. "Even if that child was never intended to exist?" He asked wickedly.
"And what do you mean by that!" she shouted back as she released her bite and slashed at his face, missing and instead scratching his tummy across his symbol.
Growling he felt the blood dripping down his abdomen. "You got pregnant by accident. You never wanted that baby and now you're stuck with him. You were so young Proud Heart, too young for motherhood." He taunted her before springing at her teeth going for her neck.
"You think that makes a difference!" Proud Heart said, jumping back to avoid his jaws, "Ok, so he was born because I was irresponsible but I love him all the same. Loyal Heart and I love each other and it was an expression of our love through which he was born. Yes I admit we let our hormones take over that night but if I could go back I wouldn't change a thing. Trust Heart is precious, the most important thing in Loyal Heart's and my lives right now and we wouldn't trade him for anything!" She pounced on Depression Heart, scratching at him as fiercely and as much as she could. Depression Heart tried to escape, but Proud Heart wasn't letting it happen. As he felt her claws swipe across his jugular and windpipe, he got one more look at her fierce features before his world began to go black. Depression Heart's Body fell back with a thud.
Proud Heart stepped back, blood from both herself and Depression Heart soaking into her fur. She'd killed her opposite with her own claws. She fell to her knees, shivering from the shock of it all. In her anger and fierce need to protect her offspring she'd done something she never thought she'd end up doing. Trust Heart's crying broke her out of her stupor and she got up and picked her son up, shushing him quietly.
"Hush now, Trust Heart, it's all right," she said soothingly, "he's gone now, he'll never hurt you again. Now let's go wash up before we go back and before this blood stains our fur all right." Proud Heart moved away to take her son to the nearby river. What she had shouted was true, it had been a mistake but if she could go back, she'd make that mistake again because she loved her son no matter what.
While all this was going on, Hunter had finally managed to catch up to Fauna. He landed some distance away shifting to human form and panting, he had still been mulling over what he had heard and he had to speak to Fauna or Blue, but he had to figure out how to approach them without being torn apart.
Fauna suddenly turned in the direction Proud Heart had taken, nostrils flaring. "I smell blood. And lots of it." Giving herself bear paws she started to head for the smell, "You stay here, and be ready."
As Fauna disappeared from sight Hunter appeared and approached the group. Defiant Heart recognized him and pulled out and extended his spear, holding it at the ready.
"What are you doing here!" he demanded.
"I-I want to talk," was all that Hunter could manage to say.
Blue was in his wolf form in the blink of an eye and leapt onto Hunter's chest, tackling him to the ground. His eyes were glowing blue, "You must have some kind of death wish if you were dumb enough to follow her here."
Defiant Heart was next to them in a moment with his spear point down next to Hunter's head, "He's right you know."
Terra Heart moved next to Defiant Heart and sniffed Hunter's face, "Human? Or are you a shape shifter too?" she asked.
"I'm a shape shifter" he said, turning his head away to avoid looking any of them in the eye, "I promise I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just want to talk." he said again.
Defiant Heart looked up at Blue, "I don't trust him, but if he wanted to attack I doubt he'd have let us pin him like this, let him speak then we can decide if we want to get rid of him."
"He didn't attack because he knew he was outnumbered. Why else would he wait till Fauna left?" He backed off Hunter's chest however, but stayed crouched by his head. "So what could have possibly happened in the last few hours that made you want to not try and kill us? I advise you to choose your words wisely."
Hunter sat up, "I went back to No-Heart's castle and I overheard him talking with the woman he said was from that spell book you have with you. I heard that he thinks of me as expendable, something he's just going to throw in the trash when he deems me having outlived my usefulness," he looked up at Blue, "Fauna was right, he just wanted me to get to her, and nothing else."
True Heart spoke up, "I believe him," she said, "I can see when people are being truthful. It's in his eyes."
Blue shook his head, "Of course she was telling the truth. No Heart has wanted her for years." He regained his Pegasus form, "So because you're no longer useful to your master, you think we are going to welcome you with open arms?"
"I don't know what to expect," Hunter said, "but who else would I go to? I don't have Fauna's memories all that well, but I do know that most humans would try to kill me once they found out what I was. Simply put I didn't know anyone else I could turn to, you and Fauna are the only other Pegasis I know and I figured these Care Bears would give me more of a chance to speak up than most humans would."
"He's got a point there," Defiant Heart said, lifting his spear up to rest on his shoulders behind his head, "So, what should we do, Blue? This is up to you and Fauna."
Blue stomped his foot, "Now we enter the oh so fun world of Pegasus politics. Because he is one of us, he is afforded some amount of protection when he is peacefully among a herd. As long as his intentions are true he must abide our rules. But that isn't the problem."
"I guess since you're the prince you'd know that better than we would," Terra Heart said.
"Let me guess, Fauna's going to be the problem, when she gets back," Defiant Heart said.
Blue nodded to him, "Yup. And short of me issuing a royal decree, I don't see her going along with any of this." He turned to Hunter, "Don't say anything to her when she gets back. Clear?" Hunter just nodded, he didn't move, there wasn't anything else he could really say.
At the river, Proud Heart was cleaning the last of the blood out of her and Trust Heart's fur. Now sitting in the shallows near where her clothing lay on the shore, holding a much calmer Trust Heart in her arms she let the water soothe both of them. The river was slow so the water nearby was still red from the blood that had washed off their fur and from her injuries that weren't that bad.
"Proud Heart I smelt blood is everything..." Fauna stopped as she watched the red tinted water floating down stream. "Are you okay?"
Proud Heart turned around and sighed in relief that it was Fauna, "We're fine now, sort of," she said, "but I had a run in with my opposite, Depression Heart Cat, and I-" her voice caught in her throat.
Turning her head to the side, Fauna caught the scent of more blood. It was growing colder as the seconds passed and began to smell stale. She turned back to Proud Heart, her face showing her confusion, "Did you kill him?"
Proud Heart stared crying softly and nodded, a lump in her throat preventing her form speaking for the moment.
Fauna strode into the shallows and wrapped Proud Heart in her arms, pulling her against her chest. "Easy Proud Heart, it's okay. I'm sure you had no choice." She rubbed her hand up and down her back, trying to calm her.
Proud Heart swallowed hard, "Y-you're right, he took Trust Heart and threatened to... so when I managed to get him free I couldn't control myself, I couldn't let him do that again so I killed him, with my claws," she wiped tears from her eyes and pointed in the direction of the slight blood trail, "his body's back there, I had to get Trust Heart away from all that and I-" she started crying again.
Fauna patted her back, "Hey...I get it. He threatened your baby; no one gets off easy from that." She stood, "I'll go take care of the body. And I know it's hard but try to calm down."
"Th-thank you Fauna," Proud Heart said.
When Fauna returned Proud Heart had climbed out of the water, dried off, and re-dressed, and was nursing Trust Heart who had been crying a minute ago from hunger. She looked up at Fauna as she returned, she was calmer now, and asked, "I'm guessing you didn't feel the same way when you first had to kill someone," she said, "because it was revenge for your mother."
She crouched down in front of Proud Heart, "At first I didn't. I had the adrenaline from the kills coursing through me and the taste of their blood fresh on my lips. I pictured my mother's cold body every time I ended one of their lives, and it drove me on." She paused momentarily, eyes focusing on her fiddling fingers, "Then the nightmares started a week later. I relived every scream, felt my teeth and claws tearing through flesh and ripping limbs off, feeling their life slipping away from them. So even though I don't regret what I did, it wasn't easy for me to think about afterwards." She met Proud Hearts gaze once more, "And no one but you knows that."
Proud Heart nodded, "I see," she knew that Fauna was confiding in her, and she wasn't about to tell the others about this, "Thanks for sharing, I promise I won't tell anyone," she looked down at her son who had finished nursing and lifted him over her shoulder, carefully burping him, "I think the others are probably worried about us, we should get back to them."
Fauna nodded. "I just want to make sure you know that what you're feeling is okay." They started to head back to the others.
"I do, but I imagine I'll have to deal with nightmares for the next little while too, but," Proud Heart looked down at her son, who was now asleep, "at least Trust Heart is safe from danger for now."
"And that's what gets you through them. Knowing what you killed for." Arriving back at the clearing Fauna saw Blue in his Pegasus form and the others standing around looking tense. "Did I miss something?"
Blue cleared his throat, "We have a guest."
"What kind of guest?" Her voice stayed low as her eyes scanned the clearing. They stopped when she spotted Hunter in his human form sitting by Defiant Heart. Her gaze snapped to Blue, "You've got to be kidding me!"
"He's not," Defiant Heart said, "Seems that Hunter overheard No-Heart saying he was going to get rid of him once he outlived his usefulness, he came to us because he didn't have anywhere else to turn. We've given him a good hearing but for now we're not sure if we should trust him."
Her eyes began to glow, "Of course you shouldn't trust him! He was created to destroy me. Just like all the others, and I don't see us harboring any of your opposites."
Blue straightened his shoulders and stood tall, "Fauna he is for the moment being truthful and has agreed to behave justly. As you know this grants him the rights given to all of our kind, including the protection of a herd when roaming from the Falls. As long as it remains as thus, you will honor our law."
Staring at him for a moment she bent her head and crossed both her arms over her chest, "I will honor our law." Straightening from her bow she gave Blue a fierce glare before pushing past him and standing in front of Hunter, hands on her hips, "So I guess 'I told you so' pretty much covers it right?"
"Yeah," was all Hunter said.
True Heart gasped when she noticed that Proud Heart was wounded; some of the scratches she'd received were still visible, "Proud Heart, what happened to you?" she asked, concerned.
"I had a run in with Depression Heart Cat, he tried to take Trust Heart so I, had to..." she trailed off. True Heart nodded in understanding, placing a hand over her pregnant tummy, she could easily understand how Proud Heart must have felt in the heat of that moment.
Defiant Heart's eye narrowed, "So Hunter here just shows up when Proud Heart's off alone and fighting her opposite, kinda convenient eh?"
Before Fauna could get angry, Terra Heart spoke up, putting a strong digging claw on Defiant's shoulder, "Hunter just got here and Proud Heart left to look for Trust Heart over half an hour ago, if anything was planned then Hunter would have been here sooner."
Defiant Heart sighed and lowered his spear, "I guess you have a point there."
Fauna looked at him, really studying him for the first time. He could easily be her fraternal twin in that they shared the same bone structure and skin tone. They differed only in hair and eye color and his features were more masculine. "I have one more question for you. How do we know you won't go back to No Heart if he offers you a place forever at his side?" Her lips were pressed tightly together as she awaited his answer.
"Because I don't trust him at all, I heard him speaking to that book lady without me hearing him and I know that he's more likely to just kill me once he doesn't need me anymore," Hunter said, "and since you've given me a chance that I never expected to get, I have no plans to go back to No-Heart."
She studied his face as he answered. Turning away she gained her wolf form, "I'm going to make sure no others are lurking in the woods. I'll probably be back late, don't wait up." Without waiting for a response she disappeared into the underbrush.
"Well that went better than I expected," Defiant Heart said.
Blue scowled at Defiant, "Better for you at least." Gaining his human form he once more went to look at the spell book.
Terra Heart smiled at Defiant, "At least you did give him a chance." She turned to Hunter, "My name is Terra Heart, Hunter, it's nice to meet you."
"Terra Heart Mole," Hunter said, "There's no opposite for you so I guess you're lucky. Where are the rest of you, I thought more of you escaped."
"We did," True Heart said, "the others went to look for the members of the family who weren't so fortunate."
"Well let's just hope they get back soon, I really need to see Loyal Heart," Proud Heart said. The others nodded in agreement.
