A/N: Reference to another Care Bear's fanfic coming up, one of my favorites. See bottom.
Tenderheart held his breath after he finished explaining to the assembled Care Bears and Cousins waiting outside Gentle Heart's bedroom what No Heart had said. Noble Heart and True Heart looked to each other for advice and comfort. Stunned murmurs and muttering carried between the others present.
Discussions broke out almost immediately with half the family members in the room arguing with the other half on whether to accept No Heart's terms or reject them. There was no indication where Noble Heart and True Heart weighed in on this debate. They seemed to keep their own council, whispering back and forth intently.
Tenderheart wished Bright Heart would chime in with his advice: a logical voice is always a valuable thing in a debate as critical as this. But Bright Heart was in no condition to offer anyone advice. Upon leaving Gentle Heart's room he buried his face in his paws and began sobbing uncontrollably in the corner even as Tenderheart explained to Noble Heart and True Heart what No Heart had said to him. Take Care had made it her mission to try to console him and was being assisted by Brave Heart; who reminded Tenderheart that he had no small experience in this sort of situation.
Tenderheart grimaced as he remembered the Caring Mission gone wrong that had reduced Brave Heart to a sobbing wreck, blaming himself for the death of a teenage girl. After No Heart's taunting, Bright Heart held himself responsible for Gentle Heart being in danger of death. That made twice Tenderheat had seen wrong-placed guilt eat away at a family member, twice more than he had ever wanted to see it.
From what little he could hear, Take Care and Brave Heart were telling Bright Heart all the things he and Wish Bear had told Brave Heart when he was in Bright Heart's place, that it wasn't his fault and he couldn't have foreseen this happening.
Bitter self-recriminations mixed in with sobs were Bright Heart's only response.
Meanwhile, the debate looked as though it was going nowhere, with many family members' nerves becoming frayed and growing increasingly emotional over the argument. Tenderheart couldn't blame them. He glanced at a clock on the wall. Time was running out and no one knew what the answer to No Heart's demands would be. Noble Heart and True Heart had stopped whispering and were now debating openly.
"How can we just…stop caring?" True Heart wondered in disbelief, shaking her head. "It sounds horrible, just being trapped up here able to see people in need and not do anything to help them."
"That's probably part of his plan. To torture us by having to watch him make the whole world not care, powerless to stop him." Noble Heart said bitterly. "But we can't abandon Gentle Heart."
"I wasn't suggesting that we should. But can we abandon the whole world?" Tenderheart didn't stay to hear Noble Heart's answer. Instead he looked back once again to the increasingly inconsolable raccoon crying in the corner. Walking over he arrived in time to hear Bright Heart cursing himself even as he continued to sob into his paws.
"I-I'm an id-idiot…S-stupid…stupid…stupid…"
"Bright Heart Raccoon you stop that. You know you're no such thing." Take Care insisted. "How could you possibly have known what No Heart was up to?"
"I-I sh-should've k-known!"
"Bright Heart, I've been where you are." Brave Heart said softly. "I thought the same things that you are now when Heather died. I was wrong then, just like you are now. This is not your fault." He stated emphatically.
"Y-yes it-it is! T-this was all my…MY idea! It's my f-fault this is h-happening to Gentle Heart! I-I've…I've as g-good as…as KILLED HER!" He yelled the last part, causing all conversation in the room to grind to a screeching halt. Tenderheart decided to try his own approach.
"Bright Heart, are you listening? Bright Heart, look at me." Slowly, Bright Heart lifted his head up from his paws and looked at Tenderheart with moist eyes, tears cutting tracks through his fur, darkening the already dark bands around his eyes. "Listen to me, first of all Gentle Heart is NOT dead and is not going to, understand? Secondly, this is not your fault, it isn't." Tenderheart insisted when Bright Heart started shaking his head in clear disagreement. "Blaming yourself only shifts blame away from the one really responsible and that's No Heart. It's the same as exonerating No Heart. Does it make any sense to do that?"
Bright Heart reluctantly shook his head. Where reassurances had fallen short, appealing to simple logic worked. Emboldened by his success, Tenderheart pushed on. "Think for a minute, are you any good to Gentle Heart right now, in your state?" Again, Bright Heart shook his head.
"N-no…"
"And wouldn't it make more sense if you focused your efforts on helping her?" Bright Heart nodded. "Why do you think No Heart said those awful things to you? He said it himself: you're the brains of the family. If anyone can figure out a way to help Gentle Heart it's you. He wants you off balance so that you're no good to anyone."
Bright Heart's tears subsided for the large part as Tenderheart talked to him. His chest still heaved with sobs unshed but it looked as though he were bringing himself back under control.
"Thank you Tenderheart." Bright Heart choked out. His voice was raw and still thick with emotion.
"You can thank me by helping Gentle Heart." Tenderheart said. "What do you think we should tell No Heart? Time's almost up." Bright Heart looked down.
"I-I don't think we can trust No Heart. Even if we do give in to him, there's every chance that he'll still…" His throat constricted and couldn't finish. Taking a deep breath he said, "We need to buy time for Gentle Heart to beat him."
"Can she win on her own?" Proud Heart asked. Tenderheart hadn't noticed the rest of the family listening in.
"I-I think so. It is her mind after all, that should give her an edge…"
"Doesn't look like it's been much of an edge so far." Grumpy said dourly.
"Maybe she doesn't know about it." Cozy Heart suggested.
"If she doesn't then we'll just have to tell her!" Bright Heart exclaimed, climbing to his feet, his spirits, at least for the moment, seemed somewhat restored.
"How?" Tenderheart asked. Bright Heart paused for a moment and ran his paw through his head fur before snapping his fingers in realization.
"The Dream Monitor! If No Heart can speak to us from inside Gentle Heart's mind that means it goes both ways. With a little fine tuning we can talk to Gentle Heart ourselves!"
"Let's get to it! We're almost out of time!"
A/N (Continued): The story alluded to is "Even Brave Hearts Can Be Broken" by and © to Mariel. If you haven't read it, go do it now! If you already have, do it again!
And when you're done with that, go check out WretchedWords' excellent story: "Into The Fog" another Gentle Heart centered fanfic (They aren't that common you know, mores the pity).
Will be back soon with more story. Next chapter: No Heart vs. Gentle Heart, thrilling climax coming soon!