Morning came and the four companions found themselves spread out wherever they lay.
"Mmm…morning already?" Swift Heart inquired, sleepily, her head resting on Glenn's chest.
"Is it?" the wolf answered, turning his head to gaze outside. "I guess so."
Ten feet behind him, his brother rose to his feet and stretched. "Morning…and it finds us sleeping, when we should be on our way to vanquish our foe…"
"Hey, now, I could use ten more minutes sleep…" Rhiannon asked. "I wonder what happened to everyone else?"
"Everyone else?" Glenn asked. "I think it's just us four."
"Nah, see, you forget, this is MY house. My family is here too…" She peered around a corner. "And since we all took over the bedroom, they're sleeping out in the living area."
"What about Take Care?" Swift Heart asked.
"She must've went back home…"
"Actually, I'm right here," the magenta furred bear replied. "I was taking a shower. I swear…you all sleep like rocks."
"I guess we do, if we didn't see you or hear you." Swift Heart replied. "But it's nice to know you stayed."
"Well, I did because someone in this mission needs to take care of you all. Just in case…," She let her voice trail off a bit at that.
"Actually…" Victor replied. "I do know how to help the wounded…"
"Oh really? And tell me, Victor, can you take care of any one of us if something happens like just happened to Swift Heart?"
"Well…no….but…."
"All right then. You'll need me. Although it's nice to know I'd have some help if I needed it."
Victor just shook his head. Glenn laughed at the sight.
"I guess something good did come out of all of this. You seem to have lost your 'better-than-everyone' attitude, brother."
"Must be some side effect of whatever it was that Swift Heart used on me."
Glenn nodded. "Perhaps. Definitely a change for the better."
"Regardless, we must be going. There's no telling when we'll be attacked again."
"Right. And I don't want it to be so close to the kids…" Rhiannon added, gesturing to the two balls of fur—one reddish furred like her, one blue like her sister—sleeping in the living room.
"Yeah, you're right. Better that No Heart doesn't use them as pawns or something."
Victor nodded, realizing just how easily he himself was taken over by darkness. "First place we can check is with my father. That is…"
"I'm sure he'll allow us on the lands, brother." Glenn interrupted.
"Right. Anyway, perhaps he'll have some clue where No Heart is doing his dirty work. And just maybe, we can stop it."
Glenn nodded. "Are we prepared, though, if he attacks us on the way?"
"Well…at least I'm not all alone if we do…" Swift Heart added. "Not that I don't have faith in you all, but No Heart's Shadows can't be beaten with just force alone. It's nice to have another of the Care Bears along with us…we're the only ones that can turn them back."
"Right." Take Care Bear added.
"So if they attack, and somehow take out one of y'all, " Rhiannon added, "we're in a bind."
"Pretty much, it seems." Victor answered. "Half our attack is reduced."
"Well, let's hope that it doesn't come down to that. Let's go."
By afternoon, they had returned to the site of the earlier battle.
"It's kinda strange, coming back to this place…" Swift Heart noted.
"Yes…considering last time we weren't traveling together…" Victor added. "You were running for your life…"
"Yes, yes…" she shot back, idly, her mind not really there…just looking back.
"Something wrong?"
"No…not really…I just didn't expect to be back here so soon…" She shuddered a tiny bit, remembering just how close she was to being beaten by her own inner doubts and fears.
Her eyes fell upon the boulder where she'd come to rest that fateful hour, just so soon before. "I…I just don't know…"
"Chrissie…" Glenn started to say.
"It's not you, Glenn…it's me. Yeah, I know, I came out of it all just fine…and I believe in you…all of you really, but you most of all….but still…it was so close."
"I understand…" he answered. Clearly, though, even though she'd pulled through that fight and was now able to travel with them, she was very much shaken.
"You must have had quite a time."
She nodded. "I did. And almost didn't make it out. Glenn, I had to face a part of me I never really knew existed."
"What is that?"
"The darker side of me. The side that is very much capable of hate, and fear, and darkness…All my life, I've grown up thinking it wasn't possible…but that all changed."
"And your faith is shaken…"
"Very much so."
"And now, returning to that very spot, you find that the simple knowledge that you made it through that ordeal—and the triumph that accompanies that knowledge--is now being replaced by the very real possibility it could happen again…"
"Yeah. And wondering if this time, I could make it out."
"I see. Well, I for one believe in you. I believe that if you found yourself there fifty times, fifty times you would pull through."
"I know you do, Glenn. And I believe in you." But, do I believe in myself, was her unspoken question.
Glenn nodded, then paused as a scent once again wafted on the air. This one, though, was familiar. Very familiar, in fact.
"Just what has happened here?" a voice called out—a voice very commanding, almost royal.
"Father?"
"Glenn? Is that you?"
"Yes. But why have you come all the way out here?"
"Where are you?"
"Right here," the voice answered. Amazingly, he'd gotten all the way to his side without even being detected.
Pretty easy to see why he's their leader…, Swift Heart thought as she laid eyes for the first time on the leader of Glenn's pack. She blushed a moment as a thought came to mind. Wonder just what'd he'd think of me…
The alpha male of Glenn's pack looked to his son, as well as his companions. "And just who have you brought with you?"
Glenn nodded, then gestured to his companions, each in turn. "These are my friends…Swift Heart Rabbit, and her companion, Take Care Bear. The other with us is Rhiannon…her sister…and I believe my brother needs no introduction…"
"No, he does not…and although we have not seen eye to eye, I am pleased that you and him have finally settled your differences."
Victor nodded. "I owe that, in part, to Swift Heart, Father. She managed to free me from the evil that taken over my spirit….though it came at some cost to herself."
She nodded. "And we haven't got much time. The wizard that had controlled him is the same responsible for what's happening to the land around here…and I have a feeling he's going to strike again."
The elder wolf nodded, fixing his gaze on Swift Heart and her sister. "Somehow…you two seem oddly familiar…"
"We do?"
"Yes…like a distant memory…"
"I see."
Rhiannon blinked, then gazed back at him in disbelief. "So do you…"
"Do I now?"
"Yes…" She tapped her chin in thought, as if trying to put the pieces together…then her eyes opened. Wide.
"You're the same one that chased us….all those years ago…."
The wolf looked at her and Swift Heart for a long, long time. Then finally, he nodded. "Yes…I remember now."
"So, it was you…" Rhiannon gasped, still in shock, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts.
"Yes." The wolf lowered himself so that his eyes met hers.
Rhiannon found that gaze quite disconcerting…and yet, also a flicker of remorse.
"You have every right to fear me, Rhiannon…and to hate me. I wouldn't blame you. But, you should know that because of that day, we haven't hunted a living thing since."
"I…." Her mind was still reeling, and she closed her eyes, if only to regain her composure. Then, finally, she spoke.
"Two, maybe three days ago, I would have hated you with everything I had. But I have learned much in such a short time. And, your son was part of the reason that my sister is here now."
"Is that so?"
"Yes…" She lowered her eyes, still not sure to say. Since that day I've waited for this very moment…for the time where all my questions would be answered..for the time I would take my vengeance for all that was taken from me…and yet now, I can't raise a hand to him. It's all very, very strange…
"You have a great deal of courage, Rhiannon. But I still see the emotion smoldering in your eyes. Anger is not such an easy emotion to erase. But, in time, it will fade."
She could only nod her head.
The wolf then turned to Swift Heart. "And I surmise you have some of that within you as well…"
"Once upon a time, I did. And only recently realized it was there. " Her blue eyes met his brown ones.
"But…I have had to go deep within myself…to find the strength to overcome those fears and doubts…and I really mean overcome them, not just sweep them under the rug."
"I see."
"And it wasn't easy. You see, I was raised to show goodness and love in all things. No one—most of all myself—would have suspected that those feelings were locked away deep in my heart."
The elder nodded, glancing to her tummy symbol. "Just what sort of marking is that?"
"Oh…yeah, I almost forgot. Me and Take Care Bear over there are members of the Care Bear Family. We spread love and goodwill among the people of the Earth. Mostly, children and such…but sometimes the adults need it too."
"And what meaning does it have?"
Never really gave that too much thought over my lifetime, Swift Heart thought to herself, then did her best to answer his question.
Amazingly enough, it was the same thought she'd had. "I haven't really thought about what it meant…"
"I see. Maybe, one day, you will understand its meaning."
She nodded. "Anyway…what have you been able to find about what's happening?"
"It's getting worse. Already it has spread too close to where our pups are being raised. I fear before too long we may be forced to abandon these lands…"
"But, Father, we have held these lands for countless years!" Glenn exclaimed.
"Yes, I know. But we cannot stay where we cannot survive, my son."
"We have to do something…"
His father nodded. "Yes…but what can we do? These are forces I have no idea how to contend against, Glenn. I am no magician."
"Perhaps we can help." Swift Heart answered.
The elder looked at her, astonished. "It is much to ask of you….after all that has happened."
Swift Heart shook her head. "It's what I do. Besides, I owe Glenn for pulling me through something…"
"I see."
"And even if I didn't, I'd still do it."
"Well, if she's going to help y'all..." Rhiannon spoke, "then you better count me in too."
"And I have much to atone for, " Victor added. "I'm going to do my part. "
"Well…you all need a doctor. I'm in." Take Care Bear replied.
"You guys…" Swift Heart answered back.
"We're all in this together, sis," Rhiannon interrupted. "We're family."
"I know…"
Suddenly, a lightning bolt split the air nearby.
"How touching…" a sinister voice spoke. "But a motley bunch like you cannot defeat the all powerful No Heart…"
"It's…" Victor exclaimed.
"Well, duh…like he needed an introduction. He did us that favor already." Rhiannon shot back.
Glenn's father turned to face the evil wizard. "Be gone from my lands, foul demon. Or face my wrath."
The laugh that he got in response was as cold as the winter snows. "And just how much do you think your 'wrath' can do to me?"
"We will see…" he spoke—then charged forward.
The wizard's eyes flashed and two shadow wolves took positions at either side of him, then they charged at the elder.
"What manner of sorcery…" he exclaimed as he was suddenly pushed on the defensive.
Swift Heart shouted over to her Care Bear companion. "Take Care, you keep those wolves off Glenn and the others. I'll take No Heart and keep him distracted."
"Will you be okay?"
"Just do this for me, ok?"
"All right…be careful, Swift Heart."
No Heart laughed again. "I have a little something for you, Swift Heart. Or should I say…someone. "
Again his eyes flashed, and from a mist of darkness came someone she thought vanquished.
"Hello again," the figure spoke, her voice—as Swift Heart knew very well who she was—dark and sinsiter.
"This….can't be…"
"Oh, but it is, it is….and this time I will succeed where I should have finished you off."
Swift Heart gazed once again upon her dark image. This time, the battle was real, as was the cost if she lost.
"I beat you once, I'll do it again," she snarled before she fired off a Call.
Her dark image shot back with a Dark Call of her own, the two energy beams colliding and cancelling each other out.
"How could you?" Swift Heart gasped, astonished.
"Oh come now, do you think I would have bothered to fight you again without enhancing my own abilities in the process?"
Swift Heart didn't answer, just fired back again. "That doesn't make you stronger than me…"
"Except this time your dear mommy can't save you. This isn't on the battlefield of your mind, dear Chrissie. This time it's real and personal."
For a moment, she paused, knowing that moment where the spirit of her mother intervened was the turning point in that fight.
That pause very nearly proved to be her undoing as a Dark Call grazed her side. She shook it off and fired back once more.
She's right..., Swift Heart thought as she dodged to and fro. If not for her…
Suddenly, twin bolts of lightning erupted in front of her and she skidded to a halt. Not fast enough to avoid a root sticking out of the ground, and she tripped over it, falling to the ground with a shout.
"Chrissie?" Glenn asked, fending off one strike after another from the shadow beasts that were attacking him and the others.
"Ha ha ha…and I'm going to see to it this time that she does beat you, Swift Heart." No Heart bellowed from his perch on a tree stump.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't see as Victor blindsided him with a full body charge.
"YOU!" he screamed. "I will have my revenge…for all that you have caused…"
Meanwhile, Swift Heart was having problems of her own. I think I twisted my knee on that one, she thought, pain shooting through her right leg.
"Heh heh…can't move nearly as fast now can you? That gives me the advantage, hm?" she mused, firing off a Dark Call that hit Swift Heart broadside.
"Owww…" Swift Heart grimaced, trying to fight back the negative energies that coursed through her smallish form. Not to mention the needles of pain that were making their way up her injured leg.
Meanwhile, No Heart had thrown Victor off of him. "Fool….now you will pay for your insolence…" the wizard growled as he called forth a lightning storm.
Victor jumped back steadily, trusting his reflexes to save him as one bolt, then another struck the ground, hammering out craters where they landed.
"Is that the best you can do?" Victor shot back, risking a glance behind him, realizing he was getting much too close to the others that he was protecting.
A bolt shot out, its target behind him. Victor spun around to see where it was going—just in time to watch a bolt of incandescence collide with it, rendering it harmless.
"Nice shot, Take Care."
"Thanks," she replied, just as another bolt shot towards her.
Victor charged at a flat out run, knowing she'd never be in time to deflect this shot, not even sure he himself would be able to do anything.
This is my atonement, Father…he thought as he turned himself into the bolt and took the charge full in the chest.
"Victor!" Glenn shouted, rushing over to his brother's side, literally trampling the shadow wolf that he was fighting on his way there, where he lay, barely moving and obviously in pain.
"Glenn…protect the others…there isn't anything you can do for me now…" Victor whispered through gritted teeth.
"I…."
"Just go, Glenn! They need you more than they need me…"
"Brother…"
"Glenn…she needs you too…"
"I know, but…"
Take Care Bear made her way over to the two brothers. "I'll tend to him and see what I can do…"
"Thanks…"
"Don't mention it…" she said, then took out her medical bag and went rummaging through it, quickly as she was able in the middle of a fight.
"That was….brave of you, Victor," she said as she tended to his most serious wounds, patching them up as best as she knew how.
"I…I just did what I had to do…to atone for what I did wrong."
"Shhh….don't talk so much. Try to save your strength."
Victor nodded his head weakly.
"You saved my life, though…I don't think I would have been able to stop that one."
He turned his gaze to her, nodding again, then lay his head down.
"Thank you…let's see here…" she mused. Fortunately, Glenn was doing a fair enough job of keeping the remaining shadow wolf at bay, and No Heart seemed more occupied with watching the battle between Swift Heart and her darker half to pay them much attention.
Not that she was going to give him much of a chance to strike back. She quickly used her Stare to erect a protective barrier in front of them while she worked. It'd be enough to hold back a few shots from No Heart—perhaps long enough to allow her to do something—but if someone didn't stop him, it wouldn't last forever.
Swift Heart, on the other hand, was struggling just to stay in this fight.
"I…can't move my leg…" she groaned, barely even able to roll over to defend herself with her own Call.
"It's done now…this time you aren't going to beat me."
Her dark side charged up her tummy symbol, ready to deal the final blow—when she was tackled from behind by a charging red-furred blur.
"You ain't getting her today, you witch…." Rhiannon growled as she found her feet.
"Oh, look here…it's the big sister. Like you're even a match for me…"
"Rhiannon…don't…she's too strong for you…."
She didn't take her gaze off of the dark image of her sister. "Chrissie…I gotta do something."
"Heh…hit me with your best shot….oh, that's right, you can't." She laughed, an inhuman and calculating laugh, and fired off her Dark Call.
Rhiannon took it head on…and dug her paws into the ground as it threatened to push her backwards.
"Rhiannon…"
"Chrissie…I…am…not….gonna….lose…." she grunted through her teeth as she struggled to gain ground against the river of darkness pounding her.
Swift Heart dragged herself to her feet, gingerly placing weight on her injured leg. She couldn't run from this fight, even if she wanted to.
She tried to concentrate...and found herself trying her hardest not to cry out against the pain that ravaged her side. In addition to her knee, she'd taken quite a beating from her darker side.
I don't know how much longer I can hold up against this….but I have to.
"No you're not going to, sis…" she whispered, and summoned all the inner strength she possessed to fire off a Call into the back of her foe.
Enraged, her mirror form turned to face her. "How dare you!"
Swift Heart poured more and more into it, but eventually, her pain got the better of her and she slumped to the ground. You can't beat her." Swift Heart warned her sister as another Dark Call slammed into her.
"Chrissie…" she replied, then charged again and tackled her nemesis once again.
The impact threw the dark rabbit aside a good ten feet, and left her disoriented for a moment…just long enough to allow Rhiannon to stand by her sister's side.
"I can't let her just win, sis…"
"Rhiannon…she's more powerful than you think she is. She has the same powers I do…only they're dark. Against her Dark Call, you don't stand a chance…"
"I don't care, Chrissie. I'm not going to lose you again."
Purple lightning bracketed where the two of them stood, reminding Swift Heart that No Heart hadn't quite left this fight to his lackey.
"This tree won't protect you for long, Rhiannon…you get the others out of here…"
"No, Chrissie. I'm staying right here."
"Rhiannon, you can't fight them both!"
"That's right, you silly rabbit…, " a voice answered. "You can't beat me."
Rhiannon spun around just in time to catch another Dark Call head on. She grunted and put all of her will and strength into keeping it from blasting her backwards.
"How can you possess such strength? You're not even a Care Bear…"
"I don't have to be to care for my family…I just have to fight….and I will find a way to beat you…."
"You can't possibly hope to win against me…"
"Grrr….but for Chrissie…my family…my friends…for all I stand for and all she stands for, I will find a way!"
The dark image let off another Dark Call. Rhiannon was caught almost unprepared for it and nearly took it full force…only to watch a bolt of light slam into it.
Amazingly enough, it didn't come from Swift Heart. And Take Care was still tending to Victor.
Swift Heart's dark image was the first to notice—and her eyes were wide as marbles. "This can't be! How did you….?"
Rhiannon didn't make the connection herself—that is, until she glanced down at her own patch of white tummy fur.
Squarely in the middle of it was a heart. Within that heart was another heart with tiny wings on either side.
"I…."
"Rhiannon….how did you?" Swift Heart noted in pure astonishment.
"I don't know, Chrissie. I just don't know."
No Heart gazed at her with unmitigated hatred. "No matter….even if you are a Care Bear Cousin, I can still finish you off…," he growled and sent forth a pair of lightning bolts, just as his dark servant fired off a Dark Call.
It was a perfect attack, leaving her nowhere to run, and if she did her sister would be in danger.
It also ran squarely into a blast of pure light and vanished.
"How could you? HOW CAN YOU BE SO POWERFUL!" No Heart bellowed.
"My belief makes me strong….believing in my family, my friends, those I care about, and those I love. But most of all, believing in myself." Rhiannon answered, glaring defiantly at the dark wizard.
"GRRRR…."
Swift Heart stood up and faced her dark nemesis once more. "It's time to end this, once and for all….
"Face it, Swift Heart….I'm just too powerful for you."
"For me, maybe. But not for both of us. It's over…."
"No…."
Swift Heart nodded, focusing all of her energies into one single, powerful Call. "Ready, sis?"
Rhiannon nodded, following her sister's lead, her aim shifted on No Heart. "Ready."
"CARE BEAR COUSIN CALL!" both shouted in unison.
Twin streams of incandescence slammed into their targets.
Both evildoers screamed in rage as they were shoved backwards, the dark rabbit simply vanishing into nonexistence.
"GRRRR….You may have won the day, Care Bear…but I swear that I will destroy you, once and for all…," No Heart growled as he turned into a purple cyclone and vanished.
"That was a tough fight." Rhiannon noted as they gathered at her home.
"Was it ever. I still don't get it, though." Swift Heart replied, still in shock over the change that had come over her sister.
"I don't either, Chrissie. It was as if some energy coursed through me."
Take Care Bear interjected. "I think it's the first case we've ever had."
"Case of what?" Rhiannon answered.
"Well, all us Care Bears know that our tummy symbols are granted to us through the Great Wishing Star. But yours, you seemed to have gotten yours spontaneously."
"I still don't understand."
"Neither do I, Rhiannon. But maybe we can all go to Care-A-Lot and get some sort of explanation."
"That'd help."
"Anyway, are we ready?"
"Wait…before you all go…" the wolf elder spoke. "I want to extend my gratitude to all of you….for your help to our people."
"Thank you, Father," Glenn replied.
"Now, you must all be off. I pray that I will see you all again soon."