Sorry it's been so long since I posted something. I've been stumbling through harddrive crashes, flights, jobs, and writers block. I'm taking a break from "Beyond Friendship" to post this story. Hopefully they'll both be finished soon. In the meantime, enjoy!

I do not own the Care Bears. Only my characters and scenarios are mine. Thank you.

PROLOGUE

Another dream. No, not a dream. He corrected himself. It was real.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to banish the images from his mind: Someone in pain, someone suffering. He didn't know what had been going on, but he did know why he was seeing it. The price for his freedom from his tormentor was to watch him work his evil on another. It hardly seemed fair, though he had learned long ago that life was unfair. If his old tormentor captured him, then he would be the one suffering.

He grunted. He had been hunted for years and had managed to remain hidden. He wasn't about to let himself be caught now. But to the poor lamb whose sufferings he had just witnessed, that probably came as small comfort.

Gentle Heart smiled. "This was a great idea, Bright Heart." The raccoon in questions smiled back.

"Thank you. I think it was one of my best." Gentle Heart had to agree. Even with all his inventions and gadgets, few compared with his latest idea: A picnic on Earth under the beautiful summer sky. All they had with them was a blanket, lunch, the clouds overhead, the grass beneath them, and each other…

"Bright Heart? Gentle Heart? Are you there?"

…And the cloud mobile's radio.

"I knew I should have turned that thing off." Bright Heart thought with irritation. He sighed and walked over to the cloud mobile and turned on the mike, Gentle Heart right behind him.

"Hello, Bright Heart here."

"Bright Heart? It's Tenderheart. I know you and Gentle Heart had plans, but I'm afraid we need you for an immediate Caring Mission."

"I guessed as much when the radio went off." He said, not entirely able to hide his disappointment at having his time with Gentle Heart cut short. Gentle Heart laid a paw on his shoulder comfortingly.

"I'm really sorry about this. But if she wants, Gentle Heart could go with you. I'm sure she'd be a big help."

"Isn't she always?" Bright Heart asked rhetorically as Gentle Heart hugged him. "What's the mission?"

"Well," Tenderheart started, checking the notes in front of him. "It seems there's a monster in someone's attic."

CHAPTER ONE

"We're telling you, there's a monster up there!" The elder of the two boys, Jeffrey, insisted. His younger brother, Mathew, nodded in agreement. The two of them had just moved into this house with their parents. But they kept hearing noises at night coming from the attic. Their parents never heard them and dismissed them as the products of a pair of overactive imaginations. They didn't bother looking into the attic themselves, they were still too busy unpacking and getting settled in their new home. The house had been abandoned and empty for years, so it took a lot of work. Too much to waste any time on figment's of their children's imaginations.

But Jeffrey and Mathew were sure about what they heard and were having trouble sleeping on account of it. They were growing so dejected that no one listened to them that the Care Bears felt it necessary to step in.

"But there are no such things as ghosts or monsters." Bright Heart said calmly for the third time. "Old houses like this are full of odd noises: creaking floorboards, squeaky doors, and so on. That's what you've been hearing, that's all."

"Creaky floors don't pace." Jeffrey said stubbornly, crossing his arms. "They don't walk around in circle all night and mutter to themselves either."

"Maybe if we all take a look upstairs in the attic now, when it's light out, maybe we can see just what's making these noises." Gentle Heart suggested softly. Bright Heart beamed at her,

"That's a great idea!"

"No it isn't!" Matt said, panicked. Jeffrey agreed.

"You two can check it out if you want, but we're not going up there." Bright Heart nodded.

"If that's what you want. I'll go up first. It may be dark and I can see my way better than you can." He said to Gentle Heart as they headed up the stairs to the attic. Gentle Heart nodded.

"Be careful." She whispered to him. Bright Heart gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before he opened the door. Stepping inside he saw that it was, as he guessed, pitch black. He saw no light switched near the door, so he decided to venture in further to see what, if anything, was there.

Bright Heart rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing straight. He had expected the attic to be empty or full of old boxes. But that last thing he expected to find where piles upon piles of books. He'd seen libraries with smaller collections. Idly wondering whether or not there where any technical books in the piles, he almost banged his head on something dangling from a beam in the ceiling. He stepped back to getter a closer look at it.

"What's a dream catcher doing in an attic?" He wondered aloud. He hadn't expected to find that anymore than he had the books. Bright Heart was too busy trying to figure out this particular puzzle that he didn't notice Gentle Heart walking into the attic and approaching him from behind.

"Bright Heart?" The startled raccoon turned around so fast that his elbow jogged a particularly tall pile of books. The pile leaned, tottered, and fell, directly on top of the two cousins. Gentle Heart was the first to emerge from the veritable sea of books she found herself in. It was too dark for her eyes to see properly, but she still managed to make out some indistinct shapes. One in front of her in particular looked very familiar.

"Bright Heart?" She asked. It was certainly his silhouette: legs bent in haunches, pointed ears, bushy tail. No answer. "Bright Heart are you-"

"Did you say something?" She heard a voice from behind her. She turned around, it was Bright Heart, struggling free from the pile.

"But if you're there…" She started, turning quickly back to the shape she had seen in front of her. It was still there. "Then who…?" A bright light turned on. Gentle Heart threw her hands up in front of her face to guard her eyes from the glare. When the spots in front of her eyes had cleared, she saw a naked light bulb dangling from the ceiling. Beneath it was the last thing they expected to see.