A/N: For those of you who think it is, this story isn't related to Disarmed in anyway. It's basically separate, and things in Disarmed never happened or will aside from shadow attacks.

2. Soccer games and match-making

The Hall of Hearts cafeteria was full of Carebears and cousins as morning arrived in both Care-A lot and the Forest of Feelings. Not everyone went to the cafeteria for breakfast, since they had kitchens like any other home would in their houses. The cafeteria was mainly there for individuals who were in a rush for caring missions or just didn't feel like cooking. Gentle Heart lamb quietly sat at a table, poking her fried eggs with a plastic fork. She wasn't very hungry at the time. Cheer Bear, also sitting at the table, noticed this. "What's wrong, Gentle? You looked about as happy as Cold Heart in a desert."

Gentle Heart looked up, forcing herself to smile. "I'm okay. What are you guys talking about?"

"We're planning out the birthday party for True Heart," Cheer Bear answered, "It's gonna be great!"

True Heart had a birthday approaching in almost two weeks. In Care-A lot, birthdays were just about as important as Christmas. Not one birthday party has been alike, and there wasn't anyone who didn't enjoy it. Gentle Heart looked down at the table, overhearing the conversation. It was going to take place in the Forest of Feelings. She went back to poking at her eggs. It wasn't as if she wasn't interested or didn't care about the party. It was just that her mind was overloaded with too many things to think about. Last night she had only gotten six hours of rest, on account of thinking of decisions to make for several things. The main thought was No Heart announcing to her that he would openly teach her magic. She tried to tell herself it was a trick, but there was a voice in the back of her mind saying that it wasn't a trap. She saw it for herself that he wasn't lying. There was a rattle as Playful Heart jumped on to a seat across from Gentle Heart, Birthday Bear sitting next to him.

"Hi, Gentle. Hi, Cheer Bear," he greeted the two and immediately began digging into his stack of pancakes with more syrup than it needed.

Cheer Bear wrinkled her nose. "Have you ever heard of diabetes?"

Playful laughed, spewing pancake crumbs all over her. "You worry too much!"

Gentle Heart giggled despite the fact that she was having a very troubled week. Birthday Bear had already finished his two sausages and burped very loudly. "Gentle Heart! Do you have any free time today?"

The lamb nodded, finally beginning to eat her eggs. They had grown cold, but were better than nothing. "Yeah. I'm probably not going to have any caring missions today."

"Good!" Birthday responded quickly, "Because today we're all gonna go to Earth and play a good game of…"

"SOCCER!" Playful and Birthday shouted at the top of their lungs. It was their favorite game in the entire world, and they could beat nearly everyone. That is, except for Champ Bear.

Gentle Heart twitched at their outburst along with everyone else in the Hall of Hearts. The two of them stared at her with puppy eyes, waiting for a reaction. She put much more thought into it than she probably needed, and finally nodded. "Sure."

"Great! You can be on my team," Playful Heart said excitedly, "And while all of us are on Earth, we can have a picnic! Just like what you had yesterday only ten times better!"

Brave Heart, who had also recently joined the table, snorted. "I doubt that. Who all is coming?"

"Anyone who can," Birthday Bear answered, "So we gotta bring truckloads of food. I'll make the cake!"

Gentle Heart soon finished. "When is everyone leaving?"

"An hour," Birthday answered, "So I have enough time to make a cake. We can all meet here at the Hall of Hearts."

"Okay, I'll be here," Gentle Heart answered, and then left the table to set her tray down and leave for the Forest of Feelings. Going to Earth would be a good idea… that way she could hopefully have time to do other things aside from constantly thinking of what No Heart had said. She produced a cloud car with her tummy symbol and headed to the Forest of Feelings to help with bringing snacks to the picnic.

Gentle Heart was surprised to see that everyone in the Carebear family was waiting at the Hall of Hearts an hour later. She arrived in her cloud car, being sure not to make it disappear when she shut the door. Playful Heart and Birthday Bear stood off to the side, already warming up for the game that they were convinced would be the best of them all. She walked over to the two, carrying a tray in her paws. Birthday was the first to dash over and peek inside. "Ooh… lemon squares."

"For the picnic," she said, pulling it away from him with a smile, "So where do I put this?"
"My cloud car," Birthday answered.

Playful Heart also walked over, twirling the soccer ball at the tip of his tail skillfully. "Yeah, if you want him to eat it all. You can put it in that one over there."

He pointed to a cloud car that was already full of trays and plates in the back seat. Grumpy Bear was in the front, waiting impatiently. Gentle Heart walked over and carefully set her own tray on the others, positioning it so it wouldn't fall. Grumpy Bear simply sighed, seeing that his load would be even heavier. "When are we going to be leaving?"
She shrugged. "Playful Heart and Birthday Bear have to lead us to Earth. I guess we leave when they do,"

Grumpy Bear stood in his cloud car and cupped his paws around his muzzle. "Playful, Birthday! You mind hurrying up?"

The two stopped bouncing the ball on their heads and grinned sheepishly. In only another moment, everyone was off in their cloud cars and rainbow rollers. Gentle Heart was in a cloud car with Tender Heart driving, Bright Heart in the passengers seat, and with Gentle Heart in the back seat was Secret Bear. All of them followed Playful Heart and Birthday bear, who drove down to Earth for their specific spot to play. In twenty minutes, they arrived at a familiar place in woods. Gentle Heart climbed out of the cloud car, looking around her. It was the same place that she had been earlier on the caring mission with Playful Heart. They parked the cloud cars, a few disappearing for they wouldn't be needed in awhile. Playful Heart waved his arms to grab everyone's attention. "Over here!"

With that, he began walking to the familiar clearing with the same log, and past it was a field. The spring sun shined warmly on the grass of the field, making it appear as though the several flowers around it was glowing from the rays. It was nearly two times the size of a regular soccer field, which made room for the picnic. Birthday Bear grabbed the soccer ball from Playful Heart and kicked it into the air, bouncing it off of his head. "Come on, let's play!"

"Hold your horses," Noble Heart said, no pun intended, "We should all help set up the picnic first. I don't think everyone would want to play soccer at once."

"Right!" Lotsa-Heart elephant agreed, wobbling into the field, carrying a tray in each hand and one with his trunk. "We gotta get a blanket before I drop these, and that's the truth."

Soon enough, the picnic area was all set. There had to be a tray from each family member, and it was the perfect day for the occasion. Gentle Heart set down a thick plate with brownies piled on it and stood up only to see a grinning Playful Heart. He held the soccer ball in his paws. "We're starting the game! Are you playing?"

The lamb blushed. "I'm not very good at sports…"

Playful Heart grabbed her paw and led her to the field with an assuring smile. "It's alright. You could still have fun!"

Gentle Heart didn't protest as they walked to a large group in the middle of the field. It seemed as though she was the last person that was needed to start the game. She joined the group and waited as there was a coin flip to see which captain chose a team members first, and who what side of the field. The captains were Playful Heart, unsurprisingly, and Birthday Bear let Wish Bear take his place. The two looked anxiously at the coin now on the ground, and Wish Bear grinned. "I go first!"

The turquoise bear then faced the now lined crowd with a paw on her chin. "Hmm… I choose… Champ!"

Champ Bear walked forward to join her group, leaving Playful Heart to choose. He answered quickly, "Gentle Heart."

She walked forward slowly. Why did he choose her of all the Carebears? She had to be the least athletic of them all that was in the group. Wish chose Lotsa-Heart next, and Playful Chose Swift Heart. Soon, the teams were chosen, and the game was about to begin. Goals of thick fallen branches were made by sticking the branches in the ground. Playful Heart huddled with his team, looking thoughtfully as everyone, telling everyone the play they were going to do. Gentle Heart didn't understand a thing that he was saying, but acted as though she did for the sake of everyone else on their team. Soon, they were all on the field and the game started.

Gentle Heart simply stood, watching the ball be stolen from Playful by Birthday, Birthday would kick it to Champ, Champ to Lotsa-Heart before being stolen by Playful Heart once again. A lot of players were just staring at the sky or ground, knowing that this would happen for a while. But Gentle Heart paid attention to something, or someone else. Out of the corner of her eye, she found herself always looking to two Carebears. True Heart and Noble Heart both stood to the side of the game, both being referees. Were they really in a romantic relationship? Gentle Heart felt very rude thinking of another's business, but Proud Heart had made her think about Carebears being in relationships. It could be possible… maybe just no one was attracted to each other at the time like that. Gentle Heart sighed, thinking of all the human movies she had watched where the guy and girl get together. They all seemed so fun and happy. Why couldn't a Carebear have a relationship that a human couldn't? Looking at the two referees, she saw Noble Heart whisper something into True Heart's ear, making her laugh. It didn't seem all that impossible the two.

"Gentle Heart! Head's up!"

She looked forward again to the ball coming straight her way. Inwardly she groaned… she was horrible at sports. She was ready to kick it when Playful Heart leaped out of nowhere and rescued her from having an embarrassing moment by kicking the ball to the side before catching it with a foot. He smiled at her. "It's okay. I know you don't like getting physic-"

He was cut off by Champ Bear shouldering him hard enough to get him away from the ball. Playful Heart hit the ground and rolled in the soft grass before leaping to his feet again to see Champ running away with the ball, laughing. Playful grinned. "You better run!"

Gentle Heart watched him run after Champ with a slight smile. She would have to thank him for that later. He was right, she really didn't like getting too physical. She had neither the mind nor the body to do so… it would take magic to get her on her feet and playing anything. That thought made her groan out loud. Why did she have to think of that? Her mind wandered off to what had happened last night within the Forest of Feelings, and No Heart proposing to teach her magic. She wasn't supposed to be thinking of this right now. She was supposed to be at least trying to focus on the soccer game which she wasn't even playing in. Still, she couldn't help herself. On the spot, she shut her eyes. Alright, she thought, I'll make my decision now if I have to. So… what's the benefit of having magic?
She thought of all that could be possible with magic. For as long as she could remember knowing No Heart, she was always amazed at just what he could do and also what Dark Heart did. Though Dark Heart was mainly a shape shifter and nothing more, it still amazed her and still does. She always wondered what it would be like being able to shift into any animal she desired. It must be great. In her eyes, the way she thought of magic was a way of freedom, almost. Not being restrained to the ground by reality, it would almost be a freedom that America could never have, and it couldn't be bought. To do anything that she wanted…
And then there were all of the things that could be bad. The fact that it was No Heart teaching her. He would probably try to show her magic that wouldn't be right. Then there was her family. They would disapprove of it all, most likely. In fact, she knew. And their opinion mattered most to her than no one, despite the difference No Heart claimed she had with the rest of her family. But then again… was their opinion really all that important?

She took a moment to look around at all of the Carebear faces within the soccer game and some that were at the picnic. She had spent her entire life with her family. It was horrible to even think that their opinion wasn't important. Gentle Heart knew inside that she was saying, 'yes, learn magic so it can save me from being a nobody,' but was afraid to listen to it. She knew that she probably would have said 'yes' if it was someone else showing her magic, even if it was Dark Heart instead of the lord of uncaring and evil that is No Heart. For a small second the ball came close to coming her way again before Good Luck caught it and began kicking it to the other team's goal. Moving back into her thoughts, she remembered another thing that No Heart had told her. This was a once in a lifetime offer. This would be her only chance of even getting a glimpse of magic, something that everyone in the world wanted to possess. Magic could even help her family if No Heart decided to turn against her. Then she could be the heroine for once. Gentle Heart exhaled, making up her mind. She would go to No Heart's castle the next morning… she would promise to herself that she would go and at least try.

The game had ended with Wish Bear's team winning the match, and everyone had retired to the picnic blanket. Playful Heart still wanted a rematch but wasn't given one despite his complaints. On account of being the losing team's captain, he was the one that passed out everyone's plate and was the last to get his own. Gentle Heart stood in line, surprisingly feeling better about herself that she decided to at least try the magic. That is, if No Heart was telling the truth which she was pretty sure of. Wish Bear stood in front of her in line with Gentle Heart behind her. "Good game, Gentle Heart!"

"Thanks," Gentle Heart answered, "Even though I didn't even do anything."

"At least you were there," Wish Bear said, and then suddenly perked, remembering something. "Oh yeah! Proud Heart and Love-A-Lot bear all want the girls to sit together for awhile. Don't know why, but she told me to tell every girl around me."

Gentle Heart grabbed a plate at the blanket edge. "Um… okay."

Wish Bear reached Playful Heart, who was smiling at her. The turquoise Carebear eyed him suspiciously as he pointed at all of the trays, bowels and plates. "What do you want?"

The bear took her plate with a grin. "I know you're up to something. I'll get it myself, thank you!"

Playful shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Wish Bear loaded her plate with fries that were still hot somehow, a piece of Birthday Bear's gigantic cake and a burger from Brave Heart. She began walking away before Playful Heart coughed. "You want any salt for your fries?"

"Oh, I almost forgot," Wish said, taking the salt shaker.

The cap fell off completely when she turned it upside down, having salt spill all over her fries. Playful grabbed his stomach, falling backwards and laughing uncontrollably. Gentle Heart smiled, trying not to laugh just as hard so Wish wouldn't get angry. Wish put a paw on her hip. "That's not funny!"

"You shouldn't have made me do the job of handing out of the food then!" He said, then burst into another fit of laughs.

Wish smiled, rolling her eyes and held her fries, cake and burger down as she dropped all of the excess salt on Playful Heart. He was laughing too hard to care when she walked away and Gentle Heart was next in line. The monkey cousin laughed one last time, wiping a tear from his eye. He must have found it very humorous. Seeing Gentle Heart, he finally stopped laughing. "What can I get you?"

"It's okay," Gentle Heart answered, "I owe you for rescuing me in the soccer game."

Playful smiled. "You don't have to. It's my job now, after all."

He handed her the plate back and then realized that there wasn't anyone else in line. He hopefully looked at her, tail swishing. "You wanna sit with me and Birthday? We're gonna have a burping contest!"

She wrinkled her nose. "I've been asked to sit with all the girls. There's something that Proud Heart and Love-A-Lot have to tell us, I think."

Playful slowly smiled. "You shouldn't have told me that. Now there's something better than a burping contest I could do!"

She knew what he meant and walked off. "Don't even think about it."

Gentle Heart looked around and then saw all of the female Carebears and cousins sitting in a giant group underneath a tree with white and pink blossoms. The first thing she noticed was all of the guys whispering about it and looking over curiously. She figured it wouldn't be too long until they decided to crash the 'party.' Especially once Playful Heart tells them of his plans. She walked over and joined the group, sitting down next to Treat Heart pig. She nudged Treat Heart. "Why are we here?"

The pig cousin shrugged. "Search me."

"It's girl talk," Cheer said, "Isn't it obvious?"

Gentle Heart heard an aggravated hiss and turned around to see Loyal Heart poking Proud Heart cat. Loyal Heart tagged along behind her as she walked back from putting away her plate, poking her repeatedly in the side. "Come on, why can't I hear?"

"Because, you clearly aren't a girl," Proud Heart answered before adding, "I hope."

He made a whining noise, flattening his ears. "But it's not fair! What's gonna be the difference of just one guy tagging along?"

Proud Heart stopped, sighing. "The difference is that with us girls, nothing could go wrong. But with guys, disaster is waiting to happen. So hold ON!"

Loyal Heart flinched and drooped his tail that was once wagging, walking away with a sigh. Proud Heart rolled her eyes and then joined everyone else. "Sorry, got caught up."

Friend Bear looked at Proud Heart. "Can you make it quick? There's gonna be a soccer rematch."

Proud Heart flattened her ears. "Fine, fine… I just have a question."

Gentle Heart saw Proud Heart looked at Love-A-Lot Bear with a grin, and almost knew what she had planned. It seemed as though the two planned to be the match makers of Care-A lot. Everyone around her seemed to look a bit disappointed, thinking it would be gossip. Though there wasn't much gossip you could find in the Kingdom of Caring to begin with. Proud Heart took a seat on a log, leaning back as Love-A-lot joined her with a smile. "So… who here likes who?"

She didn't get the response that she hoped for. There were a few comments similar to something along the lines of 'I like everyone here.' Proud Heart slapped a paw to her forehead in disbelief. "Aww, come on! You can't be serious!"

"Why wouldn't we be?" asked a clueless Share Bear.

Love-A-Lot rephrased her question, "Which boy do you have a crush on?"

There wasn't a reply, just confused stares. Gentle Heart looked at the ground, almost embarrassed for them both. Maybe she was wrong in thinking about Carebears and cousins could actually get into a relationship like human couples do. Cozy Heart raised a flipper. "Um… wouldn't that be wrong?"

Love-A-Lot shook her head. "Of course not! We can have emotions, too. Like in all of those pretty romance movies where the guy and girl fall in love and share their first kiss in front of a sunset…"

There was a sigh. Apparently she wasn't the only one obsessed with romance movies. Proud Heart extracted her claws from a hand, which were clipped best at the time, and examined them. "So, someone say something. This is girl talk, we can say whatever we want. Who do you like?"

Despite their strong family connections and relationships, all of the females of the family looked at one another warily. Gentle Heart didn't say anything either, mainly because of the fact that she didn't really have a 'crush' on any Carebear or cousin boy. Plus, she figured that they either had similar feelings or they just were afraid of their crush finding out. This seemed to be annoying Proud Heart more. She sighed. "Come on! I wanna play Cupid!"

"I have an idea…" Love-A-Lot said perfectly fine, "If I was to say who I liked, would you guys say who you liked?"

Once again, the crowd exchanged glances. Then there were nods of agreement. "Okay," Wish Bear spoke, "But don't expect anything out of us… I don't think I like a guy."

Gentle Heart then thought of something. What if all of this started some chain of false romance somehow? Girl emotions could be provoked by the oddest things.

Love-A-Lot nodded. "Okay… but you HAVE to keep your promise! I can tell when you're lying."

"Go on…" Cheer Bear said. "We promised."

Love-A-lot sighed, closing her eyes. "I know, I know… Tender Heart."

There was a pause, and soon the entire group erupted into squeals. Gentle Heart covered her ears as she took notice that the guy Carebears only looked more intrigued now and were beginning to whisper amongst themselves and look over with mischievous smiles. Gentle let go of her ears as Carebears crowded around Love-A-Lot, asking for more details. Yep, it wouldn't be too long now until the guys would attempt to break up all of the fun. All of the attention was now on Love-A-Lot. It appeared that their opinions of romantic relationships within the Carebear family had now changed. When glancing back at the other group, she now only saw True Heart and Noble Heart talking and groaned and no one else. "Oh, no…"

"Charge!"

Brave Heart came dashing into the circle of girls from the denser woods, only to land flat on his face in front of everyone. Swift Heart stopped in mid-sentence to put her hands on her hips. She smiled. "That wasn't very funny… You'll pay for that!"

Friend Bear looked over to see a convenient puddle of mud not too far away and grinned. "To the mud!"
"To the mud!" The girls echoed, closing in on Brave Heart like a pack of wolves to an injured deer.

The lion jumped to his feet only to be grabbed by enough paws to lift him into the air. "It was just a joke! Mercy!"

Still, he was being carried away. That is, until the other male Carebears and cousins also came from the woods and saw the situation. They dashed to Brave Heart's aid, Lotsa-Heart elephant getting a good hold of Brave Heart's tail with his trunk. He pulled, but the result was only being grabbed more roughly by the girls. Brave Heart looked behind him nervously, feeling the sensations of being stretched at his tail bone. "Lotsa-Heart… not a good idea!"

Gentle Heart remained a good distance away from this stunt, careful not to get trampled although smiling. This was a trip worthwhile. Just as she thought this, she heard a beeping noise come from her left. She looked over to see Noble Heart horse running to the picnic blanket and grabbing something. She saw his distressed expression as he walked to True Heart and said something. There was a splash as Brave Heart was finally thrown into the mud successfully and Noble Heart finally approached the cheering crowd. It seemed as though the boys also found the thought of Brave Heart getting dirty funny and helped the girls out. Noble Heart laughed at the sight of a muddy Brave Heart, but then held up a heart-shaped device, a hand-held caring meter.

"We've got a problem, Carebears," he announced, "It looks like a few caring missions have come in. We need volunteers."

Another set of beeps came from the caring meter once again, and he looked down with a worried expression. "Actually, never mind. It's about time we wrap-up the picnic… who knows how many more might show up."

There was a disappointed groan from the crowd. Everyone split into halves, with one half cleaning up the picnic and the other going on the caring missions just arriving. Gentle Heart decided to stay and clean up… after all, it had been proven that she didn't do very well on caring missions. She helped True Heart roll up the picnic blanket, noting how it seemed odd that Noble Heart wasn't by her side for a change. The lamb lifted the bundle and began walking to the cloud cars. Now that all of the noise of friends was gone and there was just the silence of cleaning, she was only left alone with her thoughts.

Morning dew hung on the soft blades of grass within her garden as Gentle Heart awoke from the sunlight hitting her closed eyes. She twitched, then softly rolled on to her side to face away from the window. Attempting to fall asleep didn't work, and she slowly sat over her bed, stretching with a yawn. A bird chirped outside of her window, and she made her way to the bathroom to take a shower. Having that task completed, she walked back into her kitchen with much more clear eyes and a clearer mind. Today didn't feel like a day to go to the Hall of Hearts. Instead, she did the normal procedures of making toast.

Gentle Heart yawned for the hundredth time that morning as she spread the butter across her toast with a knife lazily. She didn't get much sleep the night before, and woke up twice from unknown reasons during her sleep. She figured her mind was jumbled with too many thoughts, worries and things she had to do. She stopped buttering, turning to look at the analog clock on the counter top. It was nearing eight o' clock. Gentle Heart swallowed, remembering the promise she had made to herself during the soccer game. She would go to the castle belonging to No Heart before the caring missions usually began around ten. The lamb quickly ate her toast and glass of orange juice before heading outside. The rays of the sunshine were warm upon her light green wool that she would need to cut sometime soon, which was a job she went to Cheer Bear for.

Gentle Heart looked around her. The only signs of life were birds chirping and playing in the branches of the trees and butterflies flitting softly throughout the air. She closed her eyes, and concentrated, attempting to create a cloud car with her tummy symbol. It was hard with the odd feeling of nervousness dwelling within her gut, but managed a slightly smaller one. Still, it was okay to drive. She hopped in, being sure no one would see her leave and then lifted into the air, driving faster than she normally would into clear skies. A light purple bird fluttered to her rearview mirror, chirping a greeting before hopping off to hover next to her as long as it could.

Gentle Heart looked nervously toward dark storm clouds. Lightning flashed brightly within the clouds, and she tightened her grip on the steering wheel nervously, whispering to the bird as it finally flew away. "Wish me luck."