I don't own the Carebears, and Mariel owns Regal Heart Lioness, Stellar Heart Tiger and any other character associated with them, and I thank her for letting me use them. I do own the character in this story, though, but to tell you who it is would spoil the story. Also, I'm not completely sure but the characters may be a bit OOC. I hope you like it, though.
Curiosity
Searching for the 'Ghost'
A wolf.
Right in front of two carebear cousins was a wolf. But this was not an ordinary wolf, like the ones that walked with four legs, sleek body, and extremely sharp teeth. No, he was bipedal, and looked a bit like them; a small heart on his hip, a white tummy except without the tummy symbol, hands like theirs, and face that showed a very clear emotions: pure curiosity.
-
It all started like an ordinary day, and Loyal Heart Dog and Brave Heart Lion were on a very important caring mission.
They were to save a park, since a lot of people really liked it there, and since a lot of caring seems to happen there very often. The park was in danger of being torn down because locals have been saying that ghosts are haunting the area. Of course, most people didn't believe, until it reached the newspapers with a picture of a two-legged creature that looked human, except it had pointed ears, a snout, and a tail.
Tender Heart Bear had said the picture looked a bit familiar, but he wasn't sure, so Loyal Heart and Brave Heart were sent to investigate, and to see if they could help save the park from being demolished.
-
Brave Heart landed the cloud mobile right beside the ranger house and they both got out of the vehicle. They wanted to ask the park ranger if he could give them some clues on the whereabouts about the 'ghost'.
"Hello sir," Loyal Heart greeted, smiling widely.
"Oh," the ranger said, "you must be the carebears to help solve this ghost thing."
"Uh huh, but were not sure if it's a ghost or not, but if it is, then its not going match for me!" Brave Heart exclaimed, nodding.
"Er, alright. All I know about the ghost is that its been stealing stuff from our locals and some tourists, and that it was last seen near the campsite to the west not far from here, and if it was not seen there, then it was somewhere close by," the park ranger said. "Please, if you can, solve this crisis, my family and I really love this park, and we would be crushed if it were demolished," he added, strain and desperation clear in his voice.
"We'll save the park," Brave Heart said confidently, "just wait and see!"
With that said and done, Loyal Heart and Brave Heart went back in the cloud mobile and went due south.
As Brave Heart drove the car, Loyal Heart watched the scenery below.
It was a really beautiful sight. It was full of lush green trees of all shapes and sizes. A small stream connected to a large, sparkly blue lake, one side surrounded by beautiful flowers, and the other by more trees. There was a path in the flower patch leading to an open area that had two wooden tables.
'Its really beautiful, I'd hate for this place to be destroyed,' he thought sadly. "Hey, Brave Heart, I think that's the campsite that the 'ghost' was last seen," he said, pointing the campsite he saw.
In truth, he was a little scared of the idea of a ghost, but he also wanted to help. He, like Tender Heart, also thought that the creature looked familiar, and he wanted to see if he was right.
"Alright, going down!" Brave Heart exclaimed as he drove the cloud mobile down on an empty space near the campsite.
As soon as they landed, they jumped out of the cloud mobile and walked towards the campsite.
"Well it looks like everything here is in order," Brave Heart said, scanning the area.
"Maybe we should check around, you know, just in case," Loyal Heart suggested, looking behind a bush.
Brave Heart nodded and helped him check their surroundings.
-
Not long after, they found something.
"Hey Brave Heart, come over here, I think I found something!" Loyal Heart yelled to him across the site.
Brave Heart came running towards where Loyal Heart was crouching. He was holding up a lump of what looked like light brown colored hair.
"What do you make of this?" he asked.
"It looks like hair," he said bluntly. "Maybe someone just lost his hair?"
"Maybe, but it feels like fur to me," Loyal Heart said. "Here," he held it up for Brave Heart to get a closer look, but his attention seemed elsewhere.
"Just leave it around, I think I found something more interesting," he said, smiling, as he switched his attention from the piece of hair and to another thing. He walked towards a piece of dry mud.
Loyal Heart dropped the hair and followed him intently.
When he reached him, Brave Heart had a smug smile, and he was pointing at a print on the mud.
"It looks like a foot print, or a paw print," Loyal Heart stated.
"Well, whatever it is, I'm guessing it belongs to our ghost!" Brave Heart exclaimed.
"Maybe, I've never seen an animal with a print this before, though."
"Come on, we must be close," Brave Heart said, gesturing Loyal Heart to follow him.
-
Before they knew it, they were in front of a medium sized cave. It was fairly big enough to hold family of bears. The inside was full of stalagmites and stalactites, and most of all, was very dark.
"Well, I think we better go in," Loyal Heart suggested.
"What! But the ghost might not be in there, lets go look somewhere else," Brave Heart said. There was a hint pleading in his voice.
Loyal Heart knew about his fear of the dark from his sister, Regal Heart Lioness, and he knew he was reluctant to go inside the cave. He didn't really know how to handle him when he was like this.
He sighed in exasperation. "Come one, you're the one who wanted to find the ghost so bad," Loyal Heart said.
"Well, what if the ghost wasn't there?" he asked.
"What if it is?" he asked back, folding his arms. 'Connie really takes after her mother and uncle,' Loyal Heart thought, thinking back to a very stubborn carebear cub, the daughter of Regal Heart Lioness and Stellar Heart Tiger. 'At least Hope takes after her father, in a way,' he thought.
"Oh…okay," he finally said, albeit reluctantly.
"Thanks a lot, Brave Heart," Loyal Heart said happily. Then he walked inside the cave, hoping that whatever they wanted to find was inside.
"Lets just make this quick," he said, as he reluctantly and hesitantly went inside the cave.
Inside, he saw Loyal Heart frozen in the spot.
"What's wrong, Loyal Heart? Are scared of the dark?" he asked, chuckling a little.
But his chuckle was cut short by a rough, "Who are you? And who is Loyal Heart?"
He, like Loyal Heart, froze, and looked at what looked like a pair of two glowing eyes of a bipedal, tan wolf.
Questions After Question After Question
"Hello? I asked you a question," the wolf said, tilting his head and snapping Loyal Heart and Brave Heart out of their reverie.
"Well, uh, I'm Loyal Heart Dog, and this here is Brave Heart Lion," Loyal Heart pointed out, gesturing to himself and the lion beside him. "We're carebear cousins."
"And who might you be?" Brave Heart asked, folding his arms.
"Me? Um…Let's see…who am I…" he mumbled, his head bowed down. Then he startled the carebears by looking back at them and then saying, "Who am I? And what are carebear cousins?"
"You…you don't know who you are?" Loyal Heart asked incredulously, eyes wide.
The wolf shook his head in a no.
"And you haven't heard of the carebears, or even carebear cousins?" Brave Heart asked, his eyes also wide.
He shook his head again. Still, even after all through that, his eyes still held curiosity, not only for his name, but to know these carebears, or carebear cousins.
"Do you know anything about yourself?" Loyal Heart asked.
"Or anything else?" Brave Heart asked.
The wolf looked thoughtful for a minute and then said, "I know that I lived here for as long as I can remember, and that I look like you, so does that mean I'm a carebear cousin too?"
"Maybe, if you want to be," Loyal Heart said.
"Then I guess I do," he said, smiling slightly, but they couldn't be sure.
"Hey, what's that?" Brave Heart asked, pointing at a shiny object around the wolf's right wrist.
"Oh, this?" he asked, showing a silver bangle with a red gem. It wasn't clear in the dark, but they could see it now that he showed it in the way of the light. "It was with me for as long as I can remember," he said.
"Okay, before that, how far can you remember?" Brave Heart asked.
"A few weeks," he told them.
"A few weeks?" they both said, shocked.
He nodded like it was nothing to him. "Why do you want to know?" he asked, tilting his head again.
"Because we needed to see if you had amnesia," Loyal Heart replied.
"What's amnesia?" he asked again.
'This guy is really becoming annoying,' Brave Heart thought, but regretted it later. He never knew what it was like to have amnesia, and he wouldn't want to have one at all.
"Amnesia is…well…um…how do I explain this? When you lose all your memories," Loyal Heart said simply. "Another carebear cousin can explain it to you more clearly, though."
"Okay, will I meet him?" he asked again.
"Maybe, if you come with us," Loyal Heart said.
"Yeah, and you can meet everyone else too!" Brave Heart exclaimed, smiling widely.
For the first time they met, they were sure that the wolf gave them a smile, a small one, but a smile nonetheless.
"Do you have any other questions?" Loyal Heart asked. Brave Heart slapped his face, and Loyal Heart immediately regretted asking that, for the wolf was barraging him a variety of questions already.
"Is everyone just like you guys? How will we get there? How long will it take? Will there be food? How wi-" he kept on asking, but Brave Heart cut him off.
"Look! If you come with us, we'll answer some of your questions. I don't think I can handle twenty questions, let alone a hundred," Brave Heart said, desperately hoping to shut up the highly inquisitive wolf.
Loyal Heart laughed.
The wolf turned his head towards Loyal Heart and, you guessed it, asked a question. "What's so funny?" Only to make Loyal Heart laugh a bit louder.
"The sooner we get to the cloud mobile, the faster we can answer your questions and meet our friends," Loyal Heart said, leaving the wolf to make his own answer.
"And the sooner we can get out of the dark," Brave Heart added, already walking towards the entrance.
"He doesn't like the dark, does he?" the wolf half-sure he was correct.
"Come on, we better go before he leaves us behind," Loyal Heart joked, and followed Brave Heart outside.
"He'll really leave us behind?" he asked, taking the joke too seriously, making Loyal Heart laugh again, but he shook his head.
-
Once they reached the cloud mobile, the wolf was reluctant to step in.
"Its okay, you won't fall. After all, Brave Heart and I are inside, and we're still fine," Loyal heart said, encouraging the wolf to step inside.
"But what if I do fall?" he asked stubbornly.
"You just have to trust us," Loyal Heart said, holding out his paw.
"Trust?" he said, looking at his own paws, as if trying to remember something, but in the end, he sighed. "Okay, I…trust you," and he took his paw, and Loyal Heart pulled him in.
"Ready? Let's go!" Brave Heart exclaimed as soon as the wolf was comfortable in his seat, only to tense up when they flew from the ground.
"What's happening?" the wolf asked, both scared and startled.
'Even when he's scared, he's still asking questions!' Brave Heart thought. 'This is going to be a very long day.'
Curious Heart Wolf
"Is this the place?" the wolf asked. What he saw completely amazed him.
"Yep, great, isn't it?" Brave Heart said.
"Well, a kingdom on clouds is something that I don't see everyday," he said. "I never saw one, a matter-of-factly. Do all carebears live there?" he asked.
"No, us carebear cousins live in the Forest of Feelings," Loyal Heart answered.
"Where's that?" the wolf asked.
"Close, but first, we gotta get you to True Heart and Noble Heart, get you a name and a tummy symbol," Brave Heart pointed out.
"Who? Get me what?" the wolf asked, turning his attention to them. He was already far more curious than he ever was.
-
When they stepped away from, a brown bear walked towards them.
"So, guys, did you find anything about the ghost?" Tender Heart asked. Then he saw the wolf and said, "Who is this, if I may ask?"
"Huh? Ghost?" the wolf said, tilting his head.
"Oh no! Sorry Tender Heart, I think we forgot about the that when we met Mr. Curiosity here," Brave Heart said.
"Well, maybe he knows something," Loyal Heart said, looking at the wolf.
Among all things, the wolf was completely dumbfounded; he didn't understand a thing they were talking about. "What are you all talking about? What ghost?" he finally asked.
"Hello, my name is Tender Heart, do you know anything about the ghost in the park?" he asked.
"What ghost are you talking about?" the wolf asked, irritated. His fur was already standing a little. He wasn't all that angry, he just gets a little bit irritated whenever no one listens to him, or in better words, answers his questions.
"You see, there was something there that keeps on stealing the things of the locals of the park, and also, there's something scaring them too," Tender Heart explained.
"Stealing? Like when someone takes whats not theirs?" he asked, his ears drooping a little. His voice told everyone that he was nervous.
"Yes, do you know anything?" Tender Heart asked, although he already assumed what was going on.
"Um…Well…I think, maybe…" but the wolf stopped there, as if scared to continue.
"It's alright, continue," Loyal Heart encouraged him.
"I stole some food from some people, but I had to, or I was going to starve. The berries barely satisfied me yesterday," he said, sincerely regretting what he did. "I'm sorry!"
"Hey, no need to be hard on yourself. Like you said, you needed to, but why didn't you just ask for some food?" Brave Heart said.
"Because I know they're scared of me. It was something that was stuck in my mind ever since that smallboy saw me across the big lake," he said, looking down, both literally and figuratively.
'This is the longest time hehasn't asked us a question; he must really be sorry,' Loyal Heart thought. "Don't worry, maybe the kid just thought you were something scary," he said.
"O-okay," the wolf said, but there his voice told of that he was still a bit unsure.
"Well, since that's solved, you can get him to Noble Heart and True Heart," Tender Heart said, "that is, if he wants to become a carebear cousin in a more proper way."
The wolf perked up, and then said, "Yup! They asked me if I wanted to and I said yes. It's gotta be better than being stuck all alone in the place where I was." Then the wolf had a thoughtful face. "Where was I anyway?" he asked.
"You were in the park," Loyal Heart answered.
"Park?" he asked again.
"We'll explain later," Brave Heart said, getting annoyed again. "First, Noble Heart and True Heart, then you can ask them your questions," he said, wanting to get this over with quickly.
"But I want to know what a park is, and I want to ask Tender Heart some more questions…" the wolf mumbled, but only Loyal Heart heard, making him giggle. And once again, the wolf asked him what's so funny.
-
"So, you're the so-called ghost of the park?"True Heart asked politely.
As soon as Tender Heart, Brave Heart, Loyal Heart, and the wolf met Noble and True Heart, Brave Heart said that he was going to visit his nieces and nephew, but in truth, he just didn't want to be asked another hundred questions by the wolf, literally, leaving Loyal Heart to help around.
"I guess so," he replied. He was smiling widely, since Loyal Heart had answered most of his questions when they were going to meet Noble Heart and True Heart.
"And you want to bepart of the carebear family?" True Heart asked.
"Yup! Definitely!" he said, ecstatically. "Do I need to do something before that happens?" he asked.
"No, but we'll need to get you a place to stay," Noble Heart said.
"Can I stay with him?" the wolf asked, pointing at Loyal Heart. "He's fun, and he answers all my questions," he added, grinning goofily.
"I don't mind; he's kind of like a younger brother to me already," Loyal Heart said. 'He asks a lot of questions like a younger brother, and he is very hyperactive,' Loyal Heart thought.
"Really?" he asked again. Loyal Heart sighed and just nodded.
"Okay then, all we need now is a good name," Tender Heart said, smiling.
"I'm gonna get a name now?" the wolf asked, but it was more of a 'Wow! That's so cool!' statement.
"I know a good name for him: Curious Heart Wolf, since he's so inquisitive," Loyal Heart said. He already thought of that up since they arrived in the cloud mobile.
"That's a nice name. I like it," the wolf said.
"Okay then, from now on you are Curious Heart Wolf!" Tender Heart announced. Then his tummy symbol started glowing.
The wolf looked ay him curiously, and then he felt warmth on his tummy. He looked at his tummy and found a symbol on it.
His symbol held two question marks almost adjacent, making the two marks look like one big heart with a color of red, and instead of two different periods at the bottom, it was one, small, pink heart. Inside the big heart was a lightbulb with five yellow rays coming from it.
"Wow!" Curious exclaimed. "How did you do that? Can mine do that? How can I do that? Can it do anything else? Is it permanent, or temporary?" he asked, ensuing another game of a hundred questions.
"Curious and inquisitive he is indeed!" Noble Heart said, laughing heartily.
The Welcoming Party
Of course, that was only the beginning. A little later, they found out that Brave Heart had 'politely' spread the word about a ridiculously inquisitive wolf joining the carebear family.
Soon enough, they had arranged a welcoming party at the Hall of Hearts for the newly dubbed Curious Heart Wolf.
"Wow! Is this all for of me?" Curious Heart asked happily. All around were many carebears and carebear cousins, each one greeting him a welcome. He wasn't sure if all the carebears were there, after all, he was still new.
"Yes, Curi, its because you joined the family. It's a great day," Loyal Heart explained.
"Curi?" Curious asked, looking at him.
"It's a nickname I thought up, instead of always calling you Curious Heart all the time, I can just call you Curi," Loyal Heart explained once again.
"Does that mean I can call you Loy?" he asked.
"Um…No thanks, Loyal Heart is fine with me," Loyal Heart said. He wasn't at all fond of being called Loy.
Curi shrugged and continued to look at everyone. There was, of course, Brave Heart, and another lion, except it was a she, followed by a two look-alike cubs, and a tiger carrying a smaller cub, and then there was a blue rabbit, a yellow monkey, a lot of bears of different colors, and even a pink elephant. This was the only time he ever saw so many people, let alone a small group, and now he was part of this family.
"Come on, let's go sit down," Loyal suggested, pointing at a large table.
It seemed that Curi only noticed that everyone had seated. He sat between Loyal Heart and a blue bear that had a symbol of a rain cloud raining small hearts, but before he could ask who he was, Noble Heart caught the attention of all the carebears and carebear cousins, including his.
"Everyone, I know that all of you has heard and welcomed our newest family member, Curious Heart Wolf, but I would like everyone to welcome him again with a good round of applause!" the horse said, lifting his arms in a friendly gesture. And as he said, everyone clapped Curi a good welcome to the family, making him blush a little, but it also made him smile widely.
Too bad that it was a bad time for his stomach to growl loudly, making Curi's blush grow deeper. "Um…I don't want to be rude but, when do we eat?" he asked, his blush growing deeper by the minute.
This aroused a wholehearted laugh from most of the family, but Noble Heart just said, "Let our feast begin!"
Curious observed everyone while he was eating, which was of course, a lot. The ones who noticed ate the most were probably the tiger and he himself, but he didn't mind.
Loyal Heart had offered him some of the more delicious food, which he ate faster than Loyal Heart thought was possible except for Stellar Heart (the tiger) since the day he joined the carebear family.
'Well, he did say he didn't eat much when he was staying in the park,' Loyal Heart reasoned with himself.
Talking and Chatting
All in all, the feast was okay, and the family started to lounge around the Hall of Hearts and began chatting, or in my native slang, nagchika-chika.
For Curious Heart, it was all well. He was talking to Brave Heart's sister, Regal Heart Lioness, who was holding a small sleeping, baby cub.
"So, that's how you and Stellar became a carebear cousin?" Curi asked. Regal Heart was telling him how she and Stellar Heart Tiger got in the family and how they got together, with much nagging from his part.
"Yeah, and Stellar and I have been together ever since," she replied happily.
"And that guy is your newest kid?" he asked, looking over Chance Heart Liger.
"Yes, he is," she replied. 'I think Brave Heart said an understatement when he said he was only a little inquisitive; he's way over that,' she thought. "If you have any more questions, maybe you want to direct them to Brave Heart," she said, thinking, 'Its your turn to play the hundred questions game again, brother dearest.'
All of a sudden, Curi tensed up, his eyes grew wider and he bit his lip.
"What? Cat got your tongue?" Regal asked jokingly.
Curious Heart, who thought she was serious, shook his head, and then he pointed at his back.
Regal looked at his back, and spotted one of her daughters biting his tail.
"Connie! Stop that!" she ordered. She was surprised that one of her daughters bit the tail of the newest carebear cousin, but then again, it also happened once before…
Connie reluctantly let go of her grip on his tail and rushed to her mother.
Curious Heart stayed silent, quietly trying to stop himself from yelping in pain. 'How does she bite that hard?' he thought. Even in pain, he still asks questions, at least in his head.
"Connie, why'd you do that? You shouldn't do that, especially since you know its not nice," she scolded her daughter.
"But Playful Heart told me a story, and he said the lesson was 'Curiosity killed the cat,' and his name if Curiosity, so he killed a cat, and I'm not gonna let him get Chance, too!" she said, pointing accusingly at Curious.
"I never killed a cat," he said, finding his voice again.
Regal Heart sighed and thought, 'Maybe I should tell Playful to stop telling them stories.' Then she looked at her daughter and said, "He isn't 'curiosity' Connie, well maybe he is, but what you said isn't the same thing," She explained.
"But-" Connie tried to say.
"No buts, now you should apologize to him right now," she said in a 'if you don't, you'll get grounded' tone.
Connie looked at her mother, and then at Curi, and then said in a regretful voice, "I'm sorry…"
"Its okay, I think, but did you have to bite that hard?" Curious complained, making Regal chuckle. Connie laughed a little too, but it wasn't very audible. And once again, he asked whats funny, which she replied by lauging harder. Too bad it made Chance wake up and cry; she had to go back to Stellar Heart soon after, with Connie in tow.
It was soon after that that Curi got Playful's traditional practical joke, but, strangely, instead of being embarrassed, he became curious about it, thus making him play the hundred question games with none other than Playful Heart.
'Note to self: Don't play another practical prank on Curious Heart Wolf!' Playful thought. Lets just say he didn't really enjoy playing the game.
After that, everything else was smooth sailing for the rest of the day.
The next few days, Curious was with Loyal Heart practicing with his tummy symbol, which for the first few hours, Curious played the hundred questions game again with Loyal Heart.
Unknown to him however, that his bracelet had many secrets that would unfold in his life. But for now, it would be smooth sailings.
ENDI know that I didn't put No Heart in the story (if you wanted him in it anyway, but I don't, at least not right now), but that will be explained in another story with an undecided title. Please R&R, it would really boost my morale. Hope you liked the story! Ciao!
Also, read Muriel1's stories! Its really great!