"Pace"

"Chapter 3: Not Ourselves"

Author's Note: Sorry it's so short this time, but we're kinda busy right now, and I wanted to update.

The beetle landed on a bedroom windowsill and folded its shiny purple wing-covers over its back. This wasn't exactly No Heart's favorite mode of transportation, nor his favorite form to take, but at the moment stealth was key. He had to get very close to the ligers in order for his plan to work, since he had no desire to be 'frozen' by Connie on her home turf. It rankled him to no end that her power effected him as well, but he had learned that he must be crafty when approaching her. After her previous experiences with him, most of which had happened when she was a small cub, she had grown into the type of person who struck first and ask questions later. He would be frozen before he could snap his fingers.

The window was open, most likely to let in the fresh air, and he silently skittered in and buzzed down to the floor to get his bearings.

He was alone, but he could hear indistinct voices coming from the kitchen. Then he heard something else...

Pace set up a bawling that rivaled Connie's 'colic cry' from when she was a baby. Connie and Hope tried everything they could think of, but he refused to be soothed. Neither of them heard the tell-tale buzzing, and they didn't notice as a beetle landed on the floor almost directly in front of them.

"I'm calling Take Care..." said Hope, putting Pace in his carriage. "He almost sounds like he's in pain."

Connie, who was more worried than she was letting on, replied, "Maybe you should." She began to say something else, but instead she gave a yelp of surprise as No Heart seemed to materialize before her. The sorcerer doused the ligers in their faces with a strange-smelling blue liquid (Connie didn't have time to wonder what it was or how he had brought it out without her seeing where it had come from), and said, "That won't be necessary."

"It burns!" shrieked Connie, frantically rubbing her eyes to clear them. Pace, who now had No Heart standing between himself and his sisters, was screaming himself hoarse. No Heart turned casually towards him, and reached out. Connie pointed to him, and said in a commanding bark, "Freeze!"

No Heart did not freeze.

"Freeze, I said!"

"I heard you the first time." Said No Heart, chuckling as he wrapped his hand around Pace's middle and lifted him as if he were a stuffed toy. The baby's head lolled alarmingly, and Hope cried out in fear.

"Stop, you'll break his neck!" she screamed, the horrible thought dawning on her that No Heart might intend to do just that.

But that wasn't his intention at all. He tucked the cub into the crook of his arm - not protectively, but possessively - and regarded the twins with amusement and loathing. Pace was no bigger than a half-grown kitten, and he had no claws with which to defend himself; only a set of tiny, human-like nails. This was actually a good thing, because if No Heart dropped Pace from that height it might kill him. As it was, he held the cub in too tight a grip, and Pace's cries were now partly out of pain as well as fear. "I'm sure you've realized by now that your powers won't work." said No Heart, "It's a spell, you see. Do you like it? It's been two years in the making, and I've finally had a chance to test it. And that's not all..."

As he spoke, Connie and Hope seemed to grow taller. At first they thought they were imagining it, but when their fur separated from their skin and transformed into clothing as they grew, it was undeniable that something strange was happening to them. They grew until the tops of their heads were at about a level with No Heart's chest, and as if to confirm their own experiences they looked at each other. There was a moment of astonished silence. Then they screamed.

"We're..." Hope said in a breathless squeak.

"Humans!" Connie finished, turning accusingly to No Heart, who was fairly laughing his head off.

"Yes. And quite powerless." he said.

If their Family could see them now, they wouldn't have believed their eyes. Connie and Hope now stood at about five feet and ten inches tall in their shoes, and as similar as they appeared when they were Cousins, they were now as different as night and day. Hope was slender and pale-complected, with black hair and bewildered, doe-like eyes. Connie's build was somewhat more stocky and strong, and there was still a slightly feline quality to her eyes, which were a bright grass-green and snapped fire. Her hair was a fiery red, presumably to match her temper, which was steadily heating. As she opened her mouth to let out a stream of words that would no doubt jeopardize their brother's safety, Hope clapped a hand over her sister's lips.

"What're you going to do to him? You're not going to..." she couldn't say it.

"Kill him?" No Heart asked, enjoying the look he brought to her face, "Not yet. Perhaps not ever. I have plans for this one..." So saying, he turned and headed for the kitchen door.

Connie pulled away from her sister, but Hope got an even stronger grip on her and held her back.

"Come back here, you...you...coward!" yelled Connie, unable to think of something worse to call him. No Heart didn't even answer her. When Connie finally broke free, giving her sister the dirtiest of looks, she ran outside and gave a terrified scream. No Heart, in the form of a huge bird of prey, was flying away with their brother clasped in his talons. "No Heart!" she roared at his retreating form, shaking her human fist, "If you drop him, I'm gonna rip your head off and spit down your neck!" A mocking eagle-screech was the only answer she got.

"Connie!" Hope gripped her shoulders. Connie rounded on her, red hair flying.

"And you! Why did you hold me back!" she screamed.

"Because if you'd jumped on his back like I know you were going to, he would have dropped Pace! Think!" Hope gave her sister a shake, then tried to hug her when she saw the stricken look on her face. Connie pulled away, and Hope continued, "He already had Pace in his hands, Con...If Pace was older it wouldn't have been so dangerous, but a fall at his age..."

"I know!" Connie snapped. Then, more quietly, "Damn it, I know." She ran a hand through her hair, stopping as she realized that her hair was much longer than her headfur had been, and sighed. "Come on. We have to-"

"Save him?" asked Hope, "We don't even know where he took him..."

Connie snorted. "He took him to his castle. Where else would he take him?"

"But he said..."

"He's a liar." Connie interrupted her, "Didn't you see where he was flying? He was making a bee-line for his castle. He must think we're dense or something not to know where he's going. He's the one who's dense! Any smart villain would have killed us on the spot, rather than simply turning us into humans."

Hope couldn't argue with that. It would have been terribly easy for No Heart to rid himself of them forever, with the two of them as they were now. She couldn't figure out why, but the answer was a simple one. No Heart, seeing that his newest potion was a success, wanted to see how long it would last. The effects were only temporary; he had been unable to make them permanent.

"We should get the others..." Hope said.

"What others?" asked Connie, "Almost everyone's out on Caring Missions now. Grams is too old, and Bedtime Bear's gonna be too sleepy to do any good."

"We should call someone." said Hope.

"No, Hope, we shouldn't! No Heart said he has plans for him! Do you want to give him time to get started? We have to go now." And with that, Connie turned and walked towards the family Cloudmobile; it was one of the ones for permanent use, not the kind that dissipated into thin air.

"But..." Hope ventured, following her.

"Jeez, how're we gonna drive this thing? We're too big!" Connie was muttering. "Our knees are gonna be up to our chins..." She was exaggerating, but not by much.

"What about Soulful?" asked Hope, "He's usually home."

Connie shook her head. "We're not dragging Soulful to No Heart's castle, end of story." It had been a little less than five years since Soulful Heart had joined the Care Bear Family, and Connie knew him well enough to know that he would probably be badly effected by the trip if he went with them. "Well, get in. We're gonna have to hurry."

"But..." Hope protested.

Connie whipped around and glared. "Get in the car, or stay home!"

Hope flinched, then lowered her head. Her bangs fell into her eyes, obscuring them, but Connie saw a tear drip off her chin.

"Hope...I'm sorry, but there isn't much time. If I seem mean I'm sorry, but it's because I don't have time to be nice. We can't let No Heart hurt our brother..."

Hope got into the car, not looking at her. "Let's go..."

Connie, after giving Hope a regretful look, started the car and sped off. She was right about one thing; it was a cramped fit for the both of them. After a few moments of driving in silence, Connie said, "I really am sorry, Hope. I'm just..."

Hope held up a hand. "I know. I'm afraid for him too...But how can the two of us stand a chance with No Heart? Especially like this?" she gestured at their human bodies.

"We have to." said Connie in a tone that brooked no arguing. "We will. The spell can't last forever."

Hope looked straight ahead, and to lighten the mood, she said, "What do you think our parents will say when they get home and find us gone? No note, nothing, and no car in the driveway? We're gonna catch holy heck for this."

Connie snorted, and replied, "It won't be any worse than that time you snuck down to Earth when you were first learning to drive. Remember that?"

"Remember? How could I forget!" Hope groaned. When she was at about the equivalent of a sixteen-year-old, she had taken the family car and driven down to Earth without permission. She had crashed the car, which dissipated because it was so damaged, and was lucky enough to come out of it with only a few bruises and scrapes. While she was waiting for her parents to come and pick her up, she had struck up a conversation with a group of teenaged girls, who were waiting for a bus to take them into town. While they waited, one of the girls asked Hope to hold her cigarette while she tied her shoe, and Hope did so without thinking. That was when her parents showed up, just in time to see Hope standing there with a cigarette in her paw, talking to six scantily-clad teenagers. Regal had turned the most interesting shade of purple, but Hope had really gotten off pretty easy. She had only been grounded, and had gotten stuck sorting paperwork in the Hall of Hearts. It was worse to see her father looking so heartbroken and betrayed, and to have him say very little to her that first night.

Hope winced as she thought of how her father would look when he found them and his newborn son gone, without a single explanation.

"Be quiet, you accursed little brat!" No Heart roared Pace's face. The cub had been bawling nonstop since No Heart had arrived at his home, and even though his throat was dreadfully sore he continued to cry. He couldn't understand why his parents weren't coming to pick him up and reassure him, or why they had allowed this monster to take him.

"I said quiet!" No Heart covered the cub's mouth, "I can't hear myself think!"

Pace found himself unable to breathe, and he flailed his limbs feebly and continued to mewl in protest as best he could. It was actually Beastly who came to his rescue.

"Boss, stop, you're gonna kill him!" he said without any hint of his usual stammer.

No Heart turned in surprise, and so-doing he took his hand off Pace's mouth. Pace gave a single long bawl, and lay there gasping. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were defending a Care Bear..."

Beastly went wide-eyed. "N-n-n-no, Boss, I just..."

"Get out." said No Heart.

"B-b-but..."

"Out!" No Heart sent a lightning bolt in Beastly's direction, and the creature turned and fled. Perhaps the one thing that saved Pace was the fact that he had exhausted himself, and was now in a state of shock.

No Heart took a spell book down from one of his many bookshelves, and began leafing through it. "Now...Let's see if I can't make you have no need of your little family and great need of me..."

Beastly leaned against the wall, huffing and puffing, and trying to comprehend what he had just seen. He knew that No Heart hated the Care Bears, but this cub...He was only a baby. Would No Heart actually kill him? Beastly wasn't sure why, but his heart quailed at the thought. It wasn't that he himself had any special love for the Care Bears, but that didn't mean he wanted them dead. Was that what No Heart wanted? Was it really? 'What kind of guy have I been working for all these years?' He had to do something before things went too far...
Connie and Hope, leaving their car behind, entered No Heart's castle through the front gate. This probably wasn't a very smart move, but they weren't aware of any other entrances and were left with little choice. The twins were beginning to regret their hasty decision to come alone, and though neither of them knew what the other was thinking, they were both thinking about calling one of the others on their cell phone.

"Connie?" asked Hope.

"What?"

"When we find Pace, how're we going to get him?" she asked.

Connie, who had been thinking about this, said, "If we find Beastly before we find No Heart, we'll make him take us to him. Maybe we can get him to create a diversion, and..."

"What if they're not here? What if No Heart was telling the truth?"

"Then we're screwed." Connie replied. "But I'm sure they're here."

Hope gave a disgruntled 'humph', and reached into her pocket. "I'm calling Dad."

Connie didn't argue, and as they walked on, Hope dialed her father's cell phone number and readied herself for the bawling-out of all time. Why hadn't they thought of this before traipsing off to deal with No Heart by themselves? As humans?

After the third ring, Stellar answered his phone; he knew who it was because the number was displayed in the little window. "Hope? Is everything okay?"

"Are you sitting down?" asked Hope.

"What do you mean 'am I sitting down'?" asked Stellar, immediately picking up on the fact that something was wrong. Chance looked over, but Stellar didn't notice. "What happened?"

He heard Hope sigh, then she said, "No Heart came..."

Stellar felt himself pale. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't speak.

Hope continued, "He turned us into humans. Then he took Pace..."

Stellar was silent for a long moment. Then, in a voice that was not a threat but a realization, "I'm going to kill him." He gagged as Chance hit the brakes and the seatbelt cut into his neck.

"Sorry, Dad." said Chance, "What's wrong?"

Stellar waved for him to be silent; Hope was talking again, her voice beginning to waver.

"We need help..."

"Are you hurt? Did he hurt you? I'll..."

"We're at No Heart's castle, but he doesn't know we're here. We're trying to find him..."

Stellar raised his voice, causing Hope to hold the phone a few inches away from her ear. "You stay right where you are, do you hear me? You should have called me right away! You stay away from No Heart! Don't you go looking for him, are you crazy?"

"I'm sorry..." said Hope, giving a strangled sob, "He said..." But she didn't get any further before bursting into tears. Stellar heard Connie say something comforting, and he sighed.

"We're coming, Hopie. Just...stay safe until we get there. Promise me you won't-" but at that moment, Hope's cell phone battery decided to die and they were cut off. "Hope? Hope! Dang it..."

"Dad?" Chance looked at his father, "What happened?"

"Get up, we're switching sides." said Stellar, and there was a moment of complicated fumbling as Chance climbed over the back of his seat and Stellar took the wheel, then Chance climbed into the front passenger seat.

"Where are we going?" asked Chance.

Stellar didn't bother to answer. He pressed the pedal in as far as it would go, and they sped off so fast that Chance wondered if he'd left his stomach behind.

More To Come.