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"A Rainbow Connection"
Chpt. 8
Five figures stood on a hill overlooking a small, quiet town. The rising sun behind them cast long shadows before them. "This looks like a good place to start," said Dark Heart. He raised his hands into the air, his glowed red, and forms started to rise from his shadow. "Now go my shadows and do my bidding." The shadows raced down the hill and disappeared into the town. All was quiet in the town except for the early morning noises in the houses. Slowly, starting in the center of town, an area of gloom grew outward. Angry voices emerged from the darkened areas and sirens screamed from elsewhere. Chaos erupted everywhere as the gloom spread over the whole town. A dull gray ring spread from the town as the color drained from the surrounding fields. Dark Heart began to laugh as it reached them on the hilltop. The others joined in as they observed their work below. Dark Heart transformed into an amorphous cloud and in a flash the hilltop was empty.
Grey looked around the house as he tried to regain his memory. The rain had stopped after it got dark and Bill had lent him a light to use as he walked around. The house had two floors and most of it was scorched. The room he woke up in had the worst damage, the floor above was gone and there was a hole in the roof above that. His head still hurt a little, but it wasn't so bad that he couldn't walk now. In one of the rooms upstairs, a charred piece of paper that was lying in a corner caught his eye. He picked it up and looked at it. It was a picture that had part of it burnt and the rest was darkened a little. There was a woman and a little girl, both with blonde hair, sitting next to a man. The face of the man had been burned off. He went back downstairs and sat down next to Bill.
"Do you know who these people are?" Grey asked as he held out the picture.
Bill looked at the picture, "That's the Porter family. They're the nicest people I've ever met."
"They look a little familiar to me, maybe I knew them."
"They used to run a shelter down in town, if you've ever been there you would have met them. Treated everyone like family they did. It's a shame what happened," Bill said as he shook his head.
"What happened?" asked Grey.
Bill pulled an orange from his coat pocket and stared at it for a second. "It was probably six or seven years ago when it happened. I was helping C.T.," he pointed to the faceless man, "with some stuff in the shelter. We were getting the place ready for the night, his wife Misty had taken their daughter Tressa on home for the night, and he was leaving when we were done. C.T. would leave me in charge at night you see. We had finished the preparations and were shooting the breeze a little when we heard sirens outside. Someone came in and said that a riot had broke out on the other side of town and that some of the buildings were on fire. We ran outside to have a look. Up on the hill we could see that C.T.'s house was ablaze. Misty and little Tressa died in that fire and a few days later C.T. disappeared."
Bill peeled the orange he was holding while Grey stared at the picture. "This was their house, I don't know why they lived so far from town. C.T. said it was because of flowers they were growing. I stay here and tend that garden of theirs and hope that someday C.T. will return. Nothing's been the same since he left." Bill handed half the orange to Grey, "Here son eat this. You look a little malnourished, your skin's looking a little gray."
Grey took the offered orange half and stuck a piece in his mouth. "I'm gray?" he said as he looked at his hands. "I'm gray," his widened, "I am Grey. Bill I'm Grey!"
"That's what I said, no use getting all excited about it."
"No that's not what I mean. That's my name, my name is Grey. I remember my name."
"That's good, I'm glad you remember that. Anything else you remember?"
Grey looked at the picture again, "Something's nagging me about her," he said and pointed the girl. "I can't put my finger on it, but I think it's important."
"Tressa, if she was alive today she would be about fourteen or fifteen. If she was alive that is. I don't think there would be anything important for you about her." Bill turned the light down on the lantern. "It's getting late, I'm gonna get some sleep. Turn the light out when you're done." He laid down on a mattress he had and left Grey to his own thoughts.
Grey finished eating the orange and turned out the light. He sat there in the dark thinking about the Porters and tried to force his memory to return. Grey jerked his head up; he had fallen asleep in the night. The early morning sunlight filtered in through the darkened windows. He could hear sirens out in the distance. "Was that what woke me?" he thought. He listened closely to determine where they were headed when he heard someone laughing. He got up and went to the door and a gray world greeted him when he opened it. Down the hill he could see the town Bill talked about. Smoke billowed from different sections of the city. "It's happening again," thought Grey. In the sky above Grey saw a rainbow moving toward the town. "Rainbow," he spoke softly. "That's right, I was helping Rainbow." He looked back at Bill who was still asleep. He stepped outside, quietly closed the door, and took off down the road into town.
Rainbow Brite and the Care Bears looked down on the darkened town. "We're too late, Dark Heart has already left," said Nobleheart.
"Yes, but we must help these people. We can't leave them like this," said Rainbow.
"I agree," Trueheart chimed in, "Dark Heart might not be here, but he has left his shadows here."
The group landed in the center of town and combined their powers to start restoring the town. The people calmed down and the color began to return to the town. As the color reached the outer edge, Dark Heart's shadows attacked. Four of the shadows came at them from all sides. The Care Bears stood in ring around Rainbow and Starlight. The Care Bear Stare held the shadows at bay while Rainbow made a wall that tagged each shadow. Each popped when tagged, like the one in No-Heart's castle, emitting a shower of multi-colored sparks.
"I think that's all of them," said Trueheart. They searched around and found no more of Dark Heart's shadows. The people of the town were confused at what had happened to them, but they soon began to set things right.
"This place looks familiar," Harmony said. "I think we've been here before."
The others looked around, "Your right Harmony Bear," said Treatheart Pig. "We have been here before. We fought No-Heart here once some time ago."
"Look over there," said Starlight, "There are more of those creatures." Two of Dark Heart's shadows had swarmed onto a man who was trying to fight them off. Moments later the shadows were destroyed and the man blinked and looked around before he lowered his arms.
"It's Grey!" exclaimed Rainbow. She ran to him and threw her arms around him. "Grey, I'm so glad to see that you are okay."
Grey was caught unaware. "I'm glad to see you're okay too," he said.
"So you're the one Rainbow keeps talking about," said Starlight as he walked up to them.
"She does?" Grey looked at Rainbow. She turned away, her face turning red. Grey smiled, "I guess I am. My name is Grey, and I believe you are Starlight, correct?"
"You are correct. I am Starlight, the most magnificent horse in the universe. You rescued Rainbow from the river and I thank you for that, but I would have done it without changing her."
"Starlight," Rainbow scolded, "I've already told you about all of that."
"It's okay Rainbow," Grey said, "He's just protective of you that's all. You have nothing to worry about Starlight, by next week she will be back to normal."
Trueheart, Nobleheart, and the others gathered around Rainbow, Starlight, and Grey. "How did you get away from Dark Heart and come to be here?" asked Nobleheart.
"I'm not sure. Until just a little while ago I didn't know my name, but when I saw the rainbow most of it back to me. Last thing I remember is facing Dark Heart and then waking up in that house up on the hill."
"We found your cloak and the book under a pile of rubble," said Rainbow.
"That explains why I was sore then," Grey said as he rubbed his head. "And the amnesia as well." He looked around at the new faces, "I see you rescued everybody."
"Not everybody," Trueheart said sadly, "There are six others that we couldn't return to normal. Do you have any more of the crystals you used to help Rainbow?"
Grey slowly shook his head, "I only had three, two white and one color. I used a white one and the color one to help Rainbow, and I used the other white one to stun Dark Heart. There are more in Haven, but I don't know how to get there."
"Don't worry about it, we'll find another way to free them from the spell."
"Maybe they will be freed if we defeat Dark Heart," suggested Nobleheart.
As the Bears talked amongst themselves, Grey turned back and looked up at the house on the hill. "What is it Grey?" asked Rainbow.
"Do you have the book with you?" he asked without looking at her.
"Yes," she pulled the book out from under her cloak and handed it to Grey. He opened it up near the end of the entries. He glanced back and forth from the book and the house.
"I think I used to know him."
"Who?" asked Rainbow.
"The Caretaker, the one who wrote this diary. C.T." Grey laughed, "Interesting name. Listen Rainbow, what you and I set out to do has been accomplished. Your friends are free, so now is the time for us to part ways."
"What are you talking about?" Rainbow asked worriedly. "We still have to stop Dark Heart and Murky. We have to find a way to help Tenderheart and his friends, and I will need your help to do this."
"There is nothing that I can do to help with that, you and I both know this. You and the Care Bears both have powers that can defeat Dark Heart if they are used together. If I went along I would only be in the way. Do you remember what I said that night in the cave about voices calling me?" Rainbow nodded. "There are voices here that call to me, and they are even stronger than the ones there. My past lies here somewhere and I need to find it. I need to find out what it is I am supposed to be." Grey placed a hand on Rainbow's shoulder. "You on the other hand all ready know. You are the Guardian of Color. You bring color to Earth and protect Rainbowland, which is what you need to do now."
"Will you be coming back to Rainbowland sometime?" asked Rainbow.
Grey wiped a tear from her cheek and smiled. "That I cannot say. Do not be sad though because I do know this, that one day, somewhere, somehow we will meet again." He pulled her into a hug and whispered something to her. Trueheart, Nobleheart, and the others had stopped talking and watched Grey tell Rainbow good-bye. Grey turned to Starlight, "Take good care of her Starlight."
"I always do," he replied. Grey turned back toward the house and left the group. He walked a little ways and stopped, turned around and waved good-bye one last time, then ran on down the street.
Rainbow watched him until he disappeared around a corner. She climbed up on Starlight, "Let's go," she said, "We need to find Dark Heart and stop him before he does any more harm." She touched the star on her belt and Starlight galloped into the sky with the Care Bears trailing behind.