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Chapter 41: Origins of the Heart

"And that's the last one," Take Care Bear pulled the last of the bullets out of Love Heart's chest which made a *plink* sound as it dropped into the old saucepan with the rest. "I'll need to give you a more thorough exam at the hospital. At least there's no more impacts." She pulled out antiseptic and bandages from both the Hall of Heart's first aid kit and the kit Love Heart had stashed in his tummy symbol.

Love Heart looked down as Take Care cleaned and bandaged his injuries, "I guess Magi are bullet resistant. Didn't want to find out this way."

"By recklessly charging into armed mercenaries?" Take Care's tone was severe.

"Take Care, if I didn't act they would have killed...Beastly..." no one thought less of him for saving the fur ball so he shook it off as his face darkened, "If you were in my position and they had tried to kidnap Get Well or Cautious Heart, you would have done the same."

Take Care was silent for a moment before she replied, "Yes, I probably would have," she finished wrapping a bandage around Love Heart's foot where one bullet had stuck. "Much as I hate to admit it, I feel safer with them gone. How do you feel?"

"Shaky, sick, sore..." Love Heart shook his head, "I don't regret stopping them but I wish I had another way. Now I know how Confidence and Indy feel." He sighed, "but I had my job to do. Speaking of which," he got to his feet and headed for the control room, "I need to check in on everyone and make sure they're alright."

"What about Beastly?" Take Care shut the first aid kits and followed Love Heart so she could return his.

"Compared to what we're dealing with now, he's harmless. I'll let Tenderheart and Brave Heart decide what to do with him."

OoOoO

Tenderheart and Brave Heart stood in front of a very nervous Beastly in the big meeting room in the Hall of Hearts. Though he was a bumbler on his best days, he had assisted No-Heart in trying to destroy the Care Bear Family numerous times and as pathetic as those attempts were they still weren't fully ready to trust him just yet.

For his part, Beastly kept staring around at the Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins who all had him transfixed with his gaze.

"I say we just turn him loose in the wild, let him fend for himself," Darien Lion spoke up.

"We can't just leave him out there on his own, Darien," Brave Heart shot back.

"But we still have to do something," Tenderheart scratched his chin.

"Are you gonna m-m-m-make me be a Care Bear?" Beastly asked nervously.

Brave Heart shook his head, "We did that before and you failed."

"You failed because you didn't really want to," Tenderheart added, "We can't force someone to be a Care Bear, but you can't just live in the Forest of Feelings."

"Why don't we give him a job?" The suggestion came from Grumpy Bear. Everyone turned to look at him as he continued, "He was basically No-Heart's slave, so we can give him something simple to do like clean up the Hall of Hearts."

Beastly seemed to perk up, "Oh! Oh! Can I cook?"

"NO!" the reply was intense and unanimous from everyone present.

Beastly wilted until Tenderheart stepped forwards, "For now I think we can make you the janitor for the Hall of Hearts. Just sweep up and mop, we'll show you how."

Beastly sighed, then grinned, "Can I eat the garbage."

Several family members shuddered, even Brave Heart made a squicked out face before he replied, "If you want, we won't stop you."

OoOoO

Indy charged towards the last two mercenaries standing, a shield in front of him stopping the bullets as they fell. Once he was close enough, Indy telekinetically ripped their weapons from their hands and harnesses before conjuring a katana and striking at them to knock them out. Before their nanites could revive them, police rushed in to restrain them.

Sweet Heart was fighting the last nanomorph, or shadowmorph as she had seen one of No-Heart's shadows emerge from the first one when Indy manages to stare it. She winced as the monster shot a spear through her side before she dodged away.

"Care Bears Countdown. Four. Three. Two. One. Care Bear Stare!" Meek Heart Unicorn's white stare beam struck the nanomorph, wearing it down until the shadow was expelled and the machine broke down.

Meek Heart ran up to Sweet Heart, "Big sister! Are you alright?"

Sweet Heart held a hand to her side where she had been pierced as she dropped to one knee, "I'll be fine once I see Take Care."

"I'll help," Meek Heart's horn started to glow and he reached to touch Sweet Heart's injury. Sweet Heart withdrew her hand from the bloody spot and clenched her teeth as her little brother's healing magic seeped into her wound and closed it up.

"Thanks." She stood up, feeling much better now, as she looked around Central Park and spotted Indy talking to the local police.

They watched as the mercenaries were being led away and Indy approached, then stopped to pull out his heartphone and held it up with the video function. "This is Major Independent Bear reporting in, General. The mercenaries had been subdued and taken into police custody, the shadowmorphs have been destroyed."

"Shadowmorphs? Explain, Major." Love Heart's 'all business' voice came through as Indy approached the two siblings.

"Nanomorphs possessed by No-Heart's shadows. Lieutenant Sweet Heart gave them the name. They were more dangerous, actually avoided the first stare Lieutenant Meek Heart tried to use and it took a few seconds for a charged up stare to force the shadow to leave so the stare could destroy them." Indy searched the area, only now hearing the sounds of ambulance sirens, "There's a lot of people injured down here. Permission to stay and tend to them, General."

Love Heart bit his lip, he wanted to pull them back for their own safety but he could hear the faint sounds in the background. "Permission granted, Major, just pull out if they ask you to leave."

"Affirmative." Indy hung up, "Lieutenants we're going to stay here and help the first responders, find anyone who's injured or scared and look after them."

"Yes sir!" Meek Heart Unicorn saluted then ran off towards the nearest sirens.

"I'll take a look from the air," Sweet Heart spread her wings then took off into the sky. Indy smiled then turned to follow Meek Heart.

Several ambulances had pulled up to the park and injured and dying people had been brought in.

"How many?" One of the workers asked.

"At least 50, and maybe more. We can't get them all out of here in time." The other worker's frustration was evident.

"Excuse me!" Meek Heart skidded to a stop near them, "Lieutenant Meek Heart Unicorn of the Care Bear Magi. I'm here to help with the injured."

They stared at the purple unicorn with the orange mane and tail for an instant before one spoke, "Kid are you sure? I mean."

"He is," Indy slowed to a stop, "We're all trained first responders and Meek can heal any injuries or stabilize people who might die before proper medical care gets here." As he spoke, Indy reached into his tummy symbol and pulled out the first aid kit all Magi were trained to carry and use, "Don't waste time, people's lives are in danger."

"Right," the second worker pointed to six people on stretchers, "They're the most critically injured, Meek Heart, and we might not be able to save them even if more ambulances arrive in time."

"On it!" Meek Heart was over at the side of the first victim, using his magic to check their injuries. Indy joined him a moment later.

"What's wrong?"

"Two bullet wounds in the side, hold on." Meek took a deep breath and ran his hand over the bloody spot, "They're unconscious, I have to get the bullets out."

"Here." Indy touched the spot and carefully pulled the bullets out with telekinesis. Meek said nothing as his horn glowed as he cast a spell to purge the lead from his body, then pulled out his own first aid kid, cleaned and disinfected the wound and cast a simple spell to stop the bleeding.

"He'll last till the paramedics get here, next patient!" Meek suddenly took command of the situation and he cast a spell to clean off and sterilize his fur. Indy smiled as he moved into the role of 'nurse' like he sometimes had to do at home, following Meek Heart's instructions to patch up those who were injured. Meek Heart was quickly cementing his status as a magical paramedic, something several people would forever be thankful for after today.

OoOoO

Melancholy Bear wasn't the lightest on her feet, but she found she quickly learned to react fast under pressure. It seemed like instinct as she dodged around the relatively slow shadowmorph's attacks, a long bowie knife conjured into her hand and, along with her tummy symbol, was glowing white with stare energy. She grunted as she deflected the next attack, the creature seeming to cry out in pain as it touched the stare-empowered blade of her knife.

"YAAA!" Melancholy jumped forwards and stabbed her knife into the shadowmorph's rough chest area. At first nothing seemed to happen, until a shriek emanated from the morph as the shadow was expelled, sliced in two by Melancholy's blade. She panted as she watched the nanomorph body collapsed off her blade, the stare energy having disabled it's Zhivago module, before she collapsed back and let out a sigh of relief.

She heard a blast of fire and turned to see Anger Heart burning the second shadowmorph to sludge with his white fire. The remaining mercenaries lost their nerve and surrendered as the nine-tailed fox surrounded in white fire turned to them and raised an arm.

The battle had spilled into city streets but thankfully casualties had been minimal before they arrived once the citizens abandoned their cars and fled. Anger Heart held the mercenaries still with his white fire but one still tried to escape, only for another Anger Heart to appear in his path, along with two more to encircle the defeated mercenaries. This held them all in place until the Japanese police arrived to arrest and disarm them.

Melancholy got up once the remains of the nanomorph were hauled away while Anger Heart was being questioned by the police. Without a translator necklace she could only follow Anger Heart's side of the conversation.

"Yes, I understand our arrival was sudden but these mercenaries work for enemies of our nation.

"We haven't done any damage to your city, any of the damage was done by the mercenaries.

"If you have a problem then contact us once you deal with your problem, I have to return home. Thank you." Finally, the police left Anger Heart there, his nine tails still twitching. Before Melancholy could get to him some civilians ran over to Anger Heart now that the police were gone. Melancholy was taken aback as they started swarming him like fanboys and girls.

Anger Heart at least smiled as he answered their questions, Melancholy couldn't hear anything until one teenage girl came up to her.

"Kono subarash? ky?bi o shitte imasu ka?"

Melancholy held up her hands, "Sorry I don't speak Japanese."

"Oh that OK. Do you know that great kyubi?" She pointed to Anger Heart.

"Yes, he's Anger Heart Fox." Melancholy turned to where Anger Heart was keeping his tails away from people trying to grab them, "Is he really that impressive?"

"Yes. A fox with nine tails is one at the height of their power. How ancient is he?" she seemed enthusiastic.

"I think he's about 30," Melancholy said.

"That young?"

Before any more conversations could take place, Anger Heart extracted himself from the crowd and walked past Melancholy, "We should get going."

"Right, Lieutenant. Gotta go," she followed after Anger Heart.

Melancholy looked over her shoulder, "Why aren't they following us?"

"I told them I had something important to do and they let me go. I don't think they want to anger any kind of real daiyoukai." Anger Heart pulled out his heartphone. "General Love Heart, Lieutenant Anger Heart reporting in. We destroyed the nanomorphs and the mercenaries are in Japanese custody. Requesting Rainbow Rescue Beam out."

"Affirmative, Lieutenant. You're the second team to return."

A moment later they were teleported away.

OoOoO

Love Heart was still seated at the controls as Anger Heart and Melancholy stepped off the Rainbow Rescue Beam pad. He looked over and nodded at them before he turned back to the console. A few minutes later, Indy, Meek and Sweet Heart returned.

"Major Truth Bear reporting, General. Mission successful."

Love Heart nodded, "Nanomorphs destroyed? Mercenaries subdued?"

"They're in custody, ready to return with Lieutenant Flair Heart."

"Confirmed." Love Heart didn't have to raise his voice for Grumpy to know to teleport them back.

"Captain Confidence reporting in. We got them, General."

Love Heart smiled, "That's good. Anything else to report, Captain?"

"The Lieutenants did their part. Lieutenant Shimmering Star destroyed one of the nanomorphs and Lieutenant Miracle Heart managed to fry four of the mercs so they didn't get back up. They survived and are in custody."

"Alright, I'm bringing you home, Captain." Love Heart shut off the communication and sighed sadly. Proud as he was he just wanted this threat to be passed.

He was distracted by another call, "Captain Sage Heart reporting, General. We have subdued the mercenaries and destroyed the nanomorphs."

"That's good, anything else to report, Captain?"

Sage Heart frowned. "The Chinese authorities executed five of the men once we had them subdued. They thanked us for helping them but want us to leave now."

"Right. Grumpy, please get them out of there." Love Heart did raise his voice this time.

"Right," Grumpy couldn't pull them out fast enough.

It was only a minute later when the last team reported in.

"Colonel Defender Bear reporting in, General. Warrant Officer Aqua Bear and I have eliminated the nanomorphs and subdued the mercenaries. I had to keep Aqua from killing them before they were taken into custody."

"Alright. You're the last team to come home." He closed the call then leaned back in the chair. "Now we just have to wait for Soulful and Bright Heart to be hauled home." He wanted to say the nightmare would be over once this happened, but he knew this had to just be the beginning. As Defender Bear and Aqua Bear materialized on the Rainbow Rescue Pad, Love Heart called Star Fox.

"Fox, what's the status on the cleanup?"

"We're almost done, just hosing the blood off the clouds and hauling the debris into our cargo bay," Fox had thankfully acquired a replacement communicator, "Do you want anything from this?"

Love Heart shook his head, "No, keep it, study it if you want, I doubt it's anything you haven't seen. Thank you."

"No problem. I'll check in with you later," Fox hung up.

Confidence Heart walked over as Love Heart leaned back in his chair, then noticed the bandages, "What happened up here?"

Love Heart spun around in the chair so he could face his wife with a grim expression, "More mercenaries attacked right after you left. Star Fox was pinned down and I went out to fight. The mercenaries are all dead now..."

Confidence Heart watched her husband's face fall, then immediately dove into a hug on him, almost toppling the chair. "It's alright."

Love Heart didn't even realize he had started crying as he hugged her back. They didn't have any real time to hold each other before Shimmers ran over to them. "I did it, daddy! Momma tell daddy how I did!"

Confidence let go of Love Heart and stood up, "I already did." She patted their son on the back, "Shimmers destroyed one the nanomorphs and its shadow all on his own."

Love Heart stood up and gave Shimmers a once over, "and not a scratch on you. Well done," he ruffled his son's headfur, "Now go get some food, I have to take care of something."

"OK, daddy!" Shimmers turned and bounded off to the kitchen, only to be stopped by Take Care to give him a quick exam for injury before letting him run off to get a snack.

"What else happened?" Confidence asked.

"I found Beastly in the forest and left him to Tenderheart and Brave Heart, and I'm still waiting on the Liger family to get back with Bright Heart and Soulful." Love Heart tried to give her a reassuring smile but failed, "I hate to say it, but I think No-Heart's final move is starting."

Confidence nodded, "I'll look after the kids," she gave him a kiss as Love Heart went to talk to the other family leaders.

Of all the Care Bear Family, the Mulcaheys were the ones most willing to talk to Beastly. Curious Heart Wolf was the one asking most of the questions.

"What are you?" Curious Heart walked around Beastly to look at him from every angle.

Beastly shrugged, "I dunno, just Beastly."

"Why did you work for No-Heart?"

"Because I didn't have anywhere else to do." Beastly's attitude had become more subdued. Usually in the presence of cubs this young he would be trying to kidnap or trick them, but without No-Heart or Shrieky to return them to and his calm down after Love Heart saved him, all he could do was answer questions from the only Care Bears who didn't distrust him.

"Weren't you just his slave?" Thorough Heart Weasel folded his arms and gave Beastly a scrutinizing look.

"I guess so."

Teacher Bear stepped forwards, "It's alright, Beastly. You aren't a slave here. Just be careful up here."

"OK," was all Beastly could say.

Love Heart cast a quick look over at Beastly and the Mulcaheys before he turned back to Tenderheart and Brave Heart, who was answering a call from Regal Heart.

"Alright, thank you Regal. See you all soon." Brave Heart looked a bit shaken as he hung up. "Mental Heart was there."

"What?!" Love Heart's shout drew everyone's attention but Tenderheart waved them off to keep them quiet.

Brave Heart nodded, "Regal said they'd explain everything when they got back."

"In the meantime, I have to sort out the diplomatic storm this is going to generate," Tenderheart turned to the control room. "You had your storm to calm, and I have mine."

Love Heart nodded, "Right. If you can get back here after I hear things from Soulful and Bright Heart." His face became grim and he lowered his voice so only Brave Heart could hear, "I think the time has come."

While Tenderheart sorted out the storm among the U.N. through video conference, Love Heart was there to greet and speak to everyone returning from No-Heart's castle. Love Heart took in everything relatively well, but cracked when Soulful Heart got to the end of his story.

"... then Mental Heart showed up and stole the black flame before he ran off."

"What?!" Love Heart's shout caused those who heard him to jump slightly before he calmed himself down.

Soulful Heart was either unfazed or too worn out to have any visceral reaction, "If what the black flame said was true, that it was a piece of No-Heart's soul, then he definitely took it back to No-Heart."

"So was that his goal?" Love Heart wondered aloud. Soulful gave Love Heart a confused look which prompted Love Heart to tell him everything that had happened that day. Soulful Heart was taken aback but had his attention diverted when Gentle Heart came to welcome him and Bright Heart home in tears.

Love Heart spotted Funshine heading for the exit and cast a spell to quickly augment his voice so everyone could hear him without shouting. "Everyone, please wait here until Tenderheart returns from his meeting. I have an important announcement to make that everyone needs to hear!"

Thankfully it didn't take long for Tenderheart to finish his conference and he returned to the main room. "It was a bit shaky, but after I told them they could keep the prisoners and the Nano's bodies to study they relented. But I think things are going to be turbulent for a while." He gave Love-a-Lot a kiss and took Big Heart from her to hold.

"Better that than thousands dead," Love Heart said. He cleared his throat and magically amplified his voice again. "Everyone please pay attention! I know most of you can figure this out on your own, but this was more than another scheme from No-Heart. These attacks were all targeted at capital cities and tourist locations to draw our attention away from the Kingdom of Caring and his old castle.

"The final battle is coming sooner than we thought, any day now could be the day Futureheart told us about and we need to be ready, not just to fight for our lives but we need a way to destroy No-Heart or we might not survive this." Love Heart looked around at the faces of the Care Bear Family rapidly showing unease or even despair. "Does anyone have any ideas?" His tone was becoming desperate.

"I think I might," True Heart had slowly raised her arm. Everyone turned to the now young retired founder, which only emboldened her as she held up the glowing Radiant Heart Crystal on the chain she always wore around her neck. "If this is the catalyst that created us then it might hold some clue or power we can use to defeat him."

Love Heart approached True Heart and looked into the shifting colors of the heart shaped crystal. "If you think so, True Heart, we should try to find out what we can about it." He turned to scan the crowd until he found Tugs with Connie and Marina, "Tugs, please come here." He motioned for the blue bear to join him and True Heart.

"Yes, Love Heart?" Tugs asked as he approached them.

Love Heart stepped aside and motioned for Tugs to take the crystal in his hands, "You can look into an object's past. Try seeing what you can with the catalyst."

Tugs gulped, feeling everyone's eyes on him but put on a cocky smile, "Sure thing, General." He took the crystal and focused, his tummy symbol lighting up.

Less than a minute later, Tugs' eyes shot open and started spinning. "Too much..." He stumbled back only to be caught by Love Heart before he hit the floor.

"Daddy!" Marina ran forwards, "are you ok?"

"Yeah, Tugs, what happened?" Connie helped her husband back to his feet.

Tugs shook his head to clear the dizziness, "Too much info, can't think..."

"Sounds like you need someone to help you sort through the information," Soulful Heart stepped forwards.

"Not a bad idea," Love Heart nodded, "Aqua Bear, I need you to help Tugs sort through the information too."

"All right," Aqua Bear darted over and took Tugs' hand, while Soulful put his hand on Tugs' shoulder.

Tugs took a deep breath and touched the crystal again, his tummy symbol lit up as the memories flooded his mind. All three of them winced as they confusing memories assaulted them, but the two psions managed to clear away the millennia of thoughts until they heard a voice in absolute darkness.

"My friend, I will not lose you forever. I cannot, I will find a way to bring you back no matter how long it takes. I just need time, more time... all the time in the world." The darkness began to break up in their vision. "If this is what it takes I will discard the heart that binds me to mortality and cast you away. I will only bring you back when I have brought back my only friend!" The darkness shattered and they all saw from the perspective of the crystal, a man with a braided beard had pulled the crystal from his chest, from a wound that did not bleed but was not healing. "I cast you away, for I will have no need of you!" the man hurled the crystal into the sky and the three contacting it only saw the Earth grow more and more distant, until it eventually vanished into a pin-prick in the cosmos.

Tugs released the crystal and shook his head, "That was... I mean this was someone's heart?"

"Yes, but there's more." Soulful Heart searched around the room, "Did you feel it, Aqua, some sort of resonance with someone in this room?"

"Yeah, I mean I felt something too." Both pairs of eyes came to rest on Beastly.

Beastly gulped as Soulful approached him. "H-h-hello fox."

Soulful just glared at Beastly, "Soulful Heart."

Beastly nodded, "S-S-S-Soulful Heart. Do you need something?"

"How long were you with No-Heart?"

Beastly had to think for a moment, "I was always with No-Heart."

Soulful folded his arms, "I thought so. Tugs, can you use that power of yours on a person?"

Tugs shrugged, "I don't know, I've never tried. You want me to use it on Beastly?"

"Yes," He turned to look at Tugs, "I have a suspicion, and I'm not sure if I want to see if it's right."

"I can try," Tugs walked over to Beastly and stared down at him. "I still remember when you kidnapped me and Hugs when we were cubs, and all the other stuff you tried to do."

Beastly gulped but relaxed when Tugs gave a weak smile, "Let's try this." He reached out to touch Beastly's head. Beastly stayed still as Tugs' tummy symbol glowed and he dove through Beastly's memories, farther and farther back until all he could see was black.

For a time, nothing happened. Then Tugs heard the same voice as before, but now tougher and more aged.

"At long last, the time has come. Arise!" The black vision began to break up, the sounds of thunder nearby made the vision shake then the eyes began to open and through Beastly's eyes Tugs saw him crawling out of a small pit.

"Yes! Yes! At long last, you have returned my friend Enki..." The eyes were staring at the same visage Tugs had seen when they looked at the catalyst, only much older with scraggly grey hair and beard wearing an open purple robe where the hole in his chest was still visible. The eyes were confused at first then contorted to rage as he reached out and yanked Beastly out of the cauldron.

_"No! No! NO! Five Millennia of research, work, and scouring for power and this is what I get! A beastly abomination! A mockery of the only friend I ever had."_Tugs' vision was a blur as the man threw Beastly to the ground, until he rolled over and Tugs could see the man as he pulled the robe shut, his eyes blazing red with anger.

"All this effort for nothing! Either the wrong body or the soul is damned. A failure either way. So be it! If I cannot have him back, then I shall return to being what I was: the first King of this world!" The man pulled up the hood of his robes, hiding in face in darkness. Through Beastly's memory, Tugs stared into the red eyes and empty face of No-Heart. "My history turned to stories, soon they will feel my wrath!"

Tugs stumbled backwards, leaving Beastly looking completely dizzy. The blue bear shook his head then turned around, trying to sort out his thoughts until he just blurted out: "The crystal was No-Heart's heart!"

Everyone stared at him in silence for a moment before he continued, "I saw it, he tore the heart from his chest after he lost someone he cared about... five thousand years ago." He looked back at Beastly, whose eyes were still spinning, "Beastly was his attempt to bring him back but it sounds like he wasn't what No-Heart wanted."

True Heart clutched the Radiant Heart Crystal to her chest. "This used to be No-Heart's?"

"No-Heart created us?" The disbelieving voice came from Grumpy Bear.

"No," Bright Heart shook his head, "He didn't create us, not intentionally. We're a by-product of his actions."

"But that still means, we're tied to him." True Heart looked down at the shifting colors in the crystal, "What if that means... we can't destroy him without destroying ourselves..."

Everyone turned to stare at True Heart, "What if our existence is tied to him and once he dies... we disappear?"

Noble Heart put his hand on True Heart's shoulder and gave her a kiss, "Then that's how it is, True. Can we really let his evil continue just to save our lives, even if it means the death of everyone else on Earth?"

"No, we can't!" Love Heart's voice cut through the tension, "Much as I hate to say it, this is more important." His expression softened and he smiled, "Besides I don't think that's going to happen. We're our own people not just the product of his experiments. We'll defeat him and his alliance then continue onwards, I promise." Love Heart's words resonated through the crowd, lifting everyone's spirits.

As the Care Bear Family dispersed to return to their homes, Noble Heart and True Heart lingered with their twins, Kind Heart Bear and Valiant Heart Horse, asleep in their strollers. True Heart sat down on one of the meeting chairs and toyed with the heart crystal again.

"Still worried?" Noble Heart sat down next to her.

"Yes." True Heart gripped the crystal, "I know what Love Heart said but... what if what I think is true. I know it's just a wild thought but I can't help but feel beating No-Heart means losing something precious to us."

Noble Heart carefully turned True Heart's face towards him, "Like he said, we'll continue onwards." They kissed and the crystal began to glow brighter. "No matter what, True Heart, we'll carry on and see a bright future for us, and those who come after."

True Heart was crying now and dried her eyes but still smiled, "Thank you, Noble Heart. I needed to hear that."