FicWad

Author's Note: I already have this posted on ff.net but, seeing as the only other fic in this category is a Troll!fic, I figured that there was no harm posting it here too. I think I've been able to clean up most of the grammar problems that are in the ff.net version so it should read a little better.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Care Bears. The actions and dialog come directly from the movie. The thoughts are mine. Thank you.


Puny pathetic things, those care bears. Their powers are nothing next to mine. Oh they had beaten me during that Care Meter Reader fiasco, but I had underestimated them then. I have not made that same mistake this time.

I have them trapped in my crystals. All of them except for Nobel Heart and True Heart of course. But I expect them soon - they aren't that stupid. They'll eventually figure out my ruse. But at the moment, I have other things to attend to.

"What did you do to them?"

Ah, the twins and Christie. "Well, well," I say with a bow, "if it isn't the camp champ."

She glares. "Where are they, Dark Heart?"

I smile at her anger. "The bears? Their cousins?" I ask, knowing perfectly well just who she's talking about. "Why, I've created my most prized treasure."

With a snap of my fingers, I release said treasure, laughing a bit at their screams as it stops only inches from their heads.

I sit, still laughing at their embarrassment. When I regain my composure, I speak to them in a grand tone. "A chandelier of frozen feelings. Take a look: all of your friends frozen in my crystal prison."

They look at my creation in obvious dismay. Their horror gives me pleasure. Something tugs at me when I see Christie mouth the word 'no', though, and I realize that I'm not as pleased to see her upset. I'm not sure why. She is nothing but a pawn to me. Nothing more. Nothing.

"All that love and feeling where it should be: trapped forever." I laugh and pull the chandelier up as one of the twins try to touch it. I continue to laugh until the chandelier is out of sight.

"You can't do this. I won't let you."

Christie's anger amuses me. "But you made it all possible." That was a fact: without her help, I could never have caught all the bears so quickly. "Now, like this camp, every thing I touch will be drained of goodness and kindness." Soon everyone will see just how useless and ugly those things are.

"You have to deal with us first, Dark Heart."

"The time has come to put an end to your evil trickery!"

So, they finally figured out my ruse? No matter. I laugh at their bravado. "True Heart and Noble Heart: true and noble to the end. But you see, you're already too late. Now you will join the others and leave me to do as I will." I laugh again, knowing that they are no match for me. Not here, not alone. I return to my original form, prepared to do battle or, in this case, slaughter.

"No! Stop!"

It's Christie. She runs to stand with the bears.

"Christie, move out of the way!" Nobel Heart yells.

For once in my existence, I agree with a care bear. "Do what he says!"

"I won't let you do this. Free the others!"

At any other time, I might have found this display of bravery very amusing, but now, I want her to leave almost more than I want anything else.

"We have concluded our bargain. I'm allowing you to leave. Now GO!"

She stays where she is, dragging the bears behind her. "I know that you don't want to do this!"

I don't know who she's trying to convince. Of course I want to do this - eliminating the care bears is the reason for my existence, you might say. Although, what I want right now is for her to move - is that really asking too much?

But there is something about humans, and this particular human, that I've learned.

"Leave or I will take back all that I have given you." I threaten, knowing that she won't risk her new found place as camp champ, as winner, for anything, much less a battle that has nothing to do with her.

But to my shock, she pulls the bears farther behind her. This angers me. Who does she think she is?

"So be it," I say as I make her what she was, feeling acute satisfaction at the gasps I hear. "You are back to the way you were: a loser."

Her face goes slack and, for a moment, I think she's going to beg me to turn her back. But then she surprises me again.

"Okay, so what? I helped you do this, and I'm going to help stop you!"

I'm starting to get panicky. I rack my brain to find a way of getting her to move out of the way. I don't know why I'm bothering at all.

She saved me. She could have gotten out of the whole bargain if she had just let me drown. I still don't understand why she didn't let me die - and I would have died. When I enter a mortal form, some limitations apply. I have to breathe at the very least and, at the lake, I was in no condition to turn myself into mist and save myself.

The thought fills me with something I can't describe and don't like the feeling of.

I try one more time to get her to move, hoping that she will let go of her defiance and do so. "You saved my life, Christie. Now run and save yourself! GO!" When it still looks like she still isn't going to leave on her own. I take matters into my own hands and fling her out of the way with my magic. Taking a moment to make sure that she is unharmed - for a reason I can't explain and don't have time to - I turn my attention to the two care bears before me.

They hit me with their magic and I strike back. I hear someone say stop, but I am much too engrossed in what I am doing to pay it much attention. I am so close to finishing my work.

Suddenly, the chandelier crashes down, freeing the rest of the care bears. Fine. I can defeat them all.

I laugh as I strike out at them, not bothering to aim, because, frankly, I don't care which of the horrid things I hit. I know that I can defeat them easily.

"Care Bears stare!"

"Care Bear cousins, call!"

Their magic hits me and it is strong. Stronger than I thought it would be. Suddenly, I'm not sure I can defeat them at all. The magic hits me in a constant stream and I can feel myself weaken. "No!"

Then I strike out against them once more, once more gaining the upper hand. I laugh and laugh until my attention is riveted by something that makes me forget about the battle entirely.

"Oh no." She's lying there on the floor, motionless. The reason is readily apparent. Her form flashes with my magic. I can hear her words, the words from the lake, the words she answered me with when I asked her why she saved me. 'Good or bad, you're still a person.'

"What have I done?" I return to the human shape that I had used to ensnare her in my bargain, the shape that she had saved in the river. I crouch down and hold her in my arms. I look down at her face, at the flashes of magic that flow across it and for the first time in my entire existence, I regret the harm that I've brought to another creature.

I know, knowing the nature of my magic and feeling the strength of what is flowing through Christie's body, that I can't help her. Helping goes so against my nature, I know that it is not in my power, no matter how much I want to. I don't know why I want to, but I do want to help her.

And I know that if there is anyone who can, it will be the Care Bears.

I swallow my pride as I beg my enemies for help, knowing that if someone had told me this would happen fifteen minutes ago, I would have laughed at the ridiculousness of the suggestion. "Help me, Care Bears. You must bring this child back from where I have sent her."

Noble Heart comes up to us and reaches out his paw to touch her leg. He hisses and pulls his hand back as if he'd touched a flame. He looks back to True Heart who shakes her head. "We can't."

"It would take more love and caring than even we have all put together."

A pain stronger than any physical pain that I have ever felt courses through me at their pronouncement.

"You've got to do something! What good is your love, your caring, if it cannot save this child?" I lash out at them. Love and kindness are just as powerless as I had always thought they were.

But this wasn't their fault - except in only the barest way (if they hadn't come, Christie could never have gotten in the way). It was mine. I should have been more careful with my magic - I should have made certain that she was safe.

"If you can't help her, who can?" I look back at Christie and put a hand on her cheek. No one speaks, so I assume that no one can.

What have you done to me? I ask the girl silently. I shouldn't even be in this position. Rationally, I shouldn't feel any guilt at all for my part in this: She had saved my life, true. But I had given her the chance to leave and she hadn't. She had chosen this, to die.

But I can't shake the guilt (if that's what it truly is) for my own part in this.

It's pointless to keep lying to myself and say that the girl is nothing to me - but what is she? Why should she be anything? Why do I feel this way? Why do I feel anything at all?

I am shaken from my thoughts and I realize that one of the twins is speaking.

". . . really care! There has to be more people like us, people who care!"

"If everyone, everywhere cared together, there just might be enough to save Christie!" True Heart sounds excited. Dare I believe there's hope?

"Everybody hold hands," Noble Heart commands. "Listen real hard and open your ears and hear the voices of those who care!"

I shake my head. So, no hope after all. Love and caring are weak, powerless. But as they chant, I can't help but hope that it will help.

"We care! We care!"

I would give anything to make Christie come back, to make her live.

'Anything?' a voice inside me sneers.

I would and I will. I realize what I have to do. I don't know what it will do to me, but I'll risk it just on the chance that Christie will be all right.

"We care." I force the words out of my mouth. It's hard and so much of me rebels at saying the horrible words aloud. Then I say it again and I feel like screaming. I say it again and it hurts more.

"I care." I say and something in me breaks. I close my eyes and scream it. "I care! I care! I care!"

I feel lighter than I ever have before and I can feel myself growing weak. I am certain that I'm going to die. I open my eyes so I can look at Christie's face one more time.

The magic coursing through her skin fades and then vanishes as if it never was. She breathes and looks up at me. She's alive. It worked! I can't believe it worked.

I pull her up (realizing at the same time that I don't appear to have destroyed myself). There's so much I want to tell her, so much I have to say -

But there's no time. My palace is crumbling. All of us scramble out of the caves, and pile out the door in time to see it vanish. I stare at the spot where the entrance to my palace was and I feel a pang. It was my home, I'd lived there for I don't know how long. I can't understand what happened to it; it shouldn't have fallen apart like that. But I have other concerns at the moment besides the fate of my dwelling.

I turn to the Care Bears. I hold on to my hat, crushing it in my hand. I don't know what to say to them. What can I say to them? They helped me, they're my enemies, they hurt me, they helped her, they . . .

"Thank you."

True Heart smiles mildly. "Thank you for caring."

"But . . ." I remember what I said back in the cave. "I did care, didn't I?" I look at Christie and smile. "I never understood why you pulled me from the river, but I think I do now. Thanks." I pull her into a hug and she pats me on the back as I let her go.

She stares up at me and looks startled. She pulls away. "Your eyes!" She fetches a mirror and holds it in front of my face before I have a chance to ask her what she's talking about. "Look."

I do, not quite sure what I'll see. My eyes, once red with dark and evil power, are now blue. I realize with a jolt that my powers are gone. I am mortal and human.

"I'm a boy." I'm shocked. This completely goes against the normal order of things. This is so wrong that I don't even know where to begin. It's impossible.

I'm frightened too. I'm vulnerable now. I can't protect myself. I think about the other troubling thing.

I'm mortal. I'll die. I'll sicken or grow old and one day I'll die. The thought fills me with terror.

But as I look into Christies smiling face, I decide that even if this should not have happened, even if I'm vulnerable and even if I'm going to grow old and die, I'm glad I did it.

At least now if I die, I will have had a life worth living with someone I care about.

"I'm a boy!" I shout as I dance with her. "I can run! I can do cartwheels, I can -" I fumble the cartwheel and land on the floor with a thud. Everyone is laughing and I laugh too. I guess I have a lot to learn about this body.

Christie laughs as she offers me a hand up. "We can learn together."

As I stand beside her, I have no doubt that we can.