Written by Gemini Star
The crisp winter air drifted idly over the young girl's body, causing her hair to flutter slightly. Near the still, motionless body was two limp pieces of thin cardboard, one cardboard depicting a childlike girl with closed eyes and silken hair that was interweaved with pieces of thin green ribbon. The other cardboard portrayed someone clutching a handheld mirror in her hands, a brief glimmer of light glinting off of it. It was evident by the jagged edges that those two pieces of cardboard had been one.
The young girl had fingers draped across a long pink plastic wand-like object, topped off with a golden star encased in a deep pink circle. It was also obvious that she had been carrying that when she had been alive. A closed book, with a sad-looking, lion-like beast emblazoned upon its maroon cover, lay close to her other hand. It seemed securely locked.
There was also another figure that many would find intriguing. It was of an angel, leant against a tree, a slumped, dejected, defeated form. Its silver hair sprawled gently over his pale cheeks as he lay in a pool of his own blood, similar to the girl's.
And the most cutting figure of all.
The exact replication of the girl in the cardboard ripped into two stood in the middle of all the bloodshed. She faced a large mirror that stood on grand clawed feet, and in her frail hands was another mirror. Silver tears made their way smoothly down her cheeks.
There's a girl in my mirror
I wonder who she is
Sometimes I think I know her
Sometimes I really wish I did
She snorted, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. Her survival was a fluke, really, in this so-called Third Judgment. During the heat of the battle, the Judge had ripped her into half, and so she had escaped being forced back into the Clow Book as she was an 'incomplete card'. Yet without Mistress to feed on, if you wanted to put it bluntly, she would fade away at the end of the day.
She recounted the battle with the Judge again, each harsh memory, as the whisper of death beckoned enticingly. Her strength much depleted, the Mirror didn't move, but continued to stare at the mirror, continuing to reflect.
There's a story in her eyes
Lullaby of sacrifice
When she's looking back at me
I can tell her heart is broken easily
She continued to cry, knowing that her identity was lost and would never be found again. Hah. What a joke. She would die at sundown, anyway.
A wave of green washed through her tenderly. Someone was searching this place, and she thought she know the identity of this person who sought her Mistress so urgently. It was Master Li, the boy who had challenged her Mistress to the Clow Cards.
"I'm here," she choked out, and he heard footsteps on fallen snow. "You're too late."
'Cause the girl in my mirror
Is crying here tonight
And there's nothing I can tell her
And to make her feel alright
Even as the Mirror Card spoke, she could feel the tears breaking through again. Master Li emerged from the murky gloom that hung over the forest clearing. A blizzard was about to occur, and the snowflakes had already begun to come in fast and furious. Yet the Mirror continued to stand there, retaining her erect posture, even though the blizzard fairly reeked with signs of danger.
"What do you mean, I'm too late …" Master Li trailed off at last as his eyes swept around the clearing. To his credit, he didn't burst with emotions like how the Mirror had responded instantly at her Mistress's death. Rather, he simply took stock of the damage done to Guardian Yue and deducted quietly to Mirror that it was hopeless – Yue was fading away as well.
Then, steeling himself visibly, Master Li approached Mistress with all the caution of a tiger creeping up on its unfortunate prey. He placed two fingers at her throat, and then shook his head regretfully as he retreated to face a distraught Mirror.
"I'm sorry, Mirror Card, there's nothing we can do." He kept his head lowered as he cradled the Clow Book in an arm and picked the Clow Wand up with the other. "You'd better return."
"How, Master Li?" the Mirror rocked back on her heels, repeated the words softly under her breath. "My home is gone, my mistress is gone. Return? Return where?"
"Your home …" Master Li's voice faded into silence again as the Mirror displayed the torn portions of her Card to him. "I see. But Mirror …"
"I am going to die."
Each word pierced into Master Li painfully; the Mirror could see that as he flinched with every syllable she uttered.
"It is true, isn't it, Master Li?" she questioned softly. "I am going to die, and so is Mistress, and so is Guardian Yue."
"I'm sorry," Master Li reiterated. "I'm so sorry."
"Do not be sorry, Master Li. It isn't your fault. Leave, before you are caught in the storm," she urged him, a faint, ironic smile flitting across her pursed lips.
Master Li drew his sword, the blade scraping against the scabbard stubbornly. "Element, wind," he uttered weakly, as though he had been completely defeated rather than Mistress being completely defeated. The faintest hint of invisible air cushioned Mistress as they both ducked into the snowflakes that were now mercilessly battering at them all.
Oh the girl in my mirror
Is crying 'cause of you
And I wish there was something ...
Something I could do
The Mirror now stood alone, with the exception of Guardian Yue, of course. She drew a deep, shaky breath, and shifted into motion at last. Pink light shimmering faintly, she created a protective barrier around Guardian Yue to shield his body from the blizzard.
It was getting really awful as of late. Snow flurries pounded away so furiously at the Mirror that she would have completely lost her sense of direction if it had not been for the large mirror that now stood like a foreboding figure in the midst of white. She made her way to the mirror heavily, and faced it once more.
It was then when she noticed the spiderweb of cracks that was steadily reaching out from the middle of the mirror. The cracks crept quietly over the mirror, slowly, but progressively.
If I could, I would tell her
Not to be afraid
The pain that she's feeling
The sense of loneliness will fade
The Mirror eyed the sun. The distance between it and the horizon was closing in. She wondered, in a trance, a dreamlike-state, how close death was. At that moment, it seemed inevitable. She could not return to the Clow Book and live on Master Li's magic.
A broad-shouldered figure was inching closer, ever closer, towards the Mirror. She noticed it a split second before its hands lashed out and grabbed her by her shoulders.
So cry your tears and rest assured
Love will find you like before
When she's looking back at me ...
I know that nothing works that easily
"Wh – what?!" The Mirror cried out in fear and shock as soon as she felt the weight of the person's hands.
"Relax, I'm not about to hurt you." The gruff voice was tinged with worry, but it was a welcoming sound.
"Kinomoto-kun!" The Mirror let slip her mirror, and it collapsed onto the ground with a dull thump. Her quiet sobs increased to a storm of painful tears as she melted into Kinomoto-kun's arms.
"It's you!" Kinomoto-kun exclaimed in surprise. The Mirror bounded backwards, startled by his loud voice. Kinomoto-kun immediately softened his voice. "I'm sorry. You're the one who's played Sakura, right?"
The Mirror nodded wearily. There was no point in concealing anything now … now that his beloved sister …
His beloved sister …
Was dead.
'Cause the girl in my mirror
Is crying here tonight
And there's nothing I can tell her
And to make her feel alright
"Have you seen Sakura?"
The words barely penetrated the Mirror's hearing through the roar of the storm. 'Mistress is dead,' she thought in a daze. She now realized how much she missed her Mistress. She had always been kind and loving, sweet in her genuine innocence, never jaded by the dangers that she faced so courageously, respectful to the Sakura Cards, never letting them get a good whiff of danger. Owners like that were one in a million, and the Mirror thanked Kami-sama for blessing them all with such a wonderful Mistress. Only that it was too late, now.
Mistress had been the mother they had never known.
Now came the imminent question: should she reveal the truth to Kinomoto-kun? Or should she conceal it, to shield him from heartbreak? She was torn into two, like the remnants of what had once been her haven. "I …" she stuttered, hovering.
"You can tell me," Kinomoto-kun prodded gently.
The Mirror sighed. "You've always been there, haven't you? Always behind a shrub, behind a tree, protecting her, watching over her with vigilance stricter than Cerberus'. I know you, Kinomoto-kun. I've sensed you more than once."
Kinomoto-kun stiffened. "Yes. But where is Sakura now? What is your name?"
"I am the Mirror Card."
Oh the girl in my mirror
Is crying 'cause of you
And I wish there was something ...
Something I could do
Undoubtedly, Kinomoto-kun was getting alarmed. "You've seen the Judgement, haven't you? You know about Clow-sama's reincarnation? You do, don't you?" The Mirror asked harshly, voice rising in near hysteria.
Kinomoto-kun nodded, a tiny movement.
The Mirror barked in laughter, a white mist blowing from her pale lips. "Well, all that watching has amounted to nothing! Mistress is dead! Dead, in the Third Judgement! Tell me, is that worth is? She went through so much to defend us, the Cards, and you went through so much to defend her! Now she'll never open her eyes again!"
Kinomoto-kun, like Master Li before him, reeled with shock, but quickly composed himself. "Where is she? I mean, her body."
"Master Li has come and levitated her away," the Mirror said coldly.
"Where did he go?"
The Mirror raised an arm draped in robes, an arm that shivered in the icy frigidness of her surroundings. Kinomoto-kun paused for a long time, eyes fixed on the Mirror. "You've been through many things for your mistress as well, Mirror," he said quietly.
"I'm going to die, at any rate. Guardian Yue is going to die, too – "
"Yue?"
"Behind you. Not to worry, Kinomoto-kun. His false form has been separated from him."
Kinomoto-kun fixed her with another long, lingering look. "You resemble Sakura so much, Mirror." With those thick words that were stained with tears, he lowered his head, shrugged his coat off his shoulders and wrapped it around the Mirror, ignoring her almost-inaudible protests. "Goodbye, Mirror."
"Goodbye, Touya." His name slid out before the Mirror could hold it in.
A sad smile graced Touya's face as he melted away into the snow, heading for the direction in which Master Li had disappeared in.
I can't believe it's what I see
And that the girl in my mirror
The girl in my mirror ...
The Mirror watched dully as her large mirror splintered into pieces. The one on the ground followed the large mirror's example.
... is me
The sun disappeared in a flare of light.
I can't believe what I see
The woodland forest creatures heard a painful shriek rent the air, before a dark silence engulfed them.
'Cause the girl in my mirror
Is crying here tonight
And there's nothing I can tell her
And to make her feel alright
"I'll be seeing you, Mistress," the Mirror Card murmured under her breath as she dissipated into the ether.
Oh the girl in my mirror
Is crying 'cause of you
And I wish there was something ...
Something I could do.
A dainty, red-breasted robin alighted in one of the trees that encased the clearing, disturbing the snow that clung to the bare branches. There was nothing to see, nothing at all, except a long, brown coat and a broken handheld mirror.
Author's Notes
This was kinda sad, huh? So, how did you like the angst in this? I hope it was good enough for you. ^-^ And yes, Girl In The Mirror went through a proofread and a few edits and I've tried to do my best. Please R & R!