This is my first fanfiction ever, so please be kind if you do review -
Forgive the cheeseball ending, too
I did this in response to Rowena DeVandal's June 1,000 words challenge. The subject was Taking Something Away from a character.
Sakura was dead.
It wasn't as if he hadn't tried to catch her. He just hadn't been able to.
Syaoran closed his eyes as he tried blocking out the anguished faces of Kurogane and Fai. Blocking out the memory of what had just happened was impossible, as it kept battering him until he gave in to it. When he finally opened his eyes, he was on his knees staring into Sakura's vacant face. This wasn't Sakura, but a broken shell of what she had been.
Unnoticed, Shogo Asagi flew on the back of his Kudan to the group of travelers. He slid off the stingray-like Kudan, removing his goggles. There being no imminent danger, the Kudan enveloped him in a warm embrace, disappearing into the depths of his heart.
The goggles he had taken off hung limply from the tips of his fingers, his arms uselessly by his side. "I am sorry."
Syaoran stiffened at the sound of a human voice. In his agony, he had forgotten about everyone but the body of Sakura and himself.
"While she was flying, she was fine. Her Kudan gave her wings, I guess." Asagi wrung his hands together, playing with the goggles. He was trying to say the right thing, but he wasn't sure the words he was using linked together as well as he hoped. "Her Kudan, I really don't understand why - "
"Don't even try." To his companions ears, it sounded as if his soul had been shattered into millions of pieces and scattered beyond his or anyone else's reach. Syaoran didn't know what to do, but he did know he didn't want to hear this man's worthless apology. An apology wouldn't heal Sakura. He didn't know what would heal her. He also knew screaming or hurting something, which he wanted to do badly, wouldn't do at all. Being left alone to crawl into a self-imposed isolation wouldn't help her, either. What's more, his companions wouldn't leave him on his own long enough to do that. His companions, who that space-time witch had thrust onto him. The witch.
"Mokona."
Mokona crawled tentatively from Kurogane's shirt pocket, where he had dived into face-first the moment Sakura began free-falling. "Syaoran?"
"Please, Mokona, you can help me." Syaoran rose slowly from his crouch next to the body of Sakura, and stepped toward Mokona with bent shoulders. "You can help Sakura. Please."
The rabbit-like creature's ears drooped when he heard the boy's pliant request. There are some things that cannot be fixed; some things Fate has the final say in. This was one of them. Mokona wanted to say something - say anything - that would justify Syaoran's faith in him, but he couldn't. He couldn't find the words.
"Syaoran," Fai grabbed him by the shoulders and looked directly into his eyes. "Sakura is already gone. There is nothing Mokona could do to help."
"No," Syaoran's face contorted as he tried to refrain from showing his doubt, "No. She isn't." His hands balled up into shaking fists. "He can help her. He can. He has to help her. The Dimension Witch - he can take us to her. She will know how to bring Sakura back. She knows."
Syaoran flinched as Fai extended his hand to his face, expecting a blow. Instead, Fai brushed the tears off of the boy's face. The moisture on Fai's fingers shocked Syaoran. He hadn't been aware that he had been crying. He hadn't been aware his own heart was breaking.
