Author's note: This part of the "Sailor Moon Continuum" storyline was originally a "Sailor Moon and the Gracey Manor" story I wrote a year ago and wanted to post, but then I realised that there aren't enough Cardcaptor Sakura stories and mainly just either Sailor Moon, Pokemon or Kingdom Hearts.
So I changed it into a Cardcaptor Sakura story, during the events of my season 4 of "Cardcaptors: Chain of Memories."
I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura, Kingdom Hearts or Haunted Mansion.
Cardcaptor Sakura And the Gracey Manor.
Rain started to pour down quite heavily, drenching everything down below in the forest parts of the Houen Region on Earth. Not to mention making pretty much everything soaking wet. Life forms who saw this coming tried to find places to keep dry. For travellers, this was a difficult task as nothing seemed to be enough to keep dry until the rain stopped. That's what it's come down to for Sakura Avalon and her companions, her best friend Madison Taylor, her close friend and Guardian of the Clow Cards, Keroberos-Kero for short, and two new friends, Riku, and King Mickey, whom Sakura met in Castle Oblivion.
After the events in Castle Oblivion and another adventure that resulted her in travelling back in time, Sakura and Madison were met up with Riku and Mickey who both decided to travel with her during her and Madisions journey to become Pokemon Coordinators like May, in Riku's own journey for atonement and make sure that his best friend Sora, and a girl named Namine, would be safe. Apparently, Ash, Misty and Brock were Castle Oblivion themselves, but Sakura never got the chance to meet up with them, or even meet Sora in general. Only having gazed at his sleeping form as he, Donald and Goofy slept to regain their memories.
But right now, of all times they had to be lost in the forest, it had to be on a dark and stormy night. And we all know that scary stories began with a dark and stormy nights, which is never a good thing.
"I can't believe how fast the storm came up!" Sakura cried out, as she and her companions ran to avoid the rain as much as possible, though that seemed to be a losing battle. Thunder roared and lightning flashed in the sky, causing them to flinch once and a while. While Sakura knew that none of them were as frightened of Thunder and Lightning as Serena was, that didn't mean they liked the weather.
"The river seems to be flooding the area too!" Madision added, using her backpack as best as she could to keep herself at least a little dry.
"Look! Up ahead!" Mickey called out, pointing, as he and the others noticed they were nearing a large mansion which was surrounded by countless tombstones. While his magical abilities and gut feeling were telling him that something was very off with the place, he decided that it was dry and better than nothing.
"I guess we can dry up in there if we ask nicely." Riku thought, though he could pick up the scent of darkness within the place too.
Sakura on the other hand, her phobia over ghosts, was shaking, terrifyed already. "Y-you've got to be kidding me." she said as she shook in absoluate fear.
None the less, all four of them walked around in the courtyard of the mansion, they observed the dead flowers and tombstones. Crows flew above them, cawing and loudly flapping their wings. They came to the front of the mansion, which the group approached the door before them.
Mickey then noticed something around the corner of the place, and quirked an eyebrow, feeling a little spooked out himself. He hasn't been this nervous about scary looking places in years. "Gosh. Sure is very strange for somebody to have their own cemetary." he spoke up.
"A Cemetary!?" Sakura shrieked in fright.
"That's just way too creepy." Riku admitted, blinking. "I thought Halloween Town was bad enough."
Madision on the other hand, giggled and told her friends, "Oh don't worry, guys. Some people have swimming pools, others have private cemetaries." which they looked at her with disturbed and in Sakura's case, a bit more of a freaked out expression.
The weather got worse again, and they hurried to the door, with Sakura still shivering in fear now more than the rain. They ran to the front of the mansion and took cover from the pouring rain. Madision, not as nervous as her friends, politely reached for one of the knockers slowly and carefully. She grasped it and knocked on the door. They waited for a couple of minutes, there was no answer.
But then the door slowly creaked open, and the group peaked inside. Lightning flashed, giving light into the dark house and revealing an elderly man. He appeared closer and closer as the lightning flashed. He wore a dark blue suit with a black bow on his chest, assuming that he was a butler.
"AAAHHHH!" Sakura screamed hysterically.
"AAAHHHH!" Even Mickey screamed as he leaped into the eleven year old girl's arms and the two clinged onto each other in sheer fright, both of their screams vibrated with each other.
While mentally flinching at the loud terrified little girl's and strange humanriod mouse's screams, the elderly man nodded, and said, "Hello, my name is Ramsley, the butler of this here mansion." His voice was dark, dim and haunting.
Despite immediately sensing that something was very off with this man, Riku nodded politely and replied, "My name's Riku, and these are my friends; Mickey, Sakura and Madision. We would like to come inside to dry off, if you would please let us."
"Ah, yes. Lost travellers I assume. Please, do stay for dinner. My master, Master Edward Gracey, wishes to discuss his affairs." Ramsley welcomed the group him, allowing them to step inside.
"Thank you, Mr. Ramsley. It's very nice of you." Madision nodded. "If your master doesn't mind."
"Not at all, young lady." Ramsley nodded slowly.
Riku and Madison stepped in first, but Sakura and Mickey skips past the elderly man, still terrified out of their minds, though Mickey was slowly getting over his scream fest. Ramesly led them down the shadowy hallway at a slow pace.
"My apologies, but we also seem to have a few guests that'll be here, for they had arrived earlier." The elderly man told the young group.
Mickey chuckled nervously, replying, "T-That's not a problem, Mister." while thinking to himself, 'Gosh, this place is even spookier than Castle of illusions, or Willie the Giant's Castle, or the Wasteland, but at least not as spooky as the Realm of Darkness.'
Sakura in the meantime, looked around the dark halls as they followed the old butler. Seven coats of armor stood near the walls with shields and weapons behind them. They soon approached a large door at the end of the hall, that slowly opened to their arrival, revealing a large dining room.
At the long table in the center of the room was a family of people, a man, a woman, and two children which were a boy and a girl. Each stared at the group with odd expressions on their face. Sakura and her group waved nervously as they joined the family at the table, introducing themselves to each other, while Kero, still in Sakura's backpack, zipped up the zipper a little to take a peak, while making sure that no one would see him.
"This place looks really spooky to me." Kero whispered to himself, before hiding again.
Ramsley walked to the end of the table, "The master will be with you shortly," he said in a haunting tone, he then walked away.
They all sat in silence until the woman made a comment about the fire place.
"Have you ever seen a fireplace that amazing?" She pointed to the fireplace behind her, her husband and their two children. "This place is amazing. I've never seen anything like it."
Lightning flashed. "Haven't you?" said a man standing by the window. "My grandfather spared no expense when he built this mansion." to which Sakura had to force herself and tried very hard not to scream again.
The man sitting opposite of Stu stood up and fixed his grey suit. "Well your grandfather has really good taste." He smiled and held out his hand. "I'm Jim Evers of the Evers and Ever Real Estate, glad to make your acquaintance, sir."
The man nodded, "Very good, I'm Mr. Gracey."
"It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Gracey," she said. The man nodded again, this time more slowly. "This is our daughter, Megan, and our son Michael." Jim gave a gesture to the two children at the table. The two jumped up and walked to them.
"You have very beautiful children, Ms. Evers," Gracey said. He then glanced at Sakura's group and added, "I take that you're all travellers, correct?"
Madision nodded, "Yes, Mr. Gracey. Sakura and I are training to become Top Coordinators."
"And Riku and I are their friends and travelling companions." Mickey added, with Riku nodding to confirm it.
Sakura nodded scaredly, not saying anything.
Ramsley reappeared. "You may take your seats now," he said. He pulled out the chairs for each of them once again.
As Mr. Gracey took his seat, he said, "What do you think of the house, Ms. Evers?"
"I think it's absolutely incredible," she responded as a maid began to pour a ladle of soup into her bowl. "You never see houses like this, at least I don't."
Mr. Gracey smiled widely. "Great care and love went into building this mansion.", causing Jim to look at him and his wife awkwardly, while Mr. Gracey continued, "This house is my inheritance," Mr. Gracey said, before sighing and admitting, "But lately, it's become too much to bare." He looked up at Jim, and asked, "Tell me, Mr. Evers, do you believe in ghosts?" causing Sakura to flinch in fright again at the very word of the things she was terrified of the most, while it also gave King Mickey a pause.
"Ghosts?" Jim replied, a bit startled, before he shrugged and said. "Sure I believe in ghosts."
Mr. Gracey turned to Sakura and Mickey, and inquired, "And you, young ones?"
While Sakura nodded shakingly, Mickey looked a bit uncomfortable, before the king admitted, "Well, I had my fair share of encountering ghosts a long time ago." which came to a surprise to Sakura, Madison and Riku who wasn't scared of ghosts as much as...well, the things he'd encountered.
"I didn't know you encountered ghosts, Mickey." Sakura admitted, finding herself a little curious, but still nervous.
Mr. Gracey nodded, " A very intriguing answer." just as Ramsley approached the window, before shaking his head, and turned to announce to the guests, "The storm has swollen the river."
"What's that mean?" Riku asked.
"The storm has flooded the road. I'm afraid there will be no leaving the mansion tonight." Ramsley answered. This, Sakura and the Evers family didn't like that much at all. Though Madison could see why, as she had noticed the road getting more water than usual.
"Of course, you are all more than welcome to spend the night here," Mr. Gracey said as Ramsley walked to his side. He stood up and made his way for the stairs. "Ramsley will show you to your rooms."
Mrs. Evers looked up at Mr. Gracey, "Oh no we can't, you see we made plans."
Mr. Gracey stopped in his tracks, "I'm sorry, but there is no other way."
Ramsley gave a dark look to his master and took a branched candlestick from the table and followed his master up the stairs into the dark hallways above. He stopped at the first door and opened it. "I believe the children will be comfortable in this room." He let the children say their goodnights to their parents before closing the door and continuing down the hallway. He stopped at the next door. "I hope you and the madam will find this room to your liking," he said as he opened the door for the couple.
"Yeah, it's great," Jim said. "It'll be like spending the night in a fine hotel."
Ramsley closed the door and continued his way down the hallway to the last room. It was a fine room that was suitable for Sakura and her friends. Without saying anything else, he shut the door. Sakura immediately rushed over to one of the beds, threw her backpack onto the mattress, and grabbed hold a pillow to hold as she was terrified out of her mind. Kero yelped as he landed onto the bed within Sakura's bag, and finally climbed out, panting like he was dehydrated, gasping for air.
"Kero!" Sakura gasped, realising that she forgot about her guardian beast friend, and went over to him, saying, "I'm sorry." feeling a tad guilty, but couldn't help but giggle. This was the third time this happened to the poor thing.
"How could you forget that I was stuck in there again?" Kero glared at his friend, then glared harder when she began to laugh. "That's not funny!" before he got out of the bag and stood onto the bed, saying and not that angry anymore, "But since we're nice and dry in a place until the storm breaks, I'll forgive ya."
"I don't know about you, fellas," Mickey spoke up as he sat on the edge of his bed, now having a concerned expression his face, "But there's somethin' about this place I don't really like that much."
"Yeah, especially Ramsley." Riku agreed as he leaned against the wall near the window, his arms folded against his chest. "I could sense some darkness within him, but something else I can't pick up."
Madision, hearing this and now becoming concerned, lowered her voice in a whisper and asked, "Do you think it's the Organization?" which caused everyone else to look at her at the possibility.
"No, I wouldn't think so." Kero frowned. Crossing his arms to his chest, the guardian beast in his small form thought deeply, "It's hard to pick out, but there's a magical aura within this place I can sense, but at the same time, it feels cold and distant."
"That's what I'm feeling too, and I've felt it before I met any of you." Mickey agreed, admitting, "Gosh, it's been so long since I encountered ghosts, I completely forgot what it was like. I'm getting a feeling that this is what I'm feeling right now."
Sakura didn't like this a single bit, as she asked, trembling, "Y-You mean th-there coul-could b-be...ghosts in this place!? Meaning that...it's haunted!?"
"Come on, Sakura." Riku couldn't help but smirk, "You're a Cardcaptor. You captured and transformed all of the cards and helped me fight against those Nobodies and even Ansem in Castle Oblivion. You even faced off Halloween Town."
"Yeah, well," Sakura began, a little annoyed, "That's different. I could sense when a Clow Card was nearby, and I had to use the power of my Star to transform them. Not to mention that was more worried about you that I didn't even pay attention to your memory of Halloween Town. Ghosts just appear out of nowhere and scare you."
Mickey shook his head, while understanding Sakura's phobia. "Don't worry, Sakura. Not all ghosts are that bad." he said to try and comfort her. "In fact, there's one ghost who taught me just that, and even unexpectedly help me get over my long-time fear too, before I even knew about the Keyblade."
His friends he had met this year looked at her, surprised again, and Mickey couldn't blame them. Plus, he'd been on more adventures than they had. "Sounds like you've been on a lot of adventures, Mickey." Riku thought.
But just before Mickey could say anything else, a jolt of sensation snapped in his mind, as did to Riku, Sakura and Kero who all suddenly heard a scream, but not from outside, but somewhat having a rather blank but audiable vision.
"Hey! Hey! Open this back up! Ramsley! Open up!" before the four of them returned to reality, glancing at each other worriedly as they all knew what this meant; trouble.
"What is it?" Madision asked, while not having any magic in her what so ever, but by the expressions on her friends, she could easily tell that something was wrong.
"That was Mr. Evers! He's in trouble!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Ramsley has something do to with it." Mickey concluded, leaped off the bed and stood, saying to his friends, "Wait here. I'll go check see what's happened."
"I'm coming with you." Riku told him.
"I'm not staying here either!" Sakura already made up her mind.
"I really don't want to miss this adventure, if you'll let me come with you." Madision spoke up excitedly, pulling out her video camera.
"I guess that means we're all going." Kero concluded.
Mickey looked worried, and said, "Gosh, I don't want any of ya's to get hurt if something happens."
"Mickey, we've been through a lot together already." Riku pointed out. "What difference will this make?" shrugging.
The King had to admit it, the silver-haired teen had a point. Not only that, spending time with these young people reminded him so much of his own adventures with Donald and Goofy, before this adventure caused them to be separated for the first time and his two best friends and loyal companions journeyed with Sora while he himself had to go it alone.
In the end, he shrugged in defeat, and said, "Okay, but we'd better be careful."
After Sakura summoned her Star-Staff via her magical chanting, she and her companions, with Madison recording this new adventure and situation, as usual, walked down the dark hallway. They haven't seen anything out of the ordinary yet, but it was best to keep it safe.
However, in the half an hour of searching, the next thing the group knew, just as Mickey said, "Well, I don't see anything ye-AAAH!" he had screamed along with Sakura, Riku, Madison and Kero as they all fell through a trap door that opened up underneath them, and they fell down a chute. Landing in the lower floor, the group groaned and slowly stood up.
"Is everyone alright?" Mickey asked immediately, hoping that none of his friends were hurt.
"I-I think so." Sakura answered, standing up while helping Madison who checked to see if her camera was okay, which it was.
"I'm okay too." Madison added.
"Me too." said Riku.
"I'm okay." Kero added, floating up while looking around at their surroundings and realised that they were stuck at the moment. "Can't say the same about this creepy tunnel." which the others noticed, and even Riku was starting to get nervous. Sakura was already back into her hysterical scared mode.
Suddenly, they noticed a green light up ahead, and, while having a bad feeling about this, the group crept closer, until they found a strange chanting echoed all around and an orb with a face in it. Sakura flinched and hid behind Riku in fear.
Mickey, gulping nervously, and feeling a twince of fear enter his heart, slowly approached it as bravely as he could, and called out, "Uh, h-h-hello?" though his voice was quivering. He was right; this place is creepier than the scary experiences he encountered years ago. Even the Realm of Darkness was surprisingly not as scary, but it's still scary enough.
"I am Madame Leota," A voice spoke when the group entered the room. In the center of the room was a table with a crystal sitting on top. A woman's face turned around to face Sakura and her friends, and she shook a bit more violently in fear. "Seer of All, Hoist to the Spirits. Whom do you seek?"
Charis behind the heroes flew behind them and knocked them on top. They pushed Sakura and her friends close to the table so they couldn't get out. Sakura immediately screamed and she cried out "MY FRIENDS AND I SEEK A WAY OUT!"
"And uh, I-I seek an answer to the mysterious Organization." Mickey added, losing the battle of trying to hold in his fear.
"I seek to control the darkness in my heart." Riku added.
"I seek to try and help my friends as best as I could." Madison added.
Kero then added, "I seek the answer to WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON AROUND HERE!" more in annoyance than anything else.
"Wise answers, young ones." Leota said, nodding at them. "You are all Warriors of Light, despite one of you having had terrible experience with darkness, but one must learn from it to regain their light, or he shall lose that sight."
While Riku was stunned that this crazy...whatever this woman in the glass ball was, knew about the darkness in his heart, Kero yelled out, "We didn't come here for riddles! We want some answers!"
"Kero, calm down please." Sakura shivered.
The woman closed her eyes and began to chant. "Dark spirits from the grave, come forth. From West, East, South and North, lift us from the black, and show us. Show us our way back. Lift us, lift us up to the Light and lead us through this stormy night!" All the objects in the room began to rise and spin around the table. The woman continued to chant as several instruments began to play around them.
Sakura, terrified beyond belief, screamed out, "NO! Please don't kill us! I don't wanna be a ghost yet!"
"You and your friends are at stake, you must conjour your fear or its death you shall take!" Leota continued, "Go, Card Mistress Sakura and her faithful companions! Save us from this evil! Release us! Release us all!" The woman began to laugh maniacally as Sakura and her friends were freed from the table and chairs.
Immediately, Sakura, while screaming, grabbed hold of Madison's wrist and pulled her with her as she ran. Mickey and Riku both quickly followed, all of them running(or flying in Kero's case) as fast as they could, until they ran out of the room as fast as she could, the possesed instruments chasing after them. The music echoed.
"This is like a bad horror movie!" Kero cried out, freaked out as well.
Once they made it out of the room, the group came to a stop and took their time to catch their breath, though Sakura was clinging onto Madison, terrified beyond belief. "This place is haunted! It's full of ghosts!" Sakura screamed.
Riku, while panting, managed to say, "Gotta admit, that was very scary."
"I hate to say it, but this is worse than Castle of illusion." Mickey admitted as well, as he had a hand placed to his chest.
"Okay, first I've encountered a weird dark spirits, and now I'm seeing a yellow flying teddy bear?" a familiar voice came from behind the group who flinched, and in Sakura's case, shrieked, as they whipped around, before they all sighed in relief. It was Jim Evers. However, they realised a mistake as Kero flinced, realising that he blew his cover.
"Oops." Kero muttered, realising his mistake and sweatdropped nervously.
Jim looked over at the group with a scared expression on his face, panting he asked, "What's going on here?"
"None of us have a clue, except that this place could be haunted." Riku muttered.
The older man rubbed the back of his head, saying, "This is so crazy. It's like out a horror movie."
"I said something similiar, and to answer your earlier skeptisim, I'm not a teddy bear, and I'm not of this spooky place." Kero stated.
"Whatever it is, this is not a normal house and I get a feeling that it's only gonna get worse." Mickey stated, "We gotta get outta here and fast."
Jim nodded in agreement, saying, "I need to get to my wife and kids."
The group, including the terrified Sakura, nodded in agreement, and they all quickly rushed to find Jim's family.
As the group opened another door, they were immediately greeted by Jim's children who were standing on the top of the steps and Megan called out to her father.
"Michael! Megan!" he said. He ran frantically up the stairs. "Are you alright?"
"We're fine," Megan responded.
"C'mon, get your things," Jim said. "Let's get out of here!"
"But dad, we have a problem," Michael said.
"It's okay, we're just going to get a little wet. Let's just find your mom and go."
"I'm afraid that's not possible." a man, named Ezra, said, as he approached, adding, "She cannot leave."
Sakura, shivering, asked, "Why can't Mrs. Evers leave?"
The man vanished and reappeared behind the group, and Sakura paled even furtehr. "Because she can't. If I could tell you I would, but I can't so I won't. Okay?"
"He's ghost." Riku muttered, stunned.
"Yeah, and?" Ezra asked, more than a little annoyed. He noticed that Sakura looked ready to pass out-literally, while Jim was completely speechless. Madison was amazed, though even she was spooked. Kero blinked. Mickey was surprised, then sighed, and the king muttered, "Yup, this place is full of ghosts alright."
Jim, blinking and convincing himself that he was seeing this, turned to his children, and said, "Daddy's having hallucinations. Let's go right now."
"I saw what happened too!" Sakura cried out, hiding behind Madison, staring fearfully at Ezra, as a woman, named Emma, stood there as well, as she continued, "They're ghosts!"
"No they're not." Jim shook his head, trying to convince himself, "We're just having hallucinations from that dinner that we ate. It was that chicken, it didn't taste right."
Emma, feeling insulted, suddenly turned into mist and floated in front of Jim and she reappeared, shouting, "Hey!" nearly giving him a heart attack. "It wasn't the chicken!"
"All right, all right, it wasn't the chicken," Jim said. "But we're still getting out of here."
"But dad we have to help them!" Megan said.
"No we can't," Jim said. "The dead are beyond help, that's the nature of being dead."
"That man's talking sense," the old servant said. "Everyone should just keep their noses in their own business."
"But dad," Megan said. "We have to help them break the curse."
"Curse? What curse?" Jim said.
That's when in hit Mickey hard in the head, and he said in realisation, "Of course! There's a spell here. Everybody who died here are trapped here in the mansion, even Mr. Gracey and Ramsley."
"He figured out the truth." Ezra said, amazed by Mickey's knowlage. "How'd you know?"
The mouse shrugged a bit sheepishly, "Well, ha, I did go on an adventure to save the ghost of my great uncle from an evil ghost who tried to destroy the world a long time ago." he admitted.
"He speaks from experience." Emma thought, "That's amazing!"
"You call that amazing?" Ezra asked, skeptically.
Figuring that Leota, the gyspy the other ghosts named her, had some answers, Sakura and the others learned from her about the truths of this place, which, made Sakura and her friends more shocked than anything else. They also learned that Sara, Jim's wife, shares a strong resemblence to Gracey's late lover Elizabeth who apparently committed suicide.
"So...everyone who lives here are all dead." Riku thought. In retrospect, he felt sorry for Mr. Gracey, and it made him realise how much his friends and family mean so much to him, including Sora and Kairi.
Mickey frowned, feeling sorry for the ghosts. "Gosh, that's awful. I feel sorry for Mr. Gracey, losing the person he loved so much." he said. "I'd probably feel the same if I lost my family or my friends."
"I know that my dad was upset when my Mom died." Sakura thought, her fear slowly easing. "I guess I can understand how Mr. Gracey is kinda going through."
"And my father too." Madison added.
Kero nodded in agreement, "And Clow Reed." the twinge of sadness rising in his chest as memories of Clow Reed's death appeared in his mind.
Jim on the other hand, shook his head in disbelief, and then asked Ezra, "Lemme get this straight; The guy is dead and is trying to get jiggy with my wife?" referring to Gracey.
"Pretty much." Ezra shrugged, "Are you upset?"
Jim looked at him and said, "The guy is dead, and he's trying to get with my wife. And the house isn't really for sale." he paused before yelling, "Of course I'm upset!"
"So Mr. Gracey thinks Mrs. Evers is Elizabeth?" Sakura thought, then sweatdropped and muttered, "That's complicated."
"Oh, Madame Leota," Emma said. "Is it her? Is she truly our dear departed Elizabeth come back to us?"
"It is true," the gypsy said. "She walks these halls. But do not be deceived. Not all things are as they appear. For the curse to be lifted, the truth must be known. And for the truth to be known, you must find the key in the tomb under the great dead oak and travel down deep into the ground and find the black crypt that bares no name, or soon your fate will be the same."
"So if we find the key, it'll give us a clue on how Elizabeth really died?" Mickey asked, somewhat getting an idea on what just happened years ago.
Leota nodded.
"So what you're saying is if we find this key," Jim began. "We can just walk out of here like nothing ever happened?"
"The key is the answer to all," The gypsy said.
"That's easier said than done." Sakura pointed out, "Problem is, how do we get out?"
"Yeah, how do we get out of here?" Jim asked, agreeing with Sakura, as did the rest of the living group.
"Well," Ezra said dramatically. There was a large grin on his face, as he added. "There's always my way."
The wall of the mansion burst open as a carriage drawn by a skeleton of a horse flew out and landed on the ground with a loud thud. Sakura trembled again, as she muttered, "At least that horse is on our side. The statue one that came to life with the evil Pokemon King in Cona City Museum was bad enough."
"Is it alright to leave the kids behind? You know, with Ramsley?" Mickey asked. He, Sakura, Riku, Madison and Kero were in the carriage with Jim on their quest to find the key they need.
"They'll be fine," Jim said. "Megan can watch out for the both of them, and I doubt Ramsley would try to do anything to them for now. As long as they stay hidden, everything will be okay."
They soon entered the large cemetery behind the mansion. Several ghosts stood, doing what they would of been if they were still alive.
Sakura stared in a scared expression, and she whispered, "I see dead people."
The carriage soon came to a stop and the four hopped out. For several minutes they wondered through the graveyard, searching for the tomb. "Great," Jim said, looking around.
"There's gotta be a tomb with no name around here somewhere." Riku thought as he looked around, his Soul Eater sword out. Mickey also summoned his Kingdom Key-D Keyblade, and Sakura held her staff close to her chest, still scared half to death. Kero was ready to transform, and Madison still recorded, while having pokeballs containing her Pokemon on standby.
"I glad she was so specific," Jim said sarcastically. He stopped for a moment and listened. "Do you hear that?"
There was singing coming from the distance. "Yeah, I hear it," Sakura said. They made their way towards the singing. Four busts of men sat on four pillars, singing to themselves.
"Excuse me," Mr. Evers said. "Do you know where the mausoleum is?" The busts ignored him and continued to their singing. "Look, you guys sound really nice, but I'm trying to save my wife. She'll be-"
"~Comin' round the mountain when she comes~" they cut him off with another song. He gave a sigh. "Great," he said.
There was a ghostly scream, and from behind the tombstones came a large ghost. It resembled a woman in a wedding dress with bright yellow eyes and a long hatchet, and it appeared to have a ghostly blue aura surround her. She gave out another screech and swung her hatchet wildly.
Mickey quickly leaped and did the air-triple solmersaults, slash at the ghost, causing it to disappear, before landing the ground. He and the others sighed in relief. "It's okay, fellas. We'll be just fine." he told his friends.
"Easy for you to say." Jim grumbled.
As they walked up the steps, flames rose from two torches that sat beside the door. Jim studied the large, stone door and pulled it open and took one of the torches. He led the way down the steps that went deep into the darkness below.
Across a bridge was an ebony black coffin. The team ran across the bridge and Sailor Moon and Jim pushed the lid off, giving an echoing crash as it fell to the ground. Inside was a skeleton holding a small key.
Jim looked at the dead body with disgust. Turning his head away, he reached in and pulled the key out from the bone hands. After wiping his hands on his suit, he said, "That was easy."
As they turned to leave, there was another loud crash. The four turned around to see a giant, black spider. The group froze, but Sakura had an idea. Pull out the Freeze Card, she chanted her magic, calling out, "Freeze!" ordering it to...well, freeze the Spider-literally.
"What do they teach you kids these days?" Jim asked, tucking the key into his pocket.
"Actually, magic doesn't come for free." Kero shrugged, "It's the power of the heart that triggers the chosen ones."
"We've been on more strange but exciting adventures before." Madison added.
"I'll bet." Jim nodded.
The group returned to Leota in no time flat, and Jim told the gyspy, "Okay, we have the key," Jim said, holding the key up to Madame Leota. Sakura and the others watched from behind him. "Now where's the way out of here?"
"First you must find the trunk," she responded.
"Trunk? Not door?" Jim said. "The key is the answer to all, remember?"
Leota rolled her eyes, and then said in full, normal, annoyance, "Look, I don't make the rules, okay? I just work here."
"Okay, that's it," Jim said angrily. He tucked the key back into his pocket and picked up the crystal ball.
"What are you doing?" She screamed as they left the room. "This is bad luck! Very bad luck!"
They made their way back up to the attic and began to search for the chest. "Is that it?" Mickey asked, pointing to a large black chest.
"That's it," Madame Leota replied.
The group approached it. Jim handed the crystal ball to Riku(who cringed, creeped out) as he pulled the key out from his pocket and slid it into the lock. With a click, the chest popped open. Jim began searching through. "How do I know what to look for? This thing is full of junk."
"Find the thing that must be read," the gypsy said.
Jim continued to look until he found a red envelope. "Wait, there's a letter here." He quickly opened it and pulled out a small piece of parchment. "Yes my dear-heart, I will marry you," he read. "I will love you for all eternity, and tonight, at last, we will be together. I do. Forever yours, Elizabeth."
"She didn't kill herself," Emma said as she appeared behind them.
Ezra appeared next to her. "She wanted to be with him."
"Wait, so that means..." Madison trailled off, "The letter Mr. Gracey had is the fake one?"
"That means..." Mickey gasped in realization, "Somebody killed Elizabeth!"
"Yes," everyone spun around. Ramsley stood in the shadows at the end of the room, and he approached the group, rather evilly. "Well done. I must say I'm impressed."
Realization dawned to Riku as he glared at Ramsley, pointing his weapon threateningly at the buter, accusing, "You're the one who killed her!"
"The butler did it?" Jim said, just as shocked as Sakura, Mickey, Kero, Madison, Emma and Ezra. He then shook his head and grumbled in disbelief, "You've got to be kidding me."
Ramsley ignored him and glared at the servant and maid. "I'll deal with you two later." With a gasp, the two vanished into a puff of smoke.
"I don't understand." Sakura shook her head, "Why did you kill her?"
"My master did not listen to reason," Ramsley said darkly. "He had everything in the world and he was willing to throw it all away for love. I did tell him that it would end badly."
Mickey glared at Ramsley and pointed out, "You're wrong. He would've kept it as well as being together with the one he loved most. Love isn't for money or houses, the real love is in the heart and that is the most important thing on Earth. Money and Houses are almost an everyday thing, but love comes in a rarest and wonderful times." to which Sakura, Riku, Madison, Kero and even Jim were stunned by the King's strong and wise words, and the bravery. Maybe that was why Mickey was made king of his world in the first place. He is good hearted and very caring.
"That master must never know," Ramsley continued. "Edward and his love will be reunited and this curse will be broken."
"But that's not her," Jim said. "That's my wife!"
"And what she sees in you, I'll never know. But that is of little importance, now. What I do know is that the master's pain will end. And it will end tonight. The curse will be broken, and we can all finally move on."
"She can't be married to him," Jim said. "He's dead and she's not."
"True, but that can be easily corrected," Ramsley said with a smirk. "Life, I'm afraid, is such a delicate state."
"Look, if you put one finger on my wife, I swear, I will kill you!" Jim said, and he threw a punch at Ramsley's head, but flew through him.
"How wonderful," he laughed. "You're going to kill a ghost."
"Just because Sara looks like Elizabeth, that doesn't mean they're the same person!" Sakura exclaimed, her fear no longer in the way, and the safety of her friends and Jim's family, and wanting to help Gracey to know the truth in it's place. "A lot of people all share identical resemblences in the world and is often mistaken for one another, but you can't just kill another just because you believe that Elizabeth was reborn!"
"I'm afraid to say that you are wasting your time. Not only are going to lose your wife, Mr. Evers, but your children as well."
"My kids?" Jim asked, shocked, then he demanded. "Where are they?"
"They are waiting for you in the basement. But they aren't in the best of situations. Now I must be off or I might be late for the wedding. I bid you good day you two." With one last smirk, Ramsley vanished. In frustration, Jim punched the floor.
"Don't worry, Jim." Mickey assured, "We'll save them and let Mr. Gracey know the truth."
"Yeah...I guess you're right." Taking a deep breath, Jim said, "First we are going to save my kids. Then we're going to stop the wedding and finish Ramsley once and for all. Then, we get out of here, along with your family."
"Let's go, guys!" Sakura declared, as she and the group held out hands in partnership in a quest to stop Ramsley once and for all.
"From this day forward," Ramsley said. He began to pour a powder into a goblet of wine. "You will be joined as one for all eternity, until the very end of time." He handed it to Sara, who looked at it nervously. She accepted it and slowly raised it to her lips. "If anyone has any objections-"
The door burst open and Jim, Sakura, Kero, Madison, Mickey, Riku, and Jim's children ran in. "Yeah, I got a few objections!" Jim yelled.
Sara dropped the goblet and ran to her husband. The two grabbed each other in a hug.
"Get away from her," Gracey growled. He stepped down the stairs. "I lost her once, I won't let it happen again."
"This is not Elizabeth," Jim said. "Ramsley, tell him the truth!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ramsley said, not moving from his spot.
"So now you have amnesia, huh?" Riku asked sarcastically, before turning to Gracey and told him. "Elizabeth didn't kill herself. He did! He's been lying to you all along."
Gracey continued to approach the group. "I'm warning you all." He drew out a rapier of his own. "Get away! My patience is wearing thin. Elizabeth, please. Come on."
"I'm not Elizabeth," Sara said, her face still red with tears.
"Mr. Gracey! Ramsley wants you to think it's Elizabeth, but in reality, he didn't want you to fall in love in the first place!" Sakura cried out.
"He's the main scoundal who caused her to die!" Mickey added.
"If you want to kill me, then kill me," Jim said to Gracey once the latter got up close to him, "But when I come round the Other Side, I'll just be whippin' your ass for all eternity; so maybe you should read this before you stab somebody!" He pulled out the letter from the trunk. "This is Elizabeth's letter. The real letter, the one Ramsley stole. You never saw it."
Gracey snatched the letter from Jim's hand and began reading. He gasped. "What's the meaning of this?" he asked Ramsley. "It's written in her hand!"
"Yeah, in her hand!" Jim said. "Explain that, Ramsley!"
Ramsley looked around nervously. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Your union was unacceptable. I tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen."
"So you killed her," Gracey said, the hurt of betrayal dawned in his face and shocked Sara as well.
"I told you it would be a mistake to be with that girl."
"But I loved her! Was love my mistake?"
"Yes!" Ramsley yelled. "I tried to protect you. All this years I sacrificed for you. But what would you understand of sacrifice, duty, or honor? You loved her. Damn you. Damn you all to HELL!"
Lightning flashed. All a flames vanished on the candles. The windows burst open and in flew hundreds of dark wisps of smoke that began to surround Ramsley. Dark spirits. Screams filled the room.
"Kero! Get Madison, Michael, Megan and Sara out!" Sakura told the guardian beast who nodded and tried to lead the four of them out, while Jim told Gracey to do the same. Gracey nodded and did what Jim said, but the door out wouldn't open.
"Oh nuts!" Sakura cursed.
Ramsley gave a laugh. "You fools." He raised his hand and shot a ball of black fire at them.
The fight was somewhat brutal, but Sakura, Mickey, Riku and Jim never gave up. Ramsley gave a shout of pain and jumped into the air. His eyes went pale as he used his power to summon more of the dark spirits. A flame burst into the fireplace and the floor split open. The flame grew until it was in the form of a snake and moved around the room. A tongue slid out of its mouth and wrapped around Ramsley, who began to scream as he was pulled down towards the fireplace.
He grabbed Jim's leg and began to drag him down, but Jim grabbed the edge of the tile. Sakura and Gracey ran to him and grabbed his hand and pulled him up, causing Ramsley to release Jim as he was pulled down below the ground. Jim flew out and landed beside the others who helped him.
"Are you okay, Mr. Evers!?" Sakura asked, worriedly.
He quickly stood up and dusted off his suit. He looked up and gasped as his wife collapsed. "Sara!" he said and he ran to her with Sakura and Mickey not far behind. "Sara, wake up!" he said. He held her in his arms. "Open your eyes." There was no response.
A blue wisp dropped down from the ceiling and made its way towards them.
"Hey!" Jim said at it. "Leave us alone!"
Megan looked at it carefully. "It's alright, dad."
The wisp continued to get closer until it reached Sara. It went inside her and the body rose several feet and stood straight. She gave a smile. A light burst from above into a single column.
"Elizabeth, is that you?" Gracey said, walking closer.
"Yes, my love," she said. "The truth had to be known for me to be released. They saved me." She nodded at Jim, Sakura, Riku, Mickey, Madison and Kero. Gracey smiled and said, "Oh, Elizabeth. I've waited so long for this moment."
"And now only Heaven awaits," she said. She dropped to the ground slowly and walked to her husband and Jim.
"Sara?" Jim said. With one last smile, Sara's body dropped into Jim's arms. Her eyes slowly began to open. Jim gave a sigh of relief and the two hugged. When they released, Jim turned to Gracey.
"Could you ever forgive me?" he asked.
Jim grinned. "What's there to forgive?" he asked. "You loved her."
Gracey smiled again and in a puff of smoke, several papers appeared in his hand. He handed them over to Jim.
"What's this?" he asked.
"The deed to the house," Gracey replied. "It's yours. Do with it what you will. Sell it, keep it. Do whatever keeps you and your family happy." He turned to Sakura and her friends and shook Sakura's hand gracefully, "Thank you, Sakura." He walked over to the column of light, where the spirit of Elizabeth stood waiting. He took her hand. "Thank you," he said as they began to rise in the light. "Thank you all so much." Then, they were gone.
"Wait for us!" Emma came running through the doors with Ezra not far behind, carrying several bags and ran into the light and began to rise as well. "Goodbye!" they yelled as they rose. "Thanks for everything!"
The Evers family waved as they vanished into the light. Sakura and the others smiled.
"You know, Mickey?" Sakura began to the king, "You're right. Not all ghosts are bad." finally understanding.
"Uh, Sakura?" Kero spoke up, in disbelief as he gazed something behind her and Mickey, as did Riku, Madison and the Evers family. Puzzled, Sakura and the King turned around, and gapped in awe, Sakura especially. A ghost of a beautiful woman with long hair, a green dress and wings, eyes and face like Sakura's, hovered and smiled at the young Cardcaptor.
Sakura, unable to believe it, dared to step up closer, asking emotionally, "Are you...?"
"You had me worried, sweetheart." the woman spoke, with a gentle smile, "But you'll be just just fine."
"...Mother?"
The woman, now identified as Natasha, Sakura's mother, nodded, as she then wrapped her arms around Sakura who was stunned that, despite being a ghost, the touch was psychical and warm. Tearing up, Sakura embraced the spirit of her mother.
"I've missed you so much, Mom." Sakura whispered, crying. She knew now that this was not an illusion. This was real.
"I've missed you too, Sakura. You, Tory and your father." Natasha replied, gently rubbing her daughter's back. "But I'm always with you in your heart."
"Our hearts are connected." Sakura agreed. Her wish to see her mother again for real has finally come true. She looked up at her mother, saying, "You don't have to worry. I'm just happy that I got to see you again, always in the afterlife watching me, knowing you're there."
"I'm so proud of you, Sakura." Natasha smiled, before looking at Sakura's friends, and told them, "Take care of her."
"Don't worry, Mrs. Avalon. We'll make sure that she'll be just fine." Mickey promised, with Kero, Riku and Madison nodding in agreement. In truth, Mickey was very emotional, as memories of coming contact with his late great uncle came flooding back to him, and he even blinked his tears away.
Grateful by the king's words, Sakura's mother looked at her daughter again, and muttered, "I love you, Sakura."
"I love you too, Mom." Sakura replied, sensing that her mother had to return to heaven now.
Bidding a final goodbye and promising that they will meet again, Natasha floated away, back into the afterlife. Sakura shed tears, but she was comforted by her friends.
Finally, with everything back to normal, the Evers family agreed to keep Sakura's group's abilities a secret, before the two groups departed and gone their separate ways. For one thing in this adventure, Sakura had finally conjoured her fear of ghosts and finally understood what her older brother Tory was talking about all those years ago, and learned that Mickey was right about ghosts.
She still had some fear in them, but now she would work on a new magical ability to sense which ghost was good and which ghost was not. For it was part of Sakura's duty as a Cardcaptor.
TO BE CONTINUED
IN
CARDCAPTOR SAKURA: CHAIN OF MEMORIES-SEASON 4-SECOND HALF.
A/N: This is part of the halloween theme, but I did my best with the story. I thought it was a good idea to test Sakura's fear of ghosts.
Please review, fellow readers, and look out for more stories in the future when I get back from my two week vacation next month.
