A/N: So this story's been in my head for a while now and I finally decided to write it down. I just hope it comes out somehow good lol I'm pretty excited to finally begin posting this. I will tell you now that English is not my first language so be patient with me please.
Sooo, I have many ideas for Synchronicity's future chapters, hopefully it'll have more romance, humor, and of course action. Please review and comment, I'll appreciate it :) Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sakura Card Captors. The original characters and plot are the property of their respective authors. No copyright infringement is intended.
The characters and events in this story are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
SynchronicityChapter 1: Prologue
Synchronicity is the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect and that is meaningful to the observer. – Carl Jung
A professionally gentle female voice echoed in the air, announcing the departure of the flight with destination to Rome, Italy. Three teenage kids sat together chatting happily. A girl was holding a phone in her hand, next to her sat a girl and a boy whom were looking at her expectantly.
"Giovanna just texted me, she said she just boarded the plane, so she is going to turn off her phone now" the girl holding the phone announced.
"Heck, I am gonna miss that girl; she was just too much fun. Good thing we can always text her and stuff. Besides, she said she might visit during Winter break. So really, we might be getting tired of her pretty soon." said the boy. The girls laughed at their friend's comment, but then turned to look at the two other kids that were standing close to the windows, and tried to stifle their laughs. "Although, I am telling you, the one who is gonna miss her most will be Marcus".
"Yep, I agree. Well, we'll just have to wait and see, who knows, maybe things will work out with time. Oh gosh! I sure hope so. Those two looked too cute to be true!" said the other girl, who seemed to be sparkling in delight.
"Uhm, Emily, you think every couple looks 'too cute to be true'" before Emily could retort the boy continued "And you better don't get started with the whole love-is-beautiful-and-the-world-needs-more-love thing because I just ate lunch, and I haven't had enough time to digest it yet!"
"Ethan! You have to be the least sensitive person in this planet!"
The other girl blinked at Ethan and Emily as the two started throwing remarks at each other and sighed heavily, finally closing her phone. Close to the windows, two figures chuckled silently.
"I bet you ten bucks they were talking about you Marcus" said the brunette girl, turning to her companion and effectively cutting short his laugh.
"Not gonna happen Gabrielle. I'm pretty sure about that too, I'll just lose my money" Chuckling one more time, he turned to look at the window again.
Gabrielle gave a small internal laugh and shrugged, trying to direct their conversation another way "Hey, Marcus, you gonna keep in touch with Giovanna right? I mean, you guys really had chemistry and all…"
The boy sighed, his dark-brown fangs covering his eyes. Gabrielle looked fondly at her childhood friend and realized it was not the time to talk about this, at least not yet for the boy. She decided to turn their conversation to safer grounds. Something that will keep your mind into something else, and if it can cheer you up too then that'll be a bonus. Let's see, what can… I know!
"Oh nooo!" She exclaimed, gasping exaggeratedly and then clasping her hands over her mouth. The effect was immediate; Marcus turned to her with a worried expression and run his eyes over her. Gee, Marcus, I'm not bleeding to death, you worrywart. She tried very hard to contain her giggles, and fortunately succeeded.
"What? What is it? Gabrielle, what happened?"
Trying to contain her giggles over her friend's worrisome personality was one thing, but trying to contain a longer-than-long sigh that threatened to come out for that same reason seemed just too hard for Gabrielle. Somehow, for the sake of her plan, she managed.
"It's just…my mom told me to buy Sammy's present, you see, she couldn't go because she stayed home with him today. But I completely forgot about it!. If I don't get back home today bringing the gift with me, she'll kill me!" Oh boy, I really need to improve my lying; I'm just awful at this sometimes. There was no way she would forget about something like her baby brother's birthday present -there was Just. No. Way. Also, her mom would not get mad about her not buying the gift that same day.
She waited for a second, hoping that Marcus had not seen through her lie, and when the look on his eyes told her that he doubted her words she sighed sadly. A little nervous, she tried to pull off the puppy-eyes look she had seen her little brother use plenty of times, wondering if hazel could do the job just as well as the light green in Sam seemed to. She didn't have time to wonder for too long, because the dark-haired boy nodded at her and was now wearing a serious expression on his face.
"Don't worry Ellie" Gabrielle couldn't help but smile at her childhood nickname Marcus came up with when they were little kids and that he still used whenever he wanted "maybe we can ask Ethan or Emily for a ride to the closest toy store. Maybe even Jenny can help us out, you know they won't mind. I'll go with you. If you don't remember what your mom wanted, then I'll help you talk with Mrs. Atwood and explain to her that we came to the airport today to say goodbye to Giovanna. That way she will understand and won't get mad at you."
It seemed that the boy was going to continue with his reassuring speech, but he suddenly stopped and his eyes seemed to lighten up. In that moment, Gabrielle knew her plan had worked just as she planned to, and gave her friend a full smile. Marcus looked at her again and continued.
"I think I'll just go with you anyway. I want to buy the kid something too. You know? I've had some ideas in my mind for a while now. How about…" Marcus started talking about his gift ideas and Gabrielle listened attentively to him, smiling and nodding, not answering back because the boy didn't gave her chance to. He is rambling now. She suppressed a laugh again, and congratulated herself for her plan.
Her friend had been successfully distracted from his gloomy thoughts, at least for now. Marcus thought of Sam as his little brother too, and the kid loved the older one just as much. And really, she didn't mind sharing her adorable baby brother. Also, Marcus did a great job at being an older brother for the squirt, and Gabrielle often wondered how things would be if Marcus had siblings of his own. She had once heard that only children were loners and selfish, but Marcus had proved that wrong. When he heard the news about the new addition to Gabrielle's family, he had been almost as excited as Gabrielle herself. Almost being the keyword.
Gabrielle loved her family, and Sammy was just the cherry on top. Her baby brother had been a blessing in her life. When she thought life was being too harsh with her and that things just couldn't get any worse, they got the news about the oncoming little one. Sammy had been her family's bundle of joy, but more importantly, he had been Gabrielle's anchor during her roughest times in her childhood. I can't believe Sammy-boy is turning four, time really does fly.
With Marcus still going on about what would be the best gift for the kid, they turned around and walked to their friends. Ethan was kind enough to give them a ride to the closest Toys R' Us store, and he would give them a lift home too, he was the only one of their friends that lived close to Gabrielle and Marcus, so it worked just fine. The three kids said goodbye to Emily and Jenny and went to find the perfect gift for Sam.
The day was sunny and hot, as expected of Boston in mid-August, and the people enjoyed the weather as much as they could before winter started, making the streets a little crowded. After a couple of hours the kids arrived to Ethan's home, now carrying the presents with them.
"Hey guys, I'm sorry I can't take you all the way home, but my dad's been pretty serious about curfew lately, and I really don't want to get in trouble with him."
"Don't worry Ethan, the weather's so nice it'll be great to take a walk" said Gabrielle. She turned to Marcus, receiving a supportive nod "We'll see you soon, when school starts again."
"Yep, see you soon you guys!"
Gabrielle and Marcus walked among the streets of Milton, the wind swinging softly the trees around them. The two of them were so focused in their small talk it took them a moment to notice that the wind had gotten stronger and the sky was now covered by grey clouds. Soon, it started raining and they had to make an improvised refuge from a park nearby, sitting in a portion of ground that had avoided being covered from the rain. There was nobody else in the streets, the people probably having sheltered from the weather in their own houses.
"Well, looks like we are going to have to wait this out. We are still about 15 minutes from home. I guess we could try calling my mom to come pick us up, or your mom maybe" said Marcus.
"Nah, it's fine for now. It's not that late so I'm sure they aren't even worried" Gabrielle looked at the sky, the sunset already covered by the dark clouds, and then back at Marcus "I don't think it'll last that long anyway, but if it does we can always call."
"Sure, sounds fine."
The friends started talking about trivial things, enjoying the company of each other and the soothing sound the raindrops made at contact with the ground. None of them realized the strange creature rapidly forming close to them.
Marcus let out a small laugh "Well, I'm sure Sammy is going to like my present better than yours. I am telling you, he is just going to-"
Gabrielle turned to her friend worriedly. Marcus had been cheerfully talking when he had just suddenly stopped, and was now looking many shades paler - every second only looking worst "…Marcus? Everything alright?" She received no answer so she tried again "Uhm…hey, you feeling sick? Maybe we should call someone after all"
When her friend finally answered, his voice came out heavy and almost breathless "This…"
"… Marcus?" Ok, now she was seriously worried, she had absolutely no idea of what was going on. Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak again, Marcus abruptly stand up and started rummaging in his backpack while muttering "There's no way! They've never gotten this close to her before, why now? …the seal? impossible, although, at this point is very probable. Dang it! Did it have to happen now? I haven't explained anything to her, this is just…just where the heck is it?!"
Gabrielle made a small jump from her spot on the ground at hearing the outburst of her friend. He sounded really upset, but she didn't understand of what. She couldn't voice her thoughts though, Marcus had taken out something from his bag and was now kneeling in front of her, looking more serious that she had ever seen him before "Ellie, listen to me, I need you to listen to me very carefully, ok?" He gave her a second to nod at him "…ok, how should I say this, um…" Marcus stared at the ground and Gabrielle saw him struggling with his words, as if he knew what he had to say, but just couldn't find a way to say it.
Finally, Marcus gazed up at her and answered with a firm and confident voice "Just don't worry about anything alright? It doesn't matter what you see, I am right here, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise, so just trust me, please. I'll tell you everything later, I will" He took Gabrielle's arm and lifted them both from the ground. Then he turned around, facing away from her. It's as if he's trying to place himself between me and something else.
As Gabrielle tried to look around for a potential thread, Marcus continued with his instructions "But right now I just need you to stay close to me, and stay calm too, if you faint you might hit your head or something and that would make you an easy target. Also, try not to-"
Gabrielle was absolutely sure Marcus would have kept on talking had it not been for the interruption. The very scary-looking, big, and infuriated interruption. She tried placing a name on what she was looking at, but the long-haired blue boy-like creature with pointed ears, dark blue eyes, sharp fangs, and…where were its legs?! The creature's shape seemed human, but waist down it was liquefying, no doubt. Gabrielle instinctively leaned closer to Marcus. She tried remembering his short instructions, Stay calm, don't faint, don't faint, Gabrielle whatever you do just Do. Not. Faint. Girl., but it proved harder than anything.
She repeated her mantra in her head as fast as she could, thinking that it was her imagination playing her some sort of sick and twisted joke. Suddenly, a deep growl echoed in the air; Gabrielle flinched and didn't even notice her vice-like grip on the back on Marcus t-shirt. Was the sound made by that…thing? So that creature –whatever it was- was really there, and it was pretty upset too…and Marcus was standing in front of her! Pushing hard her panic, confusion, and dizziness for later, instinct for survival surfaced. She decided it was now or never, if they tried to escape now they could still have a chance to save themselves.
"Figures it would be you, one of the most aggressive ones. Lucky us, huh?" Gabrielle stared confusedly at Marcus, she couldn't understand her friend's calmness. The creature answered with another deep growl, just as menacing as the first one, and showed them its fangs. This is bad, we have to get out of here somehow, and now. What happened next surprised Gabrielle more –if even possible.
Marcus placed his arms in front of him, and the girl could finally see what he was holding. In a matter of seconds her friend's knife-like weapon was encircled by a bright light. When it faded out, the boy was holding a magnificent sword on his right hand. Marcus swung the sword to his side masterfully, and Gabrielle couldn't help but notice the long vibrant red cord in the tip of the sword's pommel –which had a black sphere tied to it- that moved along, ending in two individual sections of cord.
"Well then, I am not going to let you get to her" When the only answer was another growl Marcus smirked at the elf-eared creature "Sorry buddy, but you're gonna have to go through me first"
Gabrielle just couldn't believe her ears, was Marcus planning to fight with it? This is not going to end good. Then another thought came to her, and she recalled her friend's words. What had Marcus meant by 'I am not going to let you get to her'? Was the creature intending to get to her? What for? Why? At that moment Marcus extended his left hand in which he was holding yellow pieces of paper with unknown characters on them "Well, let's get started then" No, no, this can only end bad, very bad.
A/N: So, how did it go? Please review and let me know! :)