III
You have no idea how wrong it is to listen to Slipknot, Pandemonium – The Castle Frozen In Time from FFIX, the Marilyn Manson cover of This Is Halloween and I've fallen in love with Nightfall by Blind Guardian whilst writing this. The songs have nothing to do with the story but that's what helped me write it. Whoo. Oh, and orange juice. Drink your orange juice, kids. See Disclaimer in first chapter, please
Touya examined the wall before him, the wooden planks horribly marred with gouges and what seemed to be blood. He didn't care to touch the twisted masterpiece the intruder had sowed upon the wall, he didn't need convincing that it was real. Cursing inwardly, the elder Kinomoto sibling damned his lack of magical powers that he sacrificed for the greater good. He wished he still possessed them—even some fragment—so he could at least be more aware of what horrors were slowly clawing their way to the surface. Judging by the trail of blood that was slowly making its way to the floor, Touya surmised that it was done fairly recently, maybe when Yukio had left the house for grocery shopping.
Speaking of which, Yukito was still seated in the living room, glasses discarded on the couch cushion beside him, with his head in his hands. He had commented that he had a sharp headache shortly after Touya had arrived but dismissed it, saying the impossibly clean break-in was more important.
"Yuki." Touya called back into the living room, not seeing the said person raise his head. "Was anything else damaged or stolen?"
"No… Whoever did this didn't seem interested in anything here." Yukito replied quietly.
"… Did you sense anything strange?" Sometimes, Touya really hated to be left out in situations, especially ones concerning the safety of his friends and family.
Hesitating, Yukito thought carefully to the few moments before he entered the household. "No… Not until I stepped into the yard, I thought something was there for a split second and I got this strange unnerving feeling… But it seemed to disappear just as quickly…"
Brown eyes narrowed slightly in thought. So far, there were two incidents that had some faint magical trail linked to it but both came to dead ends. The strange boy Eriol insisted that he and his acquaintances examined the site of the murder and made it quite clear for Kero to stay close to Sakura in case any more unpleasant surprises sprung from the calm.
Sometimes he really hated that mysterious brat with that damned smile of his. He was hiding something and he hadn't seemed too eager to share with the rest of the group.
"Yuki, why don't you stay with us for a while until we get a hold of just what the hell is going on around here…? That Eriol kid showed up again and he knows something we don't. I don't like this at all…" Touya walked back into the living room.
Mulling over the decision quietly for a few moments, Yukito finally nodded and offered the other a weary smile. "I'll just get a few things."
Thanking Touya with an all but brief hug, Yukito left the living room to grab a few essentials and left Touya on his own.
'This seems a lot worse than the other times… And that damned brat insists it isn't his doing...' Touya mused to himself as he gave the living room another once over.
Nothing seemed out of place; Yukito was a fairly neat person, after all. There had to be some way that intruder got in. There had to be some clue but by the looks of things, the only evidence was the bloody wall.
His attention was caught quite suddenly when the light screeching of something being dragged across the blind-covered windows began. Narrowing his eyes once again, Touya silently watched the covered windows that had a view of the yard and he was absolutely sure something was there. For a moment, it seemed that the scratching had stopped before it resumed, going across the widths of the windows one by one painfully slowly.
"To-ya." Yukito had stopped in the doorway, eyes focused on the blinds that hid the source of the noise. "That same feeling is back…"
The blinds rustled slightly as a pale scarred hand slipped between the panels, separating them until a crimson eye could be seen peeking through.
A dry giggle escaped the one behind the blinds, waving slightly with its scar covered fingers. "Hello… boy…" Another disturbing giggle. "We see you…"
"Huh, what a mess." Ruby Moon kicked a stone across the scorched black grass, wrinkling her nose slightly. "I can still smell it… It smells like death and metal…"
"The grass was destroyed by no ordinary fire." Spinel observed in his true form as he gently pat at the torched ground with a paw. "Can you not sense it, Eriol-sama?"
"There seems to be something left after the terrible incident…" Using utmost care, Eriol gently plucked a few burnt blades of grass into his hand, only to have it crumble in his palm. "This was done by magic, no doubt about that. You can still feel some residue of the spell cast on this…The magic used was quite vile indeed."
"Whoever did this sure didn't cover their tracks well." The red butterfly guardian drawled as she walked along the path of destruction. "To think whoever did this, attacked humans and killed them… We never did that…intentionally."
"No, I was quite precise with my plans to ensure that the lives in danger would be left unscathed and the card transformations for Sakura to go more smoothly than they could have gone…" A mask of concerned calm remained on the sorcerer's face as he watched the ashes be swept out of his hand by the evening wind. "This is a very dangerous situation."
Turquoise eyes lifted from the charred ground. "How so, Eriol-sama?"
"I do not like how this is playing out, not at all. The lives of this city are in danger and judging from the description from Keroberos, I fear this is only the beginning." Eriol stood up from his crouching position, smoothing out the gentle folds in his robes. "This is going to be quite a task."
"Ooh, I hope it's fun." Ruby Moon clasped her hands together with a giggle. "I had so much fun fighting with Yue last time now I get to protect him and he'll be so displeased!"
"Our responsibility will not be only ensuring the safety of Yue but the unsuspecting lives of innocent people as well. Yue will understand the importance of the situation and our predicament. Ruby Moon, I ask of you not to tease Yue despite trying to make light of this darkening time." Eriol smiled gently but with an air of gravity. "This may prove more difficult than I previously hoped…"
Pouting slightly, Ruby lowered her hands. "Of course, Eriol-sama. I was only trying to make light of the situation so it doesn't seem so dooming."
"That's never stopped you before…" Spinel sniffed dismissively and blatantly ignored the glare that was directed towards him by his companion.
A troubling giggle echoed in the living room as the scarred individual cleared the barrier of the blinds, standing in front of its possible victims. "Found you…Yue… Child of the Moon…"
"Who are you?" Touya demanded as he kept a fair amount of distance away from the intruder, keeping Yukito close-by.
"You… mortal boy, do not interfere… Unless… you…want… to be first." Grinning maniacally, a scarred hand was lifted and pointed towards Touya. "You have no power…"
Growling slightly, Touya kept his tongue and temper in check at the observation. "Answer my question."
"It will not matter to you much longer… For soon you will be dead… and your blood shall paint these walls."
Leaving Tomoyo and Kaho at the Kinomoto residence, Sakura, Shaoran and Kero made haste to follow the magical presence that seemed all too close-by and all too familiar to the Sun Guardian.
"Hurry, Kero-chan!" Sakura called back as her winged boots, fashioned by Tomoyo, thumped across the pavement of the street. "Something's wrong!"
"I knew it! I knew it wasn't a one-time deal!" Keroberos growled he followed his Card Mistress. "It's the same feeling from before when the house was broken into by magic!"
"Do you think Yue knows?" Sakura hoped her brother was alright, despite being close by to the Moon Guardian.
"He better! I'd be damned worried if he didn't!" Keroberos bared his teeth slightly at the memory of the pale being asking for the whereabouts of Clow's Moon guardian.
Blocks away from their position, a pillar flames, black and outlined in red, burst from behind trees and into the night sky. A shot of white jerked away from the threat and landed on a nearby rooftop gracefully but its stance still tense.
"It's Yue!" Sakura drew out one of her cards. "Jump!"
A bright glow appeared on the sewn-on wings of her boots before they grew with magical power, allowing the brunette to propel herself closer to the battle ground. Landing on a street lamp, Sakura jumped again and covered the distance much more quickly just to see Yue avoid another fiery spell with Touya in his arms.
"Onii-san!" The girl called out. "Yue!"
"Sakura, be careful!" Shaoran's voice sounded from behind her when something struck her hard.
Crying out slightly in pain, Sakura was pushed off course by a heavy weight slamming into her side that soon left her struggling to not land headfirst onto the concrete that was rushing towards her at an alarming rate.
In a panic, she drew another card. "F-Fly!"
Clinging desperately to her winged staff, the card mistress was swept into the air with the aid of the card's magic and looked down upon the street below her where her attacker landed. A dry hiss escaped the nameless one as they dragged themselves to their feet, only to look up at Sakura with an odd calculating stare.
"You… You are the Master of the one we seek…" A wide smirk grew on the scarred face once again. "You are nothing… nothing but a child! How delightful… Die."
Sparks appeared around the enemy's hand before another darkened flare was launched at the airborne girl. Managing to swiftly avoid it, Sakura looked down upon the other with a determined gaze.
"What do you want?! Who are you?" She asked, the last word ending in a sharp cry when another spell was aimed at her.
Disturbing giggles were her answer as the spell-caster smirked up gleefully at the young girl. "Die, die, die! Burn, child, burn!"
Keroberos suddenly charged, head butting the being square in the back and knocking them off balance into the pavement a few feet away. Growling deep in his throat, the lion crouched down defensively when the other got onto their feet again, the grin unchanged.
"Silly… Silly Sun Kitten… We do not like you… We do not like you at all."
"Who's this 'we' you keep talking about?" The Sun Guardian roared as he charged the attacker again.
Using the guardian's head as a platform, the being jumped up into the air, giggling evilly at the failed attack before a brilliant sapphire arrow fired from a corner of the night sky and struck the invader in the shoulder. A look of blank shock crossed the scarred features as they fell to the ground, landing on the front yard of a house.
"You are becoming quite out of practice, Keroberos. Perhaps you should spend less time eating sweets and more time sharpening your abilities…" Yue momentarily shifted his icy gaze to his opposite, his hands still poised in an archer fashion.
Grinning a bit tightly, Keroberos regarded the other with a mischievous look. "Out of practice, eh? Is that a challenge I hear, Yue? I'd never thought I'd see the day…"
"I was not attempting to make light of this situation. I was being serious." The Moon Guardian readied another magical arrow into the glowing bow as Keroberos snarled his protest.
"Onii-san!" Sakura called out as she glided over to the roof where her brother stood. "Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine. Sakura, what is that thing?" Touya asked as he spared a glance to his younger sister.
"I don't know but Kero-chan said it had the same magical energy as whatever got into the house. Eriol-kun didn't seem too happy about it either…" Biting her lip slightly, the card mistress glanced to where the enemy had fallen.
All of them tensed when the tree in the front yard exploded into flames with a loud bang; the fire soon spreading across the grass and enveloping the front yard of a home. The blazing inferno had crimson and black flames licking at the sidewalk, at the edges of the house and towards the sky, angrily expelling heat as a hazy figure stood in the middle of it.
"You make this difficult, girl… We have come to collect the Moon Child… and collect him we shall… In more than one piece if necessary…!"
Overlooking the homes below, Eriol stood near the edge of the cliff where the murders had taken place, with a frown on his features. Very suddenly he felt the foreign presence return… not in one location but two.
"I do believe we have a guest," The sorcerer said slowly, shifting his gaze momentarily from the undisturbed homes below.
The ambiance around the murder site became heavy with a magical presence but no foe stepped out of their hiding place. The two guardians stood defensively, their stances tense as they studied their surroundings from the sudden feeling.
"Perhaps they are waiting for an invitation, Eriol-sama…" Spinel's ears flattened slightly from the silence.
It seemed as if the wind even held its breath, stilling the leaves on the trees. Everything living seemed to crawl into a grinding stop.
"Hello…" Dry giggling seemed to sound from all directions. "Reincarnation…of our enemy…"
Eriol's expression didn't change as he calmly looked around the shadows of the trees.
"You cannot protect… protect the Moon Child from us much longer… Neither you…nor his current master…"
A pale and scar covered hand slowly pushed it way up from the ground, looking almost lucent among the blades of grass, leaving them undisturbed.
"He cannot and will not be protected…We will take him…hurt him…break him…until he begs for mercy…"
The hand soon gave way to an arm, crisscrossed with unhealed scars and torn blackened robes. The giggling became worse, more disturbing.
"And you cannot stop us, reincarnation of our enemy… You feel like him but you are not…" The arm disappeared into wisps of black smoke.
A hiss of a whisper ghosted right behind Eriol's ear as nails slightly traced down the side of the young sorcerers' face, studying the unmarred features before digging in slightly. "Clow Reed…"