Memories, dreams and ILLUSIONS
Bethany sat in the living room folding washing. Kero was helping her and he grinned happily, "you're doing great Bethany! You're on a roll in catching the Clow Cards! At this rate, we might even have them all by the end of the year!" the small Guardian exclaimed cheerfully. Bethany blushed, "I've only got 10 of them! There are 52 cards, so that means there's still 41 to catch!" she replied. Kero waved her off, "oh don't be so modest! Even I didn't expect you to catch so many so soon!" he exclaimed. "So much for having faith in you appointed Cardcaptor!" Bethany cried angrily, causing the depowered Beast Of The Seal to fall out of the air. "Oh come on! It was a compliment!" Kero laughed. "By the way, why didn't you get me any snacks when you went to Supernova before! I kept quiet just like you asked and you still ignored me!" he whined.
"No I didn't, I just forgot with everything that was happening. Besides, I saved up that money to buy more pieces of my Minato Cosplay, I wasn't gonna spend it all on your appetite!" The young woman retorted. "Hey, are you guys nearly fin-" Paul began as he walked into the room, only to falter as he took in the argument in front of him, "okay?" he muttered in confusion. "And for your information, the food at Supernova costs a lot too, if we had all bought food there, I wouldn't have been able to get any more of the pieces I needed for the costume!" Bethany yelled. "Well that's a great way to thank me for all the hard work I've done helping you catch the cards!" Kero yelled. "Oh, come ON! You don't even need to eat, and you're complaining about not getting something that really is only for your own pleasure!" Bethany replied. "Hey!" Paul called, stepping in between the two of them, "what are you guys even fighting about? Seriously, not buying food at Supernova? Can't you two get along, you're supposed to be catching the Clow Cards Bethany!" her father reprimanded her. The young woman pouted, causing Kero to smirk.
"And Kero, it was your job to guard the cards and make sure they didn't get out. Since you failed at that, now it's your job to guide my daughter in how to catch them! You're supposed to work together!" Paul exclaimed. Both sighed in acquiescence, "you're right, sorry Kero" Bethany apologised. "Yeah, I mean, it's not like I have to eat or anything, so I guess you were fine to buy what you want" the Beast of the Seal replied. Paul smiled, "good, now that we're all getting along, what are we going to do on the 15th?" he asked. Bethany blinked, "what, is that?" she began. Her father nodded, "the anniversary of Mummy's death is coming up, in a few days, we need to figure out what we're going to do that day" he replied. Kero frowned, "your Mother," he began. Bethany looked down, "she died last year, the anniversary is in 2 days" she explained. Kero looked down, "I'm sorry for your loss" he replied softly, memories of a tall man with long black hair, glasses and a perpetual smile on his face coming to mind.
Paul smiled, "so? Any ideas?" he asked softly. "Things have been hectic lately. Why don't we just do something quiet for the day?" the young woman suggested. Her father nodded, "sounds good- we can make up one of Mummy's special dinners, how about Country Chicken this time?" he asked. Bethany smiled, "okay, we haven't had that for dinner for a while!" she replied cheerfully. Kero frowned. She'd lost her mother, just like they'd lost the person who was basically their father. If he hadn't been sealed in the Book for years and been awake the whole time after Clow's death, he didn't know if he could have smiled again so soon after. The Beast of the Seal flew up to Bethany's head and placed his paw on it, "I'll help you cook" he decided. The young woman smiled, "thank you Kero" she said happily.
CB
That night as Bethany slept, the Book of Clow was glowing. Opening up on it's own, The DREAM Card floated out and took form. The Card looked down at her Mistress through her headpiece "I will help you with the dangers of the future Mistress" The DREAM said, beginning to glow.
(Bethany's dream) She opened her eyes, finding herself walking down the street towards the McDonalds on the corner. "I'll go get myself some lunch- and maybe some ice cream for Kero" she said to herself. Suddenly a flash of light from the corner of her eye caught her attention. Bethany looked towards the light and gasped. Stepping around the corner was: "Mummy!" the young woman exclaimed in shock. What was this? It couldn't be a ghost, they didn't exist. Bethany stepped forwards, but what if it really was her? "Mummy? Is that you?" she asked. After all, she'd been proved wrong about magic, maybe ghosts really did exist too. Sharon held out her arms. Bethany felt tears well up, "Mummy!" she cried, running into her arms.
Before she knew it, they were floating above Springfeild, but she didn't care. Mummy was here! "oh Mummy! I missed you!" Bethany cried, hugging her tighter. But something felt wrong. A sensation that she knew was nagging at the back of her mind. Suddenly Bethany felt the arms around her loosen. "Mummy?" she asked, before she began to fall through the air.
Bethany gasped as she bolted upright in bed, "Mummy!" she cried. The young woman looked around. She was in her bedroom, in her bed, safe. She yawned, "What the heck, why would have a dream like that?" Bethany wondered as she sat up and stretched, rubbing her eyes. She stood and would have grabbed her clothes, but something stopped her. She glanced at her bookshelf where she had placed the Book of Clow and all her current Clow Cards. She blinked. Suddenly her bedroom door opened, "oh, good morning" Paul said, pleasantly surprised that his daughter was already awake and out of bed. "*yawn* morning Daddy" Bethany replied. "Hurry up and get your jobs done, we have to go shopping today to buy the ingredients for the Country Chicken" Paul said. "Okay" his daughter replied, leaving the room to wake herself up.
CB
When she had finished getting dressed, Kero re-entered the bedroom, "so you had a dream where you saw your mother's ghost?" he asked. "It wasn't a ghost! People don't have souls" Bethany replied. Kero held up his paws, "hey, I'm just saying! After all, Clow claimed he could see spirits all the time, so maybe it really was your mother" he replied. "Well it was something, but I don't think it was a ghost," Bethany said, before turning back to Kero, "and of course Clow Reed could see spirits, he made a whole deck of them!" she replied. The small Guardian crossed his arms, "I'm not talking about the Clow Spirits, I mean actual ghosts" he explained. "And I'm saying that if he said that, he was just trying to mess with people because human beings are souls! That's what our bodies are. I mean, you said he had a thing for tricks and pranks, right?" Bethany asked.
"Well yeah, he did, and one heck of a twisted personality too- he used to use the cards even for little things like cleaning, I'm surprised none of them ever rebelled- *sigh* but even so, we all couldn't help but love him, he created us after all, and despite all his flaws, Clow really did take good care of us" Kero replied, a little wistful. Bethany smiled, "it sounds like he was a good father," she said softly, before pausing, "no wonder Yue didn't want a new Master, he didn't want anyone to replace his father" she muttered. The Sun-based Guardian turned to the girl, "what was that, I couldn't hear you?" he asked. "ah! Nothing, don't worry about it" Bethany replied with a smile. She brushed her hair, grabbed her phone, Clow Cards and Key and went downstairs, "see you later Kero!" she called. After she'd left, Kero smiled, "he really was a good father you're right- and my best friend".
CB
Soon Paul and Bethany had bought the ingredients they'd been missing and were driving home. The young woman wanted to mention her dream, but thought against it. Kero had said that people with Magic hardly ever had normal dreams, but she wanted to believe that her dream was normal. But mostly, she just didn't want to believe that her mother could do something like that. When they got home, Bethany decided to go for a walk. "Are you sure? You don't look so good" Paul asked. The Cardcaptor shook her head, "I'm fine, I was going to go down to the McDonalds at the corner and get myself some lunch, maybe an ice cream for Kero" she said, before an orange and white ballistic missile almost knocked her down. The form revealed itself to be Kero, who was practically sparkling "you're getting me ice cream?! Can I come!?" he asked. Bethany frowned, but was ultimately persuaded by just how happy the Card Guardian looked, "alright, but stay in my bag, we can't let people see you" the Cardcaptor replied.
CB
As she walked down the street, Bethany began to sense something off. 'This feeling, it's so familiar. Maybe it's-' she thought before a bright light caught her attention. She turned to the light and gasped. Stepping around the corner was- "Mummy!?" she cried. Kero flew out of her bag, "wait, that's your mother?!" he demanded. "Mummy! Is that you?!" Bethany asked. Sharon held out her arms and she ran into them, "I missed you so much!" the young woman cried. "Bethany, wait!" Kero flew towards her, but something threw him back. 'Wait, hasn't this happened before?' Bethany wondered. Kero rubbed his head as his Cardcaptor was lifted high into the sky, "Bethany!" he called. She hugged her mother tight, smiling happily, "I missed you Mummy" she said. Suddenly the arms around her vanished and she was freefalling, "no! snap out of it!" Kero called. "Mummy?" Bethany asked as she opened her eyes to find herself in freefall. "*gasp*! Aaahhhh! I'm falling!?" she cried.
"No! I won't let this be the end!" she cried. Taking her key out and flipping around so that she was on her stomach to slow her fall, Bethany steeled herself: "Oh key that holds the power of the stars! Reveal your true form before me! I, Bethany, command you by contract, Release!" she called as the key turned into her staff. She took out The Fly Card, "give me wings to negate my fall! Fly!" she called, however, the staff missed and the Card went flying up and away, "no!" she screamed. But suddenly the card began to glow all by itself and tendrils of magic flowed out of it to encompass the falling Cardcaptor. When the magic dissipated, Bethany had wings on her back and she flapped them hard to fly up and away from the ground. "Yes! Go Bethany!" Kero cried. The young woman stopped in the air in front of the image of Sharon Middleton, "you're not my Mummy, she would never do that to me!" she called angrily. Suddenly the form began to blink and shift between the form of Sharon and a pattern of some kind.
"You're The ILLUSION card!" Bethany cried, before raising her staff and bringing it down in front of her, "return to the form you were meant to be in! Clow Card!" she called, the outline of the card appearing in front of her staff and the form being sucked back into it. When it was completed, the card floated into her hand. Kero floated up to her, "Bethany! Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded, "yeah, thanks to FLY" she replied with a smile. Looking over her shoulder, Bethany smiled at the wings on her back, "thank you, you saved my life" she said.
CB
That night, while they were eating dinner, Bethany told her father what had happened. "So ILLUSION really took on Sharon's form and tried to drop you from the sky!" Paul demanded incredulously. His daughter nodded, "yes, but thanks to DREAM and FLY I ended up okay and with another Clow Card too. I think, despite everything, today was really great!" she replied, taking another bite of Country Chicken. Paul sighed, "I wish you weren't the one always being put in danger!" he replied. "Well, what do you want me to do, just let the cards run loose! You know I can't do that! I have a job!" Bethany replied. "I don't mean do nothing, I was just saying-" as the noise in the background faded away, the 11 cards that Bethany had caught so far seemed to be smiling at them.
To Be Continued
