VictorianPearl: I am sorry that I dropped off the planet of ffnet for a month. I hope you enjoy this chapter and forgive me. Look on the bright side though, at least I don't take up to three months for one update. Comments and questions at the end of the chapter.

Lucid Darkness

Reasons

Chapter 10

The Land's Army was ranked facing the eastern land. They were lined for battle. The battles were becoming fewer, but they were also becoming bigger and bloodier. This was a sign that a victor for the war would soon be chosen.

Touya and Yue were in the first line. They were watching the hill filled horizon intently. The grass was swaying violently in the wind. Each soldiers' ears were pounding and numb from the cold, unwavering, bursts of wind.

Hikari's army of monsters could not yet be seen, but their pounding drums were audible over even the wind. The ground vibrated slightly underneath everyone's feet; they could not tell if it was from Hikari's approaching army, or from their own trembling bodies.

Touya's knuckles were white, stiff, and frozen cold from clutching his sword. They had been lined up for an extremely long period of time, and Hikari's army was in no hurry. He kept repeating to himself: Just a little longer, you'll be warm from battle soon enough.

Yue was the only one who did not seem to much mind the cold. He did not move and he did not speak, he simply watched the hills on the horizon, waiting for the appearance of ugly faces. When they finally came, he spoke.

"Slower than any living thing I've ever seen-but they're coming nonetheless."

Everyone in the Land's Army raised their heads to the sky and prayed that Hikari's army would be blessed with speed. Standing still in this horrible cold was far worse than any bit of steel that swords might have brought. Now, rather than dreading the battle, they almost welcomed it.

It took what seemed an age, but the army finally made it over the hill. There were no flying monsters (or at least none that could be seen), which was good; but, for the lack of flying beasts, the army was plentiful in goblins.

"How long do you judge the battle will take?" Touya asked Yue without turning his head, not yet able to see all the forces of the army.

"Longer than a usual battle," Yue replied casually. "They have many goblins with tough skin in the first rank that our archers cannot penetrate. Goblins are too heavy though and will easily fall to the sword."

"And what of magic-will their skin be too tough to penetrate with magic?" Touya asked, although he already knew the question.

Yue's stare hardened. "I will not be able to use my magic until will into the battle."

Touya swore silently. Yue was their best weapon. They couldn't send him off on his own past the goblins, but nobody else could fly. Unfortunately, goblin skin was not only rough against arrows, but magic as well. The battle had a promising length of time to be spent fighting it.

"Will you stay and fight until magic is useful?" Touya asked, his eyes still glued on the nearing faces.

"Actually, I was planning to go for a short walk." Yue said with all seriousness.

Touya gave a shivering smile. Yue hardly ever showed any signs of humor or happiness, but when he did, it was always at the moment when it was needed. However Yukito was born to bear Yue was beyond Touya's mind, but perhaps it was better that they were polar opposites.

Hikari's army was not too far away now; the blood spill would begin soon. Touya was suddenly not quite so ready to make the call to charge. He didn't want, for this one second in time, to have to spill blood. But what other way was there? He took in one last savoring breath, memorizing the setting of the battle. The moment passed all too quickly and Touya gave the battle call.

OOO

Sakura was breathing deeply and smiling, smiling. Not her knowing smile, not her friendly smile, but an excited smile. Had it really happened? Had she really been kissed by Syaoran? It had felt so wonderful, like a dream. But it sort of had been a dream, in its own little way. She could still remember it. She thought it should happen again soon.

The four of them, Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, and Eriol, were all now heading back to Neo-Clow's Haven. Syaoran had cursed Eriol for the delay, but he had done so while tightly holding Sakura, contradicting his very words. He wanted reason to be angry at Eriol because he felt grateful toward him. Was it solely because of Eriol that he was holding onto Sakura?

Although Syaoran had definitely felt an attraction to Sakura before, his heart now felt as if it were overflowing with love. He had never really ever loved anyone with so much passion before…apart from his parents. Holding this lovely girl in his arms gave him hope of saving his mother and all of Yen. Holding this girl gave him strength and knowledge that he could save both Yen and his Mother.

Tomoyo also seemed in higher spirits. She couldn't remember the last time she had giggled and laughed like nothing was wrong. There had always been something wrong in the past, but nothing seemed wrong at just this moment. Oh Sakura and Syaoran, they both deserved so much happiness. She had so much to thank Eriol for, although she wasn't sure what she would tell him.

The four soon arrived at Neo-Clow's Haven. As soon as they arrived, Tomoyo ran into the Haven and started shouting all the news. Everyone was very confused by her talk of Eriol, but they clearly understood what her talk of Sakura and Syaoran meant.

Sakura felt all of the air leave her lungs as she was ambushed by Chiharu, Meiling, and Naoko. They were all squealing and giggling like school girls.

"How did it happen?"

"What was it like?"

"Is Syaoran a good kisser?"

Sakura couldn't even answer the questions because she was laughing so hard. The questions went unanswered as the other girls all joined in with the laughing.

Raiden came over and gave Syaoran a pat on the back. Takashi shook Syaoran's hand with an understated, "About time,"

Eriol went quite unnoticed. He stood near the edge of the circle of trees, watching everyone laugh and reunite about the small journey. Eventually they would remember that he was there.

Just as he had predicted, Sakura's face lit up with remembrance and she tried to calm everyone down. "Please, just give me a couple of seconds."

Everyone obliged and Sakura was able to speak freely. "During our trip to the waterfall, we ran into a familiar face." Sakura paused to keep everyone anxious. "We saw Clow there."

Everyone blinked a couple of times before Takashi blatantly said, "What..?"

"We met Clow at the waterfall. He spoke to me of some things, and then he disappeared."

Chiharu scratched the back of her head. "Are you sure you weren't dreaming that one?"

Sakura shook her head. "I thought I had been but then Eriol came."

"Eriol..?" Raiden questioned softly.

"Yes," Sakura replied, "he knows a lot about Hikari's Army and he's here to help us. He's Clow's second being."

The looks on everyone's faces were half confused and half understanding. Syaoran and Tomoyo, who had unnoticed, left the group, came back with a stranger between them.

"He is Eriol." Sakura said triumphantly.

Once they saw him, there was no doubt in their minds about him being Clow's "second being". His appearance did more than convince them, it caused all of their mouths to drop open in shock.

"Eriol Reed, as Sakura likes to call me, at your service." Eriol said, bowing and causing Syaoran to roll his eyes.

"So you really are Clow's heir?" Raiden questioned.

"Yes, I suppose I am his heir, that would be appropriate." Eriol said thoughtfully.

"But why wait so long to come and see us now?" Meiling questioned in what might have been a desperate manner. "Why did you wait until now when things have been so bad?"

Eriol smiled a sad but kind smile at Meiling. "It wasn't really my decision. You see, I inherited Clow's memories when I was…well, when I came here. He is the one who awoke me and he is the one who had his reasons. I know what I'm supposed to do, and I know it's for the right reasons, but I'm afraid that even I don't know why."

Tomoyo nodded in agreement. "Yes, Clow was very much like that. He never revealed his reasons. He kept you guessing until you figured it out, then he would explain everything to you. He was very fickle sometimes and didn't want people to know that he would always change his mind."

Eriol smiled warmly at Tomoyo for so quickly defending him. "Yes, Tomoyo is right. Even though I don't know why I've been awoken this late in the battle, I can guess why."

Nobody said anything, they just stood there waiting for him to answer since they most obviously did not know it.

"Are you planning on telling us?" Naoko asked kindly.

Eriol nodded. "Yes, I though the reason was obvious, but I guess I'll have to tell you."

Syaoran glared while everyone else wasn't sure how to react to such a blunt comment. Event though it might have been offending, it was said in such a way that it was impossible to argue.

"You see, things always get darkest, dirtiest, and always make you loose hope right before the light of hope comes shining you right in the face. I believe I am here because the end of this bloody war is nearing its end."

"Are you sure? Is that the only explanation?" Meiling asked.

Eriol shrugged. "Like I said, your guess is as good as mine."

"I think we've established why you're here, but what are we supposed to do now?" Raiden asked, changing the subject.

"I think we should all take a seat for this, it could take a while." Eriol said.

"Come on then," Sakura said, "let's go into the tree house."

Sakura and Syaoran successfully and temporarily cut off all questions and shooed everyone up into the tree house. Once they successfully were able to get everyone settled (which took quite a while) they resumed with Eriol's explanation.

"Alright," Sakura said, "I think we are all ready for the rest of Eriol's explanation.

"Finally," Meiling huffed, "you could have let us ask questions on the way up. It wasn't that big of a deal."

"Oh well, too late for that now." Sakura replied smiling. "Alrighty Eriol, we're all ears."

Eriol smiled his apparently trade mark smile before continuing where he had left off. "I am here because although I am Clow's heir, so is Sakura."

Sakura's smile faltered at the sudden information being shot at her. "W-what?"

Eriol nodded. "You are the heir of his magic."

This calmed Sakura down a bit more. Okay, it was only the magic. She had pretty much assumed that anyway, no big deal.

"Even though I have Clow's memories and I am quite capable of magic, I am not the one who will bring the next heir. That will be you Sakura. You will pick the next person who will inherit Clow's magic, therefore, you are truly Clow's heir."

Sakura looked at Eriol with her mouth only slightly parted. "I have to pick an heir then? It's inevitable?"

Eriol peered at Sakura. "You don't sound exactly happy about training the next heir. That's another reason I'm here, it's because I know that you will not want to train the next heir. Believe me, it's not as bad as you think it will be."

Sakura looked at Eriol disbelievingly.

"Why must she train the next heir? Why is it so necessary?" Tomoyo asked.

Eriol sent another look over Tomoyo like he had earlier that day that caused her to blush like crazy. Just like earlier, Eriol earned a glare from Syaoran's direction.

"It might not seem like the most ideal thing to do now, and you won't have to do it for a very long time, but it is something that will obviously need to be done in the future."

"The one thing I never missed about Clow were how his answers were never really answers." Meiling mumbled.

"But beside that," Syaoran started, trying to take the subject to a different turn, "why else are you here?"

"I am here to help stop Hikari as well, but I'm sure you all assumed that one." Eriol said, brushing the topic aside like it did not really matter, which to the others, it did.

"How do you plan to help us?" Takashi asked. "Are we going to help the army and fight?"

"Not quite," Eriol said, smiling in what looked to be a very evil manner.

OOO

VictorianPearl: I know it's short and I don't have time for question and answer because I'm on a very tight schedule. I am going to update another chapter over Christmas vacation so I'll make sure to make up for everything then. I love you all. Ja ne.