This is a short one. It should have been part of the previous chapter, actually. I don't rightly remember why I made it separately.
Oh, thanks to JenniferPlague, Alexi Moonshine, and Attiqah Gensui for their reviews.
Here's chapter ten!
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Elsewhere, Kurogane managed to disable—read: destroy—Syaoran's Rabbit and had already knocked the boy unconscious. As he picked the boy up, a sharp sting in his upper arm caught his attention. Syaoran had attacked him the moment he brought his Rabbit to full speed and cut the younger man's vehicle off. The ninja stared hard at the boy in his arms. Before Syaoran passed out, he somehow regained himself and called out, "Hime..." There was no confusion, only a heartfelt apology.
"Brat," he grumbled. "What the hell is going on here?" He glanced up at the feather shining above their heads before dropping Syaoran unceremoniously into the Rabbit. He drove his Rabbit back to where the rest of the group had converged. His eyes narrowed suspiciously somewhat when he saw the familiar blue lace of light surrounding the wizard, priest, the princess, and a very active manjuu. "Damn stupid cryptic magician," he muttered.
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Touya was already in tears, "Yuki...why?"
Yukito reached beyond the barrier, expending enough magic to allow his hand to break through. "Some things are just inescapable, To-ya," he explained as he soothed the king's face with gentle fingers and wiped away salty streams with his thumb. He directed a meaningful look at Fai. "These things, which are inevitable."
Fai said nothing.
"I cannot use my powers outside this bubble because the Sakura-hime's powers combined with the magic of the ruins would interfere with them," Yukito said to Fai. "How long can you keep this barrier, Fai-san?"
Fai shrugged, "I can keep it up for a while longer."
"I cannot seal the power of the ruins without sealing the feather. The spell and the princess' magic—these two are completely melded into each other so that not even Mokona can touch the feather," the high priest continued. "Now, all I can do is activate the spell and seal the memories of the one who receives it straightaway."
"But that leaves one question," Eriol pointed out. "Who will receive the feather?"
Fai, again, kept his silence, eyeing the boy Mokona projected with no small amount of curiosity.
Kurogane's first thought when he heard those words as he set the Rabbit down beside the Fai's bubble was that at another time, Syaoran would have quickly volunteered. Such a risk was something the boy would willingly take without hesitation if it meant recovering part of Sakura's memories. But he had knocked the boy unconscious. The princess was out of the question, because who knew what would happen if she lost her feathers again. That left him and the mage...
"I'll do it," Touya declared, his cheeks still damp but already with his dry eyes. He picked himself up off the sand. "Let me receive the feather."
"But, To-ya," it was Yukito's turn to protest. "Your memories could get scattered and as you don't have enough magic, you could even die. What would happen to the people of Clow?"
That was a sore point. When the people of Clow lost Sakura, they mourned deeply, but to lose their king as well? But, Touya was not even shaken. His next words were ones that he meant with all his heart, "I trust you, Yuki." He eyed the boy that was with Kurogane, "And it's about time I had a part in Sakura's recovery."
"So," Fai asked Yukito. "What are you going to do?"
Yukito's brows were knitted with concern, but they didn't have a lot of options. And, it was not fair to demand that Kurogane or Syaoran do such a dangerous thing. He drew in a deep breath and studied his king's face. Touya smiled at him reassuringly. "Everything will be fine," Yukito told himself as he lifted his hands to summon the feather down. As the feather floated down, he instructed Touya. "Take the feather when I tell you to and not a moment sooner."
Touya nodded.
Yukito began to chant a spell of sealing, but the feather was moving towards the king too fast. Both Eriol and Fai noticed this. So, for some reason, before the feather reached Touya, it quickly slowed down and came to a halt inches away from the royal chest. Fai raised an eyebrow at Eriol and Eriol's eyebrows lifted in response. Kurogane just glared at the two 'damn suspicious magicians'.
With Yukito's spell set-up, he called out to Touya to take the feather.
Touya took the feathers with his left hand and immediately, the ruins began to rumble and the winds picked up. The ruins and Touya glowed a peculiar shade of red. Wings of gold larger than Sakura's sprang out from the king's back. Yukito allowed his sealing spell to take effect and a protective bubble enclosed Touya before the feathers spread out and flew off.
Trapped inside Yukito's seal, the feathers were fast reabsorbed by Touya.
Once the last memory was reabsorbed, Yukito removed the seal and rushed to catch the king. The physical trauma of losing his memories and getting them all back again in such a short time, left him unconscious. Fai caught Sakura's feather and handed it over to the sleeping princess before it caused any more trouble. With the feather gone, the magical interference dispersed and the magical barrier was no longer needed.
"It looks like everything went well," Eriol commented as the blue light faded and Mokona remained awake.
"Thank you, Eriol-san," Yukito said. He was sad, but satisfied. With Touya and Sakura safe and his job done the priest allowed himself to succumb to darkness.
"Oi!" Kurogane called out, but Fai held up his hand and went over to the priest and the king lying on the sand. He tried to shake the priest awake. "Get a hold of yourself!"
"They'll be alright," Fai told the ninja. He examined the desert and noted that there was only one functioning Rabbit left. There were four people passed out and there were two people and one Mokona awake. "But, it looks like we have some carrying to do."
"You're going to have to do some work this time," Kurogane told the magician. He glared when Fai held up Mokona. "And it's not just carrying Mokona."
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Teaser:
"Yuki...Please don't leave me alone, not like this..." - Touya
"I just remembered before I lost my feathers. There was something very important I wanted to say to you." - Sakura