Guardian of Godhood
Chapter 14
Syaoran came to Clow's world quietly, while the sorcerer was asleep. The next morning when Clow awoke, the child was already in his arms, amber eyes open, looking around. He had no magical aura that Clow could sense, his birthmark was gone, and he was clad in white robes that made his complexion look ghastly, but he was breathing, and his heartbeat was steady, and his eyes blinked every so often to moisten the clear cornea. He squinted when the sunlight shone into his eyes, and had enough irritability to look away from the windows.
Clow could hardly believe this miracle. He burst into laughter and hugged Syaoran to him and bathed the child's face with kisses. The guardians, hearing their master's exclamation of joy, bounded into the room to witness this for themselves.
Syaoran submitted to their welcome as well, in eerie silence. He moved, occasionally, to get his face out of Clow's hair, or his collarbone away from Kero's nose, yet overall, he was very sedated and quiet.
At first Clow did not notice, but then, when no response was forthcoming from the child, he studied the boy's face, wondering what was wrong. He waved his thumb across the boy's eyes. Syaoran blinked and turned his head away. Puzzled, Clow took the boy by his shoulders.
" Syaoran?" He called. " Syaoran?"
Syaoran looked at him a little blankly, but the man could tell he had the boy's attention.
Clow studied him, at a loss. Seeing that the man was not speaking anymore, Syaoran turned his attention elsewhere, at the familiar lion that had been one of his constant companions whenever Clow came home late, at Yue that had taken him flying. He knew them only by their auras, however, and when Kero grinned at him hopefully, showing off his sharp, glistening teeth, the child visibly cringed toward Clow in a penetrating flash of fear.
" Shh," Clow soothed, looking at Kero and for the first time in a long while, remembered that Kero's form had been meant to intimidate, " That is Kero, remember? Kero?" He turned to the lion. " How about you revert to your false form for the time being?"
Syaoran had his eyes squeezed tight, burying his face into Clow's nightclothes. Kero, a little hurt by the child's reaction, obeyed. Sensing the flash of aura flicker, Syaoran turned his face toward Kero in curiosity and trepidation, but a small, furry animal greeted him.
" Remember Kero?" Clow asked, mentally gesturing at the now harmless-looking being. " He was one of the guardians. Remember? You remember me right?"
No response; Syaoran merely stared at Kero's false form. But he was no longer tense with fright, and when Kero reached for him, he took Kero with a mix of absent carelessness and gentle consideration he used to when he had been blind. When Yue touched his face, the child did not react either, instead looking around a little sleepily and drooping his eyes at the end.
oO
Remembering the dream, though not the entire exchange, Clow left the guardians back at home the next day and carried Syaoran to the portal that would carry him to Delphi. If someone like Syaoran warranted the Greek King of the Dead to leave his domain, surely Apollo would have something to say. The lines were long, but Clow had the foresight to buy some food before taking his place in line, and Syaoran slept most of the hours as they waited.
The line before them still stretched at the end, but as Clow half expected, they were actually called upon before the others.
" Clow Reed!" Called the Oracle, her eyes dilated from the smoke. " I bid you, come forth!"
Syaoran showed that he was not deaf, by waking up from his nap against Clow's shoulder with a start, and though he had never displayed any magical abilities before since his resurrection, he showed he still retained some of his impressive nullifying abilities by erasing all of the magical smoke that protected the Oracle while she spoke for Apollo, as well as her connection to him.
The Oracle collapsed from the shock, and the crowd gasped. Clow laughed afterwards at the incident, but at the time he had been bewildered. He was exhausted, nervous about this seeming mixed-blessing, and was terrified that perhaps, something he had done in the past, would prevent Apollo from helping him.
Deeply miffed, the god himself appeared before the people. The crowd gasped in surprise and awe, and Clow himself was half-shaken by astonishment, but Syaoran blinked, half-stupidly, at the god, and tried to nullify him as well.
" You are a naughty brat." Said the golden-haired youth. " But I suppose there is naught to be done about that." He extended his arms out.
It seemed like the god wanted to hold the child. Though reluctant, Clow passed the boy over. Syaoran, however, had a tight grip on Clow's collar, and refused to let go.
The Greek God of Truth laughed, his voice deep and melodic. " Easy, Young Warrior, you will come to no harm in my presence." With one arm supporting Syaoran by his legs, the god raised his other hand and touched the boy's forehead gently. Syaoran's grip on Clow relaxed.
" There has been much talk of you." Apollo said to Syaoran, who looked around, completely ignoring the god now. " Though I had hoped we would meet on better terms."
Afraid Syaoran's impropriety might ruin things, and at the moment completely lost as to why the boy did not seem to know courtesy anymore, Clow ventured to ask, " Do you know what is wrong with him?"
" Wrong?" Said the God, extending a hand to tend to his Oracle, who gasped to life. He then left her to the services of the priests. " There is nothing wrong with the child. He has died, and come to life. Such transformations have always been strenuous on souls."
Clow blinked. The answer did not comfort him. " Will he be alright?" He asked.
" That depends on you." Apollo was hardly the considerate father, though he did turn Syaoran's face very gently to look at him in what could be called a brotherly fashion. " He is returned to you, healed to the best of his ability." Clow assumed he meant Lord Yen's ability. " He is whole, he has all his senses, and he is ready to be improved, or deteriorate, as the course might be."
Curious about the curly hair, Syaoran actually grabbed a fistfull. Apollo bore it with some exasperated resignation. " However, he is hardly in a normal mental state. The traumas of his past life haunt him still, and his body may still bear the aftermath of his sufferings. Nor, in the end, would he sing the song as long as others with better mortal destinies." Syaoran began toying with Apollo's hair, watching it spring and curl back every time he tried to straighten a lock.
Apollo was being forthcoming and straightforward; something he almost never was at Delphi, and Clow deeply appreciated this; but he still felt lost. " What am I supposed to do?" He asked. " If he is so frail...how am I to succeed?"
" Hm." Apollo turned to Clow. " The Gods do not teach mortals how to live; and yet they do, still, without guides other than those they carry within their hearts. In times of hardship I speak words of hope, but I never show the way; yet so many still find the right path. With so many places to plant a seed, where does one choose? Any one of them grows a tree. Some are tall, some are wide, some are green, and some fall under human blades, or the wrath of Zeus. Even we cannot tell how long a tree lives, or if it dies, how." The god raised his divine hand and gripped the boy's wrist gently. At the seeming reprimand, Syaoran cringed a little away from Apollo, a flash of dread on his face.
" Come, fearless guardian." Apollo murmured. " You have faced more terrible fiends than I."
He kissed the boy on the forehead. Syaoran dropped into slumber. The god handed Syaoran back to the bewildered sorcerer.
" He loves you dearly." Apollo told Clow.
oO
Syaoran fell sick the next night. He burned a terribly high fever, was extremely feeble and weak, and coughed constantly, a wet cough which lasted so that his chest hurt. The boy was exhausted and fatigued, and Clow spent the entire night tending to him, trying to bring down his dangerously high fever and getting the phlegm out of his lungs. He was grateful that children could burn higher fevers than adults, for the boy was incredibly hot, and nothing seemed to bring the fever down. By dawn, however, it seemed the fever left on his own, but Syaoran slept and his chest rattled. Then came noon, and it was difficult for the boy to eat; he would accept nothing but light broth. In mid-afternoon, his fever had returned. This continued for weeks.
Clow, armed with Apollo's warning, tended to Syaoran with patience. Syaoran was not so complying. The medicine was bitter. He hated being cuddled up in the blankets—they were so hot and sticky from sweat. He felt nauseous and uncomfortable. The child did not understand what was going on. He would break into fits every ten minutes or so, and start trying to nullify everything in the room. Resurrected Syaoran could actually nullify more than magic, and the effort made the child subtly worse and weaker.
Feeling awful for the boy, Clow stayed up as long as Syaoran was up and tried his best to make the boy feel as comfortable as possible. He never snapped at Syaoran, even when, irritated and upset, Syaoran actually nullified one of the Clow Cards. The blessing of simply having the child back with him was too much, and his deep fear; that he should soon lose Syaoran simply because this time he was weaker and more vulnerable, overwhelmed any frustration he could have had.
At long last, Syaoran ran out of energy to nullify more things, and became much more cooperative. At the end he finally became better. The gruggy expression on his face was gone. He looked at things with a bright gleam in his eyes, and seemed curious about everything, but he still never spoke.
As the room was heavy with the illness, Clow opened all the windows and clad Syaoran in warm clothes and wool. He took the child outside and into the main city. The people were busy and have seen many things, and none paid attention to the robed man carrying the funny-looking child. Some of the children found Syaoran intriguing and followed Clow for a few corners, and the horses, imperceptibly, saluted Syaoran with a nod of their heads as he passed. The child himself, seemed to take everything in with a kind of silent wonder.
" Master Reed!" Cried a familiar voice, and Clow turned. It was a cheerful and amiable-looking man, Geminius, a pure-blooded Roman sorcerer who excelled at potions. He had a great sense of humor and a very comforting aura, so Clow was very happy to see him so conveniently.
" Master Geminius!" He greeted, almost as cheerfully.
" I heard you had gone to Delphi." Said the sorcerer. " Who is this?" He asked. " Is he a souvenir you brought from China?"
Clow laughed at the term, and looked upon Syaoran fondly. Syaoran stared at Geminius with a blank look, but he did not seem afraid of him.
" He is more of China's gift to me." Clow replied, taking a moment to place a kiss on Syaoran's cheek. " He was a sorcerer, too."
" A sorcerer?" Geminius frowned. " I sense no aura."
" No." Clow shook his head. " He has lost it now."
" He is certainly handling it well!" Geminius exclaimed with some admiration, and held out his hand to the child. " Hello! I am Aulus Geminius."
Syaoran stared at the hand, then took it, more out of curiosity than as a courtesy, for he felt the palm of the man's hand lightly before turning his head and looking at the rest of the streets.
" Does not talk much eh?" Geminius smiled a little regretfully. " How did he lose his magic? That is heinous, for a child no less."
" He died." Clow said softly. " He was given to me by the gods there, but his magic had been a price he had to pay." Clow turned, wondering what Syaoran was looking at.
Geminius gasped. " Dead! Returned to life by the gods? What child is he, that the gods would do him such a favor?"
Clow only smiled. Syaoran had been staring at a group of nearly naked women, lined up as dancers. For someone who had come from a society where everyone was clad in thick robes, this probably was a little too much of a novelty. Come to think of it, most of the Romans wore attires that were very revealing already. No wonder Syaoran was so distracted.
" What is his name?" Geminius asked, reaching out to smooth the boy's long locks. Clow would need to cut them eventually, for Syaoran to fit in to European society, but not now.
" His name…" Clow looked at Syaoran. He had not come up with a Roman name yet. Or Greek, for that matter. " His name was Syaoran in China. However, I was thinking of renaming him."
" Thaddeus." Geminius said instantly. " Gift of God. Well you are," He grinned at the boy, who had turned his head when he uttered the name. " You do not like it?"
Syaoran did not respond.
" Thaddeus." Clow said quietly. " I like it."
Syaoran turned to Clow. A loose strand of hair fell from one of the buns on his head as his hood fell off.
There was a loud crack of a whip against a horse's flank. At the sound, Syaoran cringed dramatically, body instantly breaking into trembles. He uttered a whimper and his face morphed to that of terror.
Realizing the problem, Clow quickly embraced Syaoran close to him, until the whipping sounds passed and the rolling of wheels faded in the distance.
" Shhh," Clow soothed, " It is alright."
Geminius looked grim. He sensed there was something more to Syaoran's death than Clow had seen fit to reveal.
" Where are you two going?" He asked, his amiability laced with concern.
" Around." Clow replied. " I intend on showing him the marketplace. He needs some new clothes, and we need to be out of the house; he had just been gravely ill for the past two or so weeks."
" I see." Geminius nodded. " Can he walk?"
" Somewhat, I think. He can stand." To demonstrate, Clow lowered Syaoran so the boy's feet touched the ground. Syaoran stood, but held tightly to Clow's hand, looking lost and confused. " He tires easily still, however, and he is light. I do not mind carrying him."
" Hm." Geminius blinked. He ran an invisible spell of Syaoran to diagnose him. Syaoran, though not alarmed, squelched the spell, surprising Geminius.
" What just happened?" He asked Clow.
" He…" Clow paused. " He is a nullifier. He had this talent before."
" A nullifier!" Geminius blinked. " I have never heard of such a thing!"
Clow chuckled. " They exist only in China. It is the Daoist belief, that everything must have balance. What is present must have a Nothing, so to speak, to balance it out."
" That is a powerful force!" Exclaimed the other man. " To negate magic! That is your Wild Card then, I expect?"
Clow started. It had been so long since he had thought about it, truly, that this question caught him by surprise.
" No." He confessed. " I admit, I have not thought of it before. To balance out the cards…" He looked at Syaoran. " To Void them."
" And you have a channel too." Geminius grinned. " Looks like your Thaddeus truly is the Gift of God for you."
Clow smiled, but he picked the boy up again. " I will not pressure him to do it until he is ready, however."
" Even if he never is?" Geminius asked. It was a fear he would rather not point out to Clow, but he felt it was necessary.
" Even if he never is." Clow replied quietly." I had intended he should inherit the cards. He has already foiled my plans."
" Ah, he looks like a strong fellow. Children are hardier than we think." Geminius shook Syaoran's hand warmly. " And once he brings home a sweetheart, he shall start foiling a great many more of your plans."
Clow burst into laughter. Hearing this, Syaoran actually smiled; the first appearance of it since he was resurrected. The boy had no clue what they were laughing at, or, perhaps, he knew but did not fully understand.
Remembering Geminius to be a potions master, Clow asked if there was any way to make the medicines taste better, as he anticipated, due to Syaoran's condition, that the boy will get sick fairly often early on. Geminius promised he would look into it, and booked the next day for Clow to bring Syaoran over to see his own children.
" Hear that?" Clow cooed to Syaoran when the two men separated. " You will meet your first friends here in Europe!"
Syaoran sneezed.