Disclaimer; I don't own CCS or CLAMP

(*...* )thoughts, ("...") speech (~Flashback~)

Please note;

I will be addressing Kero as Cerberus while he is in his true lion form but Sakura and Tomoyo won't. instead they will be addressing him as Kero, like normal. Only Eriol will address Kero by his true name of Cerberus regardless of form, as demonstrated in the TV series and movies. I will be continuing this pattern on.

Chapter Twenty Five

Birth of the Clow Cards Part One

Previously;

As the fight continued on, Calista and Eriol were too focused on one another that they didn't notice all the damage and destruction that their battle was creating around them.

Cerberus had taken it upon himself to shield Tomoyo from the fight the best he could, knowing that she had no magical abilities to protect herself. Using his big angel wings as a barrier, Cerberus tried his hardest to warn off any rouge attacks but with all the smoke build up, he wasn't able to do a successful job.

Panic swept over Sakura's face as she witnessed a huge flame hurdling towards her gaudion and friend.

"WATCH OUT!" Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs, her arms stretched out infront of her. Without warning Sakura's magic circle shown brightly under her feet, accompanied by its own whirlwind that rose skywards and covered everything. In a blink of an eye all of the fire that was in the room had evaporated leaving nothing but steam clouds in their place. Eriol and Calista seized fire immediately, after feeling the raw magic that swept the entire house.

Calista turned her attention to the frightened schoolgirl in astonishment, while Eriol nodded with a smile knowing that Sakura had been practicing her magic.

"Are you okay Sakura?" Cerberus asked, seeing his Mistress's worried face.

Sakura nodded, breathing out a sigh of relief knowing that everyone was safe.

"Impossible..." Calista said, her words trailing off. "...How did you use the Cards like that?

"Clow Reed was the only one powerful enough to use them with just his hands." Calista stated.

Sakura's lowered her head in embarrassment, she didn't like everyone staring at her.

"I knew it was possible and with practice I am able to summon them without my Staff." Sakura explained, demonstrating with one of the Cards.

Everynone watched with anticipation as one of her closed hands began to glow. Raising the hand up so it was in view, Sakura opened it revealing many small green lights. The orbs remained still for a few seconds but then started to move around. They gently floated upwards and began to dance in mid air for a short time before landing back in their owner's hand. Sakura closed her hand again and muttered a thank you under her breath. The light in her hand disappeared, leaving Sakura left holding one of her magical Cards.

"I must admit, I still need a lot more practise before I can use any of the stronger Cards successfully." The young girl said, with a hint of disappointment looming in her voice.

Placing the Glow Card back inside her pocket, Sakura wasted no time getting back to task at hand, she knew if the questions she had didn't get any answers soon it wouldn't belong before the magical fight would start up again and watching a repeated performance would be too hard to bare.

Sensing that it was now safe, Sakura released the Shield's magic and it returned back into its original form.

"Calista." Sakura began, attracting the ghostly woman's attention. "I couldn't help but over hear that you blamed Eriol for a death?"

"May I ask who was it that died?" Sakura questioned.

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Calista shouted in retaliation.

Sakura took a deep breath keeping a calm composure. *Perhaps the question was too direct, maybe a more subtle approach would be better.* Sakura told herself.

Choosing her words carefully the young girl tried again, only this time she watched closely at Calista's demeanor.

"Someone close to you is no longer here anymore..." Sakura said keeping her voice low. Seeing that Calista didn't react she continued on. "...And you blame your own brother."

"IT WAS HIS FAULT!" Calista yelled. "IF HE JUST LISTENED TO ME, THEN NO ONE WOULD HAVE DIED. ESPECIALLY-"

"Clow Reed would never kill anyone."" Cerberus interrupted.

"BE QUITE!" Calista rudely shouted back.

"KERO!." Sakura yelled, feeling irritated from being interrupted.

The last thing Sakura wanted was any more trouble, now that she was so close to working out why Calista was so angry. "What was it that Clow Reed refused to listen to you about?"

"The Clow Cards." Calista answered with a firm voice. Looking at Sakura's puzzled face Calista decided to elaborate. "Clow was mother and father's favorite. They denied this several times but of course it was blatantly obvious."

"I don't want you or anyone to feel sorry for me." Calista quickly said, not giving anyone a chance to argue. "If anything because I got pushed aside I saw Clow for who he was. Selfish!"

"Surely you don't believe that deep down?" Sakura questioned.

"Clow Reed was a brilliant man, don't get me wrong but he was also a very selfish man." Calista informed Sakura.

""As we grew older Clow talked about blending the Eastern and Western magic together into a new form of magic." Calista said.

~Flashback~

A young woman dressed in old traditional chinese clothes with long back hair that was tied back, walks into a study and see a man sitting at a desk. Approaching him the woman notices that the man is buried in old magical books, with more books stacked in various heights around him.

"Clow. dinner is ready. Get your head out of them old dusty books and have something to eat." Calista instructed her brother.

"In a moment dear sister. I'm working on something very important and I'm this close to piecing it all together." Clow replied, not taking his eyes off the book.

"You have been working on it for months without any success. Stopping work for a few hours to eat won't do you any harm and you might even-" Calista began to say but was cut off.

"THAT'S IT!" Clow exclaimed in delight. Getting to his feet and rummaging around his study.

"What's it? Calista asked as she watched her brother pull out yet another dusty old book and placed it with a thud on his desk.

"I've been going about it all wrong. Instead of focusing on fusing inanimate objects with magic, I should be creating something that's designed to hold magic." Clow explained, pointing to a picture of animals.

~ End of Flashback~

"Resulting in the Clow Cards." Sakura said, interrupting the story.

"Eventually." Calista responded with a sharp tone.

"Sakura." Eriol said, jumping into the conversion. "Clow Reed didn't create the Clow Cards straight away."

"He didn't?" Sakura questioned.

"Of course not. Creating something from nothing takes a vast amount of power and even then you can't guarantee it will work." Eriol said.

"You can say that again." Calista cut in with an annoyed tone.

~Continuation of Flashback~

A few weeks had passed since Clow Reed decided to create the animals that would be strong enough to hold magic but it was proving to be a lot harder than he first anticipated. With each attempt Clow leaned how to conjure the animals needed but some to his delight accepted the magic, where others would reject all traces of it and act out in harmful ways.

Clow sustained countless injuries from the different types of creatures that attacked him and he would be forced to start again.

As the younger Calista talked with Clow Reed she became increasingly worried about his plans of creating new raw magic.

"You need to put a stop to this madness Clow." Calista pleaded. "I know just how much you want this to succeed but is it really worth getting attacked by the creatures you're creating?"

"Oh, my dear sister. I'm afraid you don't understand the true gravity of my work." Clow Reed replied. "I'm not just trying to make new magic for the sheer fun of it but more for the fact that others in the future can use this and there won't be anymore separation between East and West."

"And you're willing to to it by putting your own life in harm's way!?" Calista snapped back.

"I am." Clow said without a moment's hesitation.

Hearing her own brother say them words, Calista stormed out of the room, her face filled with rage.

~ End of Flashback~

A/N:

Sorry it's only short chapter. I've had to break it into two parts again as it was getting far to long. I've rewrote it a little and currently working on the next part which will be longer, I just wanted to try and upload before I move house and have no internet to work.