I found myself standing, unaware of having moved. "You know where Touya is? Tell me. Now."
Eriol, probably for the first time in his life, looked to be feeling something like remorse. "I am sorry Sakura, I thought the threat level was minimal. I thought you were dealing with something minor, and I came here to take advantage of that slight threat and help to further your training. I never thought something like this would happen, I never thought-"
With each passing word my anxiety had grown and my anger had boiled until I couldn't hold it any longer. "Eriol! Where is my brother? Is he even alive?"
"Your brother is alive, I'm fairly certain. He's-"
"You're fairly certain?" I was lunging before I finished the end of my sentence, fingers curled into fists and aimed at Eriol's round glasses. Syaoran caught me before I could actually make contact, wrapping his arms firmly around me and pinning me to his chest. I snarled in his grasp.
"Syaoran, let me go. I have to do this. He's a no-good, creepy, son-of-a-"
"And what will hitting you get him? Calm down. Punching Eriol won't help you save your brother."
"No, but it'll make me feel better."
"Sakura, what's gotten into you?" Tomoyo had moved to my side at this point. I was still squirming in Syaoran's arms as she tried to talk me down. "You know Syaoran's right; this won't help you at all. And would you really feel better? Because I'm pretty sure that, looking back, you'd be horrified you gave Eriol a black eye, no matter how much he deserved it. And right now he has information about where your brother is and the condition he's in. Hitting him won't get you that information; you need to calm down and think rationally, okay?" Her words had a soothing effect on me, same as they always have. When she saw me stop struggling, she nodded to Syaoran, who hesitantly let me go. Then she turned her glare to Eriol.
"You do deserve a good beating, but now is not the time if what you say is true. We only have until the end of this night to reach Touya?"
Eriol looked slightly shaken, but he was recovering composure quickly. "Roughly, yes. We certainly don't have another full day, but we might still be able to save Sakura's brother even if morning does dawn."
"And why is it that we have so little time? What has the Puppetmaster done to Touya?" I was glad to have a level headed friend like Tomoyo. If I had been alone this night, I don't know what I would've done to Eriol, and then to myself when I went after the Puppetmaster unknowing and unprepared. I know I had acted first, asked questions later in the past, but I never thought I'd be capable of maintaining that mentality to this extent.
"Before I get to that, please; let me finish my explanation." Eriol turned his eyes towards me, a sincere look for all I could tell.
I gave a single nod, and Mei-Lin let her sharp tongue cut in. "Talk quickly, pretty boy. According to you we don't have much time."
Eriol bowed his head slightly, and began talking. "I've sorely underestimated our enemy. As I've mentioned, I came to Tomoeda because I felt the Cards take a new owner here. Of course, it took a while to make the necessary preparations to undergo my journey from England. When I did arrive, I noticed a dark force here – the 'Puppetmaster,' as you call him – but his energy was deceptively weak and thus I had no thought to help you in your fight. Rather, I devised tests of my own to push upon you, in order that you might grow. My only purpose in challenging you was to make you stronger; I had no intentions of ever hurting you or anyone here. I didn't realize the extent of the battle you were fighting until it was almost too late.
"That takes me to your brother: He is not far, Sakura. I found his aura when I went to measure the strength of the Puppetmaster, in order to figure out why you were having so many problems with him. To my previous knowledge, you felt far stronger than your foe, and I had wondered why you and all your friends seemed to be so fearful of him. Now, I know better. But back to your brother: I did not actually see him in person, but his body felt whole. It is his mind, I am afraid, the Puppetmaster is targeting."
"What is he doing to my brother?" I kept myself very still, though inside I was dying to rush out the door this second and blow the entire town down until I had found Touya.
"Patience, my Cherry Blossom." I scowled at Eriol's nick-name, and he quickly amended. "I am sorry, Sakura. I am getting there. As I was saying, your brother's mind felt weakened – dangerously so. I am not sure what, exactly, the Puppetmaster is doing to your brother. I do know that if we do not stop it very soon, your brother might not recover."
I took a moment to digest Eriol's words, and I sunk heavily back down onto the couch as I fully realized what his one-day time limit really meant. Tomoyo and Mei-Lin came to take a seat on either side of me, but my two guardians and Syaoran remained standing between Eriol and me. I managed to be slightly uplifted by the fact that Yue, although respecting his former master, had subtly chosen me over him by his position in the room.
"By 'not recover' you mean he'd die," I finally managed to get out. I was staring straight ahead, through the people and walls and furnishings out into the night where somewhere my brother was dying.
Eriol took a long moment to answer, giving me all the confirmation I needed before he finally uttered a simple, strained, "Yes."
I took a shuddering breath. Tomoyo and Mei-Lin each placed a hand on my knees, half in comfort, half in preparation should I try to jump Eriol again. Contrary to their beliefs, I was oddly calm. I knew my time limit, had a rough knowledge of what I would be going up against, and fully understood the consequences should I fail. I will not fail.
"Tell me where he is." I rose from the couch slowly, giving both Mei-Lin and Tomoyo a look to tell them that I wouldn't be making any sudden moves. Syaoran stepped back slightly, letting me stand between Yue and Kero. The latter nudged his head up under my hand.
"I'll do a step up from that. I'll show you." Eriol said no more, but instead drew from somewhere on his being a sun pendant, which he then stretched out into a staff nearly double his height.
"Wait a second, are you really planning to jump all of us there? Because, won't that take a lot of energy? I mean, you did just kinda heal Sakura up, not to mention topping-up Syaoran's magic. Just how much reserve do you have?" Mei-Lin had stood up at this point, and her crossed arms and cocked hips gave away her disbelief.
"Enough." With that one word, Eriol made a sweeping gesture with his staff and suddenly I was alone, hurtling through some black mess of space and stumbling when I came out the other side at the old coal plantation located on the edge of town near the long-abandoned mines. My stumbling led me smack-dab into Syaoran, who appeared from thin air in front of me. He looked about as confused as I felt, though he instinctively reached out to steady me.
Moments after Eriol appeared. "Now then, we'll have to work fast. Not just to save your brother, but to keep the others from interfering."
"The others? Do you mean Tomoyo and Mei-Lin? And Kero and Yue? What did you do to them?"
"Nothing. I did absolutely nothing; they're still sitting back at your house, no doubt confused as to where the three of us have gone. I would've just taken you, but I figured you'd need some support, emotional and, as it appears, otherwise." Eriol gestured with his staff towards Syaoran, who was still half-holding me up as I waited to get my land-legs back. "However, now that I have revealed my other self, so to speak, Yue and Kero will no doubt be able to track my magic and will find us here eventually. Although it is true that Yue and Kero might have been able to help us, their presence would've been like a beacon to the Puppetmaster and whatever foul creatures he has working for him. In addition, I would think it wise of you to keep the secret of Yue's emergence from your foe for now. So if you wish to keep your friends out of danger – because there will be danger – I would start looking for Touya as fast as possible."
"Then how about you tell us what exactly we're doing," Syaoran spat. I think the only think keeping him from physically getting the information from Eriol was the fact that I was still rather heavily leaning on his arm. Funny, just a few moments earlier it had been him tethering me back from punching Eriol. It was probably all due to the other's grating personality.
"Isn't it obvious? We're saving Sakura's brother."
"Okay dipshit, how exactly are we doing that?" I blinked in surprise at Syaoran's words. I had never heard him cuss before. He must be more wound-up than I thought. Though, if I took the time to look, the clench of his jaw and the lowering of his brows was a dead giveaway that he was ticked.
"Sakura? What can you sense?" Eriol lightly prompted me, and I flashed back to about a week ago when Kero had spontaneously decided to give me a lesson on being a Cardmistress.
"Alright, if you're gonna be doing this whole 'fight the Puppetmaster, save the day' shtick, you're gonna wanna know where everything is on the battlefield."
"How do I do that?"
"I'm getting there, Miss Impatient! Jeez, always the curious bear, aren't you?"
"It's cat, Kero."
"What?"
"It's cat; a curious cat, not bear."
"Okay, whatever. Anyways, here's what you need to know: Every living thing has a specific energy. This is both a gift and a curse. Active living things, such as people and animals, have a stronger energy. Non-active living things like trees and plants and smaller animals like worms or bugs have energy signs too, but they're very faint. You and me – since we have magic – have an even stronger, brighter energy than ordinary, active living things. The Puppetmaster should have this brighter energy signature too, but from everything I've sensed of him, his energy fades into the background like those non-active things. This means he's an incredibly gifted individual, as only the highly skilled magicians can lessen their energy wavelength. However, no-one can completely wipe-out their energy signal. Your energy only goes away if you die. So, you'll still be able to sense the Puppetmaster, even if he is trying to hide himself."
"So basically what you're saying is I can learn to trace where people are around me even if I can't see them? That would've been nice to know when I was trapped in that dark other-world and couldn't find Syaoran."
"Yeah, well tough luck, I'm teaching it to you now. And yes, I can teach you to sense the energy around you without alerting anyone to the fact that you're looking for them. In a little while you'll probably be strong enough to mask your own energy signal. It's actually much simpler than I'm making it sound."
"Good. Now tell me how to do it!"
"Aye-aye, boss-lady!"
Finally finding my balance, I pushed off of Syaoran and stood on my own, reaching out as Kero had taught me, sending carefully-masked pink tendrils to all the spaces around me. There was Syaoran, warm and green and good, and Eriol was over there – a distant midnight blue, he must be stifling his own energy – and something else, something dark and dripping and grating and horrible. Pushing that aside for the moment, I strengthened my search. I had to feel Touya around here somewhere. His energy couldn't have just disappeared. I refused to believe it was gone, because then that would mean he was gone. Your energy only goes away if you die.
Pushing harder, I finally found Touya's energy, pulsing faintly but covered in the sticky black energy I had sensed earlier. For the moment, I didn't care how weak his signal was. He was still alive.
"I found Touya!" I exclaimed, wincing a half-second later when I realized how loud my voice was.
"Problem is he's not the only one here." Syaoran's voice was gruff. He too, it appeared, had been scanning the area.
"You mean that black mess? I think it's the thing affecting Touya. I actually didn't sense the Puppetmaster at all; I don't think he's here."
"Correct, Sakura. Your Puppetmaster has had to leave to attend to other matters, it seems. What those might be, I fear to find out. It does look like he's left a host to entertain us and your brother, however." Eriol gestured vaguely in the direction of the warehouse. "You sensed your brother somewhere in there, correct? Where did you sense the beast?"
My face paled as I realized what he was talking about. "Somewhere out here." I was moving a second later, sprinting across the open ground and taking refuge within the shadow of the door. Here, at least, I could find some cover or shadow to slip into. Syaoran was stepping in behind me a second later, with Eriol delicately taking up the rear guard.
"Now what?" Syaoran asked.
"We find Touya, fix whatever's wrong with him, then get him out of here and defeat that black thing somewhere along the way."
"Great plan, Sakura. Really love the details," Syaoran remarked, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"Well do you have a better idea?" My temper spiked, flushing spite out into my words.
Before the situation could blow up any farther, Eriol stepped in. "I suggest we go with Sakura's plan, but take it as carefully as we can. We do not have time to be slow, but we do not have time to be hasty either. Keep your senses open for that dark being. Hopefully we will not have to deal with it today, especially as we do not know what 'it' is. Please, though, do not argue. If Touya is to be saved, both of you will have to hold your tongues."
Eriol's words made me blush. I had acted stupidly in rising to Syaoran's bait, but I couldn't entirely help myself. There was something about him, something infuriating and magnetic that amplified every emotion I felt.
Thankfully Syaoran apologized first, as I'm fairly certain I would've been unable to muster up the one simple "sorry" he offered me if he hadn't spoken first.
As it went, I was able to speak more than just one word, "I'm sorry too. I was acting dumb earlier. I'm worked up over my brother, and this situation's tense enough as is, and there's just something about…" I cut myself off there, turning my face to the side to hide the furtherance of my blush.
"Well now aren't you two adorable?" Eriol was smiling at us fondly, which wasn't helping the state of my face any.
"C'mon. We need to find Touya." I turned away from both boys – one confused, one almost-giddy – and started making my way towards the place where I had felt Touya's faint energy radiating from.
The building I had initially stepped into was filled with rusting machinery and long aisles of stilled conveyor belts. A thin layer of black dust coated everything, and I pulled my shirt up over my nose and mouth to try to filter the coal dust out of my breathing air. When I heard the slight shush of fabric rustling behind me, I assumed Syaoran and Eriol were doing the same.
There were many lights in the building, but all of them appeared to be busted. I don't know if I'd have wanted to turn them on even if I could; there was something frightening about the dark in the building, yes, but also something fundamentally comforting. It wasn't an oppressive darkness. It was an enveloping one, hiding us from whatever beast was lurking outside.
When I reached the end of the main, warehouse-esque building, I took no pause before entering the smaller, packaging section of the building. The machinery in this room was just as rusted as that of the last, and coal dust still lay on every available surface. I took care not to brush against any of the machinery.
Touya's energy was getting closer, to the point where I could feel it pulsing slightly just beyond the door at the end of the room. I hastened my pace.
"Sakura, wait." Syaoran's words stopped me just five feet from the door. "Something's wrong about all of this. Has the Puppetmaster ever let us just walk in and do what we want before?"
"No. You think it's a trap?"
"I know it. That dark whatever-it-was is probably going to be called to this room by some kind of alarm as soon as you open that door. It'd be best to have an escape plan before that happens."
"Good job, my little descendant!" Syaoran grimaced at the tagline. Eriol, ignoring his discomfort, turned to me. "I do have some insight that you might appreciate. I scouted as much of this building as I could earlier, after I had transported you to that restaurant. I couldn't see much of it due to the beast's patrols, but I saw enough to reason out that the door ahead of you is the only way into and out of the room your brother is being kept in."
"Great. So how do you propose getting out? Since you scouted the building and such." And because I have no clue how to get out of here! I kept the second part to myself, glancing at Eriol hopefully.
"I haven't the slightest!" Eriol sounded way too cheerful for someone admitting they were practically trapped in a building with a creature that would probably tear their head from their body with gusto.
"You have to have some sort of knowledge of another exit, or a window, or something!" Syaoran growled, glaring at Eriol.
"Hm, well, besides the door where we came in, there is another exit at the back of this building, past those doors over there," Eriol gestured around the room and towards the back of the long room, "and through a couple more rooms. And of course there are windows in every main room, such as this one. However, I don't know where the back door exits out, and the windows are rather high up. Of course, I have no doubt that the two of you could figure out a way to reach them, but I do doubt that you would want to throw yourselves and your injured brother through a mess of sharp glass."
Taking in Eriol's words, I paused for a second to read the energies around me. Touya's was still there, but it was feeling fainter, the black covering over it was growing thicker, and I knew we didn't have much time. The beast was somewhere to the side of us, but moving closer to the door than we had come in. I shared my findings with the group, and Syaoran cursed slightly. "Looks like we'll have to take the back door out then. As soon as we open your brother's room, that creature's going to be here in no time at all. Eriol, you and I will hold it off for as long as we can. Sakura, you're going to need to grab your brother and bolt." Although I wasn't entirely okay with Syaoran firing off orders left and right, his plan was more than I had come up with. It was a bit lacking in details, but I bite my tongue to keep myself from spouting Syaoran's cynical words of earlier back at him. What could we really plan for with a situation like this? We'd have to be ready for anything.
"Alright, I'm going in then. I'll meet you both outside, safe and sound. Once we have more space to work we'll take this thing out. Good luck. Just, don't get hurt, alright?" I gave Eriol a quick hug. Then, after a second of pause, I hugged Syaoran. He was warm, firm, and reassuring. Letting go with the slightest tint to my cheeks, I turned to face the door. "Ready?" Upon hearing both affirmations, I rushed in.
My brother was chained to a bolted-down chair, staring straight at me. "Touya?" No response. It was then that I realized his eyes were unfocused, unblinking, and looking far too bloodshot. After another half-moment I realized that the silvery streaks under his eyes were drying tears.
I was rushing forward now, tripping over my own feet to reach my brother, to convince myself that he was alive, if not alright. "Touya? Touya, please!"
"Sakura, hurry up! The thing's coming!" Syaoran's voice caused me to flinch. In the rush of finding my brother, I had forgotten about the creature outside. There hadn't been any audible alarm, but that certainly didn't mean the beast was unaware of our presence.
I pulled out Sword and started cutting the chains. Its sharp blade made short work of them, and I heaved Touya up and onto my shoulders, noting with terror that he was subtly shaking. Still, shaking was a sign of life, and I would take it. "Power, a little help?" A little pink girl popped out of my deck. She was dressed like a pixie with Chinese style buns that reminded me of Mei-Lin. I had transformed her before, so she was able to quickly come to my aid. She melted into my skin and granted me the ability to lift Touya as if he weighed about as much as a hair clip.
Syaoran and Eriol sent me a quick glance when I stepped out, both pausing for a bit longer in a double-take as they took in the half-conscious Touya on my back. Eriol's face quickly returned to his normal calm demeanor, albeit a tad hardened. "Sakura, take Touya and go out the back exit. The beast is coming, and we will hold it off as long as we can. Don't worry, we'll be fine. Go!"
I hadn't known that Eriol could hold such power in his voice, but that last word sent me sprinting for the back door. I burst out of the factory room into one identical to it. This isn't a trick, is it? This place isn't some kind of loop? But as I continued running forward, I noticed slight differences in this room that hadn't been present in the previous two. Heartened by the realization, I raced through the room and entered yet another workroom. Just how big is this place?
I thought I heard the sounds of snarling and running behind me, but when I snuck a glance over my shoulder I saw nothing. Of course the beast wasn't behind me. It was focusing all its attack power on Syaoran and Eriol. I sent another silent prayer heavenward that they would be alright. I continued running.
Another room passed, and then another, and I was seriously starting to reconsider the previously discredited notion of a looping factory when I noticed that the doors I was approaching were different from what I had previously been banging through. They were larger, made of metal instead of wood, and helpfully hanging off their hinges. Hopeful for the end, I put on one final burst of speed. I was so close…
And then I noticed what I probably should have been monitoring this entire time: another's presence. Running almost parallel to me was the energy of the beast, and it was straining to meet me at the exit. Maybe I should've stopped and turned around to find Eriol and Syaoran. But a tiny section of my brain told me that if the beast was out here, chasing after me, it must mean that it had already finished with them. The little voice mocked me with its whiny sing-song. 'Eriol and dear, precious Syaoran are de-ad!'
They weren't. I knew they weren't; I could still feel their energies in the distance. But the chilling grip of fear seized me anyway, causing me to stumble on my way out the door. I dropped Touya just outside the doorframe as I fell to my knees a bit further away, stricken by a terror deeper and more despairing then any I had felt before. 'Eriol's de-ad! Syaoran's de-ad! Touya's de-ad! Tomoyo, Mei-Lin, Papa, Kero, Yue. Dear little Sakura. Everyone's de-ad!" I was shaking, and as one dripping black paw entered my vision I was struck with images of pale skin, blank eyes, and lolling tongues.
NO! I lurched to my feet, coming face-to-muzzle with a creature made from the shadows themselves. Dark wisps were curling around its huge canine body, and its eyes were only distinguishable due to the fact that they sucked in all the light that dared pass them by. As I looked at it, I understood. It was a creature made of fear, one that intensified and then feasted on the terrors of the living. This is what my brother had been fighting for god only knows how long. This thing had summoned up all the darkest scenarios that lay hidden in his mind and flung them at him, one after another, never ending, until he inevitably died. Another quick check consoled me that Touya was still alive, that his energy was still present. The beast hadn't bested him yet.
But then the thing stepped closer, and I was frozen as it moved its muzzle to my forehead. The factory faded, as did the coal mine ahead of me, my brother behind me, the gravel under my feet. The only thing that was left was black, unending and suffocating black. It was my deepest, most basic fear: loneliness. And this time I knew that there was no Syaoran somewhere in the darkness, no Light and Dark to draw me out. This was solely in my mind, and I would have to wage the battle on this front all by myself.
I was dropping to my knees, suddenly, and the darkness was pushing me down, further, further, until I was slipping through the floor. Just as the black was filling up my lungs, it turned to red, and then I was coughing and spitting up the metallic taste. I was swimming in a river of blood, and when I looked to the banks all I could see were the dulled eyes of everyone I knew. There was Naoko, Chiharu, Rika, Takashi. Kero, Mei-ling, Eriol, Yuki. Dad, Touya. Tomoyo. Syaoran. Their bodies were painted as red as mine, and waterfalls spilled from their chests. I was drowning again, slipping under the red and back down, down, into the black. But I was granted enough light to see my hands, and they were still stained, dripping red.
Their blood on your hands, Sakura. Your hands. Your fault. Your fault.
I was shivering, I was crying, and the blackness was coming up to suck me down into another layer of red.
"This isn't real. Come on, snap out of it! You can beat this, we know you can!" Somehow Voice had managed to project herself into my conscious. Her words were clear, and they stopped the blackness creeping up under my chin. My mind stilled.
She's wrong. You can't beat this. You can't.
"Don't listen to it, Sakura! All of us spirits believe in you! And so do all of the people around you! You aren't alone! So you have to climb out of this, okay? In order to protect the ones you love, you have to defeat this beast." Voice rallied me, and with a grunt I lifted myself up out of the blackness.
"Everything…" I started, eyes drifting down to hands that were now clean as the snow, "Everything will surely be alright." I found I could stand, and I did so quickly, glaring into the darkness. "Everything will surely be alright!" Then the black was cracking, the world slipping in-between and the black eyes of the beast were suddenly looking much less black. They were splitting as well, crumbling to specks of white dust.
"Sakura!" Syaoran's voice sounded behind me, and I turned to see him running towards me, Eriol close behind. "Sakura!" he yelled again, but this time his voice was far less elated, "Behind you!"
Apparently the beast wasn't done. It was splintering, but it was going to bring me down with it. It wrapped its black fangs around the back of my shirt, missing my neck by a fraction of an inch, and tugged backwards, hard. I was yanked off my feet and sent careening towards the opening of a mine shaft. The elevator was out, and as the beast finally broke behind me I was left free-falling down into another land of black. This black would eat me up as well, and at the bottom of the well there would be pools of red to submerge me before sending me back to black, then again to red. Black to red, black to red, black to red…
I heard Syaoran shout my name again, and the sound of it tugged me out of the last of the beast's influences. I was falling, fast, and I needed something to break my fall soon before the fall broke my neck.
I shouted the first word that came into my mind: "Fly!"
Suddenly I was being swept up by an ivory bird with eyes of ruby. It cawed once, loudly, before disappearing behind me. With a sharp tug, the back of my shirt broke open and a pair of pale pink wings arced out. I wasn't falling any longer. I was flying.
I shot out of the mouth of the mineshaft and soared up into the air, marveling at the feeling of hanging, virtually unsupported, in the middle of the sky. Looking down, I could see my brother, still slumped against the warehouse wall; Eriol, and Syaoran. Dropping down to meet them, I noticed that Syaoran had a look on his face I'd never seen before. It was akin to wonder, or maybe awe. It softened his features, especially his eyes.
As my feet touched the ground, the wings on my back fluttered into a pink card: The Fly. I tucked it in my pocket, shot a quick reassuring smile at the boys, and then rushed to my brother's side.
"Touya? Touya, can you hear me?" My brother didn't give me a response, but he was still breathing, so that was a plus. "Touya, please! I can't lose you, please, please don't go. Hang on Touya, okay? You're gonna be fine! Everything will surely be alright!" I hadn't noticed that I was shaking Touya until Eriol stepped down and stilled my hand.
"Sakura, we're going to have to get him attention immediately. I need to bring him back to your house, where I'm going to need anyone with magic to help tend to him. Alright?"
I didn't get the chance to answer, as at that point Kero crashed to the ground with Tomoyo and Mei-Lin on his back. Yue swept down a little more gracefully, but even his movements were hurried.
"What the hell did you do? One minute the three of you were in the living room, then next you were gone and I bet it's all that damn Eriol's fault and-" Mei-Lin cut her words short when she noticed Touya lying still in my arms. "Is he, you know…"
"He's alive." Just speaking the words allowed me a moment of peace. Mei-Lin's shoulders visibly relaxed, and both she and Tomoyo jumped off of Kero's back to support me.
"Are you alright, Sakura?" Tomoyo had noticed something about me, some leftover remnant from the beast's illusions.
"Not entirely, but I will be. Right now I need to focus on Touya."
"Later, then. And oh dear, look at what you've done to your shirt!" Tomoyo knew me well, and she knew when to press and when to ease up. She had figured right now was not the best time to talk, but she had also figured that I'd need to talk, which I would. I smiled at her comment, though. Tomoyo wouldn't be Tomoyo if she wasn't aghast at the sorry state of my clothing.
"Yue, Kerberos, if you would help me with this transportation spell," Eriol inclined, drawing his staff out and beginning to arc it through the air above his head.
"Of course." Yue smoothly stepped up to Eriol's left, Kero positioning himself on the other side. The three of them looked so natural like that, and I wondered if one day I, too, could look so powerful standing between my two guardains. After a brief moment of nothing, we were once again standing in my living room. Mei-Lin and Tomoyo quickly helped me move Touya onto the couch, where Syaoran, Eriol, Yue, Kero, and I all set to work on him, forming a five-pointed star with Touya at the center. With five streams of magic simultaneously cleansing him, my brother's breathing very quickly returned to normal, and his eyes shut in peaceful sleep. Feeling the last black tendrils banished from his mind, I allowed myself to fully relax for the first time that day. It was at this point that I noticed the white square tucked into the pocket of Touya's shirt.
"What's this?" My words drew everyone's attention to the paper in my hand, and with trepid fingers I unfolded the letter and started reading aloud:
My dearest Sakura,
I'm dreadfully sorry your dear brother won't live to see the end of this, but you know what they say about midnights; how they're when the ball ends and all that. Your brother's midnight has come and passed darling, and I think it's time to start planning a new ball. Yours, more specifically. So get ready, my dear Cherry Blossom, because midnight's soon approaching and I've heard that glass slippers are awfully fragile. And not to mix fairy tales, but I doubt that wolf prince of yours will be able to wake you up from the sleep that's coming. I'll see you soon, my darling.
He hadn't signed the letter, but I knew it was the Puppetmaster's words. I was shaking by the end of it, half in horror and half in rage. "Touya wasn't supposed to live through this. He was going to kill my brother." Despite stating it aloud, I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact. The Puppetmaster had always stopped just short of death for the lot of us, but now…?
"He's becoming serious." Tomoyo's voice was soft, but her hand covering my own was not. It was supportive and strengthening and let me know that we wouldn't simply give up and lie down.
I crumpled the letter in my hand, turning around to face my companions. "Then I guess it's time we become serious as well."