A/N: I was suffering from writers block for this one but a reader asked me why I hadn't updated this fic for so long and my bunnies decided to come out of hibernation long enough for me to finish this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it despite the long wait.

"Tomoyo, where's Syaoran?" Sakura asked the medic once they were alone. Her heart beat wildly against her ribcage, the feeling of wrongness assaulting her with a vengeance as she took in the lavender-eyed medic's dejected appearance.

"After Fai…Yuui sent you away, Kyle used a seal on Syaoran and he turned into someone entirely different. His eyes…. They were so cold. And he…. Didn't really care about what that man did to any of us. He just followed him when he left. And now… We… We have no idea where he is now."

"…" The jade-eyed girl, lowered her head as she realized what had happened after she had been forcefully sent away.

"Sakura," Tomoyo pleaded, "Please… help us find him."

"…"

"Sakura please." The begging woman had tears in her bloodshot eyes as she held her gaze. "F- Yuui said that you share a bond with Syaoran. He said that you'd be able to find him."

"Tomoyo I…"

"Sakura please, I'm begging you. I would never have asked you to help us if we could have located him on our own. He might not be related to me by blood but to me, he's still my little brother."

Wordlessly, Sakura climbed to her feet and left the room, leaving the medic behind to cry her heart out. Sakura knew what she was doing was selfish and unkind but… She had just found Touya. Could she really risk her own life and that of her brother's to find… to find… unknowingly her footsteps began leading her towards the room that the out-of-commission pilot was staying at. She could hear whispered voices talking on the other side and for a minute, she almost turned around to leave.

"You can come in now, Sakura." She heard Chii say as the door to the blonde's room slid open to reveal her friend and the pilot.

"It's okay. I'll come back later. You guys talk."

"Nah. I'm done talking to the idiot for now. I was just about to leave anyways," Chii said as she ushered the girl inside, "You go ahead and talk. I'll catch you later, okay?" and then she was gone.

"She was trying to convince me to let Yuuko place a counter seal on my shoulder." He said as Sakura struggled for a topic to start the conversation on.

"Did you agree then?" she asked softly, playing with the hem of shirt as she avoided his gaze.

"… No."

"Why not?" Sakura looked up at him in surprise.

"I need the seal to be in working order if we are to find Syaoran."

"…"

"You can't really decide whether you want to help or not, can you?"

"It's not that I don't want to help because I do. I really do. It's just that…" she sighed, noticing that Fai was patiently waiting for her to continue, "I can't leave Touya behind."

"Kyle must have informed Fei Wong about you by now." Fai spoke softly, his tone not unkind, "They already have Syaoran back in their clutches and Fei won't stop until he has you back as well. Are you willing to spend the rest of your life running away in fear from that man?"

"…"

"Even if you cast illusions and take up new identities to throw him off your trail," he added after a while, and Sakura wasn't sure whether if the blond mage was capable of mindreading in his current state or not. "He has the means to find you again. Now that they have a definite lock on your magical signature, every little spell you perform will flare up like a beacon for them. You say you don't want to leave your brother behind but tell me this Sakura, are you willing to put your brother in harm's way?"

"Yuuko has the means to protect us." Sakura answered stubbornly, squashing the tiny voice inside her head telling her to think about Syaoran.

"Is that your final decision?" the blond man held no anger in his voice but Sakura could sense the disappointment buried in his tone. She didn't let it get to her though.

"… Yes." She replied as she climbed to her feet and made to leave the room. Her feet halted by the door when the former pilot called her name though.

"I respect your decision Sakura and I won't ask you to reconsider it if that is what you want," Sakura could feel a 'but' coming along in there somewhere and she wasn't disappointed, "but I have one request to make of you."

"I might not concede to it," she informed him as she turned around to face the man, though she made no move to get closer to him, "but seeing as I owe you a thank you for returning my memories, I'm willing to hear what it is."

"Just help us find him."

"Tomoyo said that I shared a bond with him." She admitted though it came out sounding more like a question than a statement.

"If you can access that bond, you'd be able to find him for us. We'll leave you alone after that."

"But I don't even know what it is."

"You may think you don't but you do." The man flashed her a small grin, "you've already used it so many times in the past."

"… I'll see what I can do." She promised silently as she left.

-0-

The stench of sweat and blood hung heavy in the air. There was trepidation and uncertainty permeating every inch of this place. There were voices speaking but none of them were recognizable. At first. Things began to click into place as they drew closer. Trepidation turned into fear. There were bonds etched into skin, making it impossible to move, the dark ink tattoos burning flesh upon struggling, using pain as a major factor to discourage any attempts of escape.

Foreign feelings took place of the fear.

Anticipation.

Excitement.

Glee.

Fear fought and struggled against these foreign emotions, trying to gain back its foothold.

A cool female voice announced that the subject was ready for the final stages just as the dull room was lightened. Intimidating machinery lined all the walls, though there were rusty stains decorating most of the equipment. With a humming buzz, one by the one, the monstrosities began coming to life.

Fear began to lose its foothold again as pure unadultered terror forced its way in.

There was sharp pain as claws began tearing something apart and a scream of pure agony pierced the air.

-0-

Breathing hard, Sakura shot up in her bed, her eyes wide as she reached for her heart with her right hand. It had all felt so real.

"Sakura!" she heard Touya scream as he banged his fist against her door… at least, she thought it was his fist. "Sakura, what's wrong?" still trying to make her heartbeat return to normal, she pressed a small panel next to her bed and the door unlocked, allowing her worried brother to enter, followed by a frowning Chii and Tomoyo. Her gaze locked with the amethyst eyed medic and something passed between the two.

"I… I need to speak with Fai." She declared, hastily climbing out of her bed. "Chii, where is he being kept?"

"Sakura, what happened? You were screaming."

"I wasn't screaming Nii-san." She replied quietly, avoiding his concerned gaze as she followed the blond. Her heart fluttered beneath her chest as she felt him follow her. Guilt began to twist her gut into painful knots. They had not even been reunited for a day and her thoughts were already moving down a path that might end up separating them again.

"I heard you Sakura." He said incredulously, "From all the way down the hall."

"It wasn't me." She repeated, quickly ducking into the pilot's room. She knew she was being a coward but she did not want to see the look on his face when he found her decision. She knew she wouldn't get lucky enough though when he followed in right behind her. "This connection," she addressed the sleepy blue-eyed mage before her brother had a chance to question her, "does it manifest itself through dreams?"

"In certain cases," he replied, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he focused his attention on her, not even bothering to question why she wanted to know that in the middle of the night, "it does."

Sakura felt her heart skip a beat. So it had been real… a stab of phantom pain shot through her whole body making her flinch slightly as her surroundings began to dissolve into a hazy smoke.

Cold. So cold. Empty. What did it all mean? What was this place? The marks were burnt into flesh. The heat warring with the cold all around. There was pain. So much pain. There was blood. But it belonged to someone else.

A command was whispered and screams echoed everywhere. The violent magic raged and raged and raged. People were dying. And it was cold. So very cold. And hollow. Something was missing.

"…know where he is?" Sakura blinked, noticing Tomoyo's anxious face in her line of vision for the first time. "Did you see him?"

"I-I…" the world turned to smoke again.

It was so dark. And cold.

What was this place?

The inky blackness that stretched all around. It consumed. It devoured. Until… There was nothing left. No existence. No light to see. No sound to hear. Nothing at all but a void. A cold, cold void.

Floating, turning and twisting in nothing. Couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't see. Couldn't hear.

"…Sakura!" she felt strong hands shaking her shoulders. "Sakura, answer me!"

"Nii-san..." she mumbled, feeling confused. A shudder traveled up her spine as she remembered the cold void. Where was it? What was it? "Why are you shaking me?"

"You've been staring into space for the past five minutes." Touya replied, calming down some, though a worried frown still adorned his face. "What happened? Are you sick?" he fussed, feeling her forehead for a fever, his left hand keeping a firm grip on her shoulder as though afraid she might vanish if he let go, "Do you need to lie down?"

"I'm fine, Touya." She mumbled, looking away to avoid his stormy, blue-eyed gaze.

"Your magic was going haywire…" he pointed out.

"Fai, Tomoyo," she spoke up, avoiding her brother in favor of looking at the other occupants of the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the expression of hurt on Touya's face. Hoping he'd forgive her for her decision. "I know where they're keeping Syaoran."

"Where is he?" Tomoyo asked, sounding hopeful and pleading at the same time.

"Clow."

"Oh my God. Thank you Sakura!" Tomoyo cried happily as she threw herself on the auburn-haired girl, pulling her in a grateful hug.

It was hollow. A place of no existence. There was life outside. The beating of hearts, the thrumming of blood through veins. It was all there. Just out of reach.

But it was lonely here. Out there… not lonely.

Tried to reach for it… But couldn't move… couldn't reach.

'…make sure… it's perfectly secure…'

It was a faint whisper, consumed by the emptiness. The sound smothered by nothingness until nothing remained. Just the cold, cold void.

"And Hong Kong…" she murmured, causing the older woman to draw back with a frown.

"What?" she laughed a little in disbelief, "How can he be in two places at once? Clow and Hong Kong are almost on the opposite ends of the galaxy."

She ignored her question in favor of observing the myriad of emotions that fluttered through the blind pilot's eyes before the shutters closed on them with a snap that made her recoil almost physically. "Clow and Hong Kong?" Fai repeated, sounding worried, "Are you sure?"

Ignoring the unease she felt at being cut off from his emotions like that, she frowned, trying to recall the feel of Syaoran's magic. It felt different now. Like there was something missing. Almost like… almost like someone had physically clawed away something vital from it and thrown it somewhere far away. In the direction she knew was Hong Kong, it was cold, raw and unfeeling. But there it was again, at Clow, faint and fluttering like a candle in the wind.

"His magic… does it feel strange?" he asked almost hesitantly. The shutters to his mind opened briefly, letting her catch a glimpse of the dread and apprehension he was feeling. But they snapped shut once more before she could glean anything else.

"It does." She replied, observing him closely, completely unaware of the others in the room by then.

"This is bad." He admitted, hastily climbing to his feet. Whatever it was that had been ailing the mage when he had arrived, Yuuko seemed to have cured him off it. He still appeared rather pale though. Like the effects of his ailment were still lingering.

"What's wrong?" Tomoyo questioned, looking from Sakura to Fai back to Sakura again.

"… Fei has succeeded in what he started all those cycles ago." He replied, pulling on his shirt as he struggled into his shoes at the same time. Dread settled in the pit of Sakura's gut, she wasn't so sure she wanted to know what it was that the pilot had to say. "He's created the perfect weapon."

A/N: so who can guess what's happening here with Sakura and the bond and Syaoran and stuff? And how exactly has Fei succeeded in creating the perfect weapon? Will Sakura decide to help out now that she knows something has gone seriously wrong? Will Touya allow her to leave? What about Chii? Will she let Yuui go? And why can Sakura feel Syaoran's magic in two places? Why am I asking you all these questions?

If you would like to take a guess at any of the above, feel free to leave a review. Comment if this chapter made up for the long wait. Yell at me if it didn't. Feel free to do whatever you like as long as you guys let me know what you thought about this update. Until next time.

-Obsidian