"What The Cards Were For"
A Card Captor Fanfiction
By: Bekah-chan
Rated: PG ( for some
tense stuff)
Disclaimer: I don't now, have never, and will never own Card Captors. *sigh*
Authors Notes: The beginning of this chapter is from the Power card's point of view. And I don't know everything there is to know about the cards so if I get something wrong: Sorry =)
Chapter 12:
The Power Card had a unique place in the hierarchy of Clow Cards. It wasn't as strong in *magic* as, say the elemental cards, but none of them could beat it for shear *power* so it was respected. Which was good because it was sensitive about it's height. Hey, it's hard looking like a six year-old! At times the card would even be a little mad at Master Clow for creating it this way, but even then it could see Clow's reasoning; the Power's appearance took foes off-guard, they never expected a threat from something that was seemingly *powerless*.
The Power Card was good at it's job, and it rarely got in fights (with the Fight Card) anymore. The Fight could hardly say that the Power was a lesser card, because of it's size, now that the Power had been used by the Card Mistress to catch the Fight. (AN: Ha!! Go Power!!) Rivalries like that tend to develop when you spent over a century trapped in a book with someone.
The Power Card was cocky and overly confident about the success of this mission. It's smile of triumph melted away when it felt what was happening to the magic book under it's hands. The book was 'shifting' fazing in and out of this plain, the spells that kept it here and the ones that held in together were shattering. Power's eyes widened in panic, it frantically tried to get one of the guardians' attention, wishing that Master Clow had given it a voice as well as more in the height department. But the two guardians thought that the problem was solved, if only temporarily, and had turned to assess the health of their Mistress, so they could not see the Powers frantic attempts to catch their eyes. Finally it had to lift one of it's feet out of the floor and kick the cabinet in front of it. At the loud banging everyone turned their attention back to the Power, and the book.
"What is it?" asked the Sun Guardian.
The Power Card nodded toward the book, trying to convey that there was something wrong, but the guardians still didn't get it!! Stupid Fluff-ball!! Ditzy Blond!! How could it get through to them? Wait! Maybe it could talk to the Card Mistress like the Fiery had! Worth a try.
~Mistress~ the Power said trying to propel it's voice across the room to Sakura in the way that the cards spoke to each other. ~This is Power, tell the Guardian of the Sun and the Guardian of the Moon that the Book of Clow is fazing.~ Had it worked?
"Kero,"said the Card Mistress, "Power says that the book is 'fazing'" Yes! It had worked!
"Fazing how?" The Guardian Beast of the Seal directed this comment to the Power, but the answer came back filtered through the Mistress of the Cards.
"It says that the book itself is fazing in and out of this plain, and the spells that held it together are unraveling." Sakura said, eyes wide.
"Oh No!," exclaimed Kerberos, "I thought I saw something like that earlier. I was hoping I was wrong."
"What's wrong now?" asked Li Syaoran tiredly, "I thought the book was built to contain the cards, how is it failing?"
"Well," explained the Beast of the Seal, "The book was built to 'hold' the cards until a sorcerer who was powerful enough to activate the book, and the cards, came along. Then the cards were supposed to escape, and once they were captured and back in the book it wouldn't matter because the cards would be under the Captors control."
"What!!" Everyone was surprised at that, except the Moon Guardian, of course.
"The Clow Cards were *supposed* to escape?" demanded Master Syaoran.
"Um.... Yes? It was one of the things they were designed to do," answered the Sun Guardian, "But we really don't have time for this now, so save your questions for later."--Random Reluctant Agreement (RRA) here.
"Okay," sighed Kent, "So, what do we do now?"
The Guardian Beast of the Seal got a defeated look on his little face, which didn't make Power feel better at all. The Guardians had to know a way out of this right?
"I don't know," Wrong! "This has never happened before," Kerberos continued, "I don't think that the book was even meant to last this long. Master Clow could never get the times in his visions right." the last part was whispered so no one in the room could hear it, but Power heard it anyway, and wondered what it meant. Had Master Clow foreseen some of the events that would take place in this present day? Was *that* why the cards had been sealed in the book?
The book beneath Power's hands lurched, and the card sighed. It really didn't matter now why the cards were in this place and time, in moments they would become a part of Mistress Sakura and the point would be moot. The book was disintegrating around the cards it held, there was nothing any of them could do now, this was going to happen. Power sent a fast message to the rest of the cards, telling them what the situation was and to try not to all be absorbed into the Card Mistress at once. That would surly kill her, and even though she would probably die anyway, she was their Mistress and the least they could do was give her a fighting chance. ~So, I'll be the first one in, since I'm already out here. The rest of you hold out as long as you can~, it finished. Now to warn the Mistress. ~Mistress Sakura.......~
Across The Room Snuggled-Up To Li Syaoran:
~Mistress Sakura,~ Sakura heard the Power's voice in her mind again, the voice was sort of little-girlish, which fit with the image, ~I cannot hold the Clow Book any longer, I am sorry Mistress.~
~It's okay Power~, she replied, strangely calm now, at least it would be over, ~I know you and the other cards have tried, thank them for me?~
~Yes, Mistress. Sorry....~ And then the Book of Clow exploded, sending the Power card back ten feet and all the Clow Cards rustling in the air. The Power had been right to expect that it would go first, the card couldn't even get up again before the force that was effecting all the cards pulled it the last remaining feet toward the Card Mistress, then it was gone, leaving Sakura trying not to scream again. But compared to some of the other cards the Power was absorbed with a whimper, not a bang.
Everyone ducked, not knowing what to expect. It was a good thing they did for some of the cards put up a spectacular resistance. The Sword Card reverted to it's true form and adjusted it's trajectory so that it was pulled over Sakura, instead of crashing into her, it hit the wall (of the poor defenseless kitchen) with enough force to send it a foot into a support-beam. The Arrow Card must have thought this a grand idea, for it was soon quavering in the wall next to the Sword.
Some cards tried to stop others as well, the Wood quickly created a net of branches both to secure it to the floor and to catch other cards has the flew past. And the Shield card formed around Sakura and managed to bounce away a few cards, giving Sakura precious seconds to catch her breath, before it too was gone. Meanwhile the Sword card and the arrow card, got pulled out of the wall, and vanished.
Some cards' attempts were less than successful. The Through tried to go *through* Sakura (and Syaoran by proximity), needless to say it did not come out the other side. The Fly opened it's wings intending to create drag to slow it down, but it forgot how big it's true form was (stupid bird-brain) and one of it's wings got stuck in the ceiling, it was so shocked that it turned to smoke right there and was absorbed. (AN: Sakura's kitchen will *never* be the same ^_~) And, perhaps the most spectacular disaster, was the Freeze. This less then genius card tried to *freeze* it's self in place, which froze the Wood card (who had managed to catch the rest of the cards). So, with a echoing sound of shattering ice, the Wood's frozen branches broke, sending the rest of the Clow Cards crashing toward their Mistress, all at once.
Li Syaoran:
Syaoran tried, once again, to protect Sakura with his body, to no avail. The cards either went right trough him like he wasn't there, or were swept around him in the whirlwind that was being created by all the fuss. The point was that he could not stop them, all he could do was hold her and listen to her screams, which soon diminished into moaning sobs of pain, until she finally lost consciousness. His heart ached with the need to help her, to ease her pain in any way possible. He felt so useless to her now. ~How much longer can this possibly last?~ he thought in despair.
And then..... It was over. In the silence after the last card was absorbed Syaoran held his Sakura close to his heart. Was it really over? (AN: Not quite)
Suddenly Syaoran stumbled onto the most emotionally devastating moment of his young life, for as he held his Cherry Blossom so close to himself, he felt her heart shudder...... and stop.
To Be Continued ^_^