"What The Cards Were For"
A Card Captor Fanfiction
By: Bekah-chan
Rated: PG (for,
freaky stuff)
Disclaimer: I don't now, have never, and will never own Card Captors. *sigh*
Me like Reviews!! =)
Chapter 39:
"Sakura," Kero lectured, "you have to be very careful to spread your power around. If you concentrate to much on one kind of magic, it could drain you. Like what happened with Thunder."
Sakura nodded.
"So concentrate not only on what you want your power to do, but also on limiting the *amount* of magical energy you want to use. Got it?"
Sakura nodded again. The group was filing into their places for battle. Kero had come to get a power boost from Sakura, enabling him to transform. For some reason, he decided to stay awhile, and give her some advice. Now, the much bigger Kerberos, stretched his wings, flapped them a few times, said: 'Good Luck', to Sakura, and took off. Kero flew to Sakura's left, his destination a copse of trees some distance away. From here Kero would launch his assault.
Yue stood similarly camouflaged in a group of trees and bushes directly across from Kero, an equal distance to Sakura's right. The two Guardians would throw their respective fire attacks at the appropriate moment.
Sakura backed into her own position, glancing nervously around her. She was standing in an open area, with no cover. She was the bait. As the Stealer approached her, Syaoran would close in behind it, then they would all launch their attacks. Sakura would use Thunder, Syaoran lightning, and the Guardians fire. Thus, they hoped to trap, and destroy, the Soul-Stealer. Simple, right?
Sakura was trying to be optimistic.
Behind her, as far away as she could get them, was her family and best friend, also hiding in available cover. Sakura had tried to get them to stay farther back, but her brother and father were worried, and Madison wanted a clear shot of the action. There was just no arguing with some people! Well, okay, she could argue with them, but they didn't listen! *grumble*
The trap was set, now all they could do was wait. And, as Sakura looked up at the coming monster, she knew they wouldn't be waiting long.
Soul-Stealer Central:
The Stealer could see the Sorceress, and her friends. They could not hide from it. The Stealer did not see in the normal way. It's eyes picked up a person's soul/aura/magical-energy, the brighter it was, the more powerful. And this little Sorceress' was the brightest it had ever seen. Other things, in the physical world, seemed to it's eyes to be vague outlines. It could see the two 'Guardians' cowering in dense groups of tree outlines. They feared it, they were hiding from it. If the Stealer had owned such a thing as a mouth, it would have smiled. It would get the Sorceress' power, and then her soul. For, contrary to popular belief, a being did not have to be alive to be tortured. And it wasn't called the 'Soul-Stealer' for nothing.
Deep inside the Stealer's darkness, there were souls that knew the truth. They knew why this ancient monstrosity was called 'The One Who Steals Souls'. And why it's creations, from long ago, bore the name 'Soul-Stealers', for they were that in essence, if not in fact. The trapped souls wailed in agony, sensing the monster's plans for the brave Sorceress, her friends, and the World. They wished they could help, but knew they could do nothing. Hope was not a big thing around there.
(AN: Before you ask: No, the Stealer does *not* know it's walking, er floating, into a trap. Hey, I didn't say it was smart! Just really evil, and very mean.)
Bait Thoughts:
As the Stealer grew larger in Sakura's vision, the Card Mistress resolved that she needed a very quick way to scramble to safety, should the need arise. She had quite a few options available, all of them involving the Clow Cards that now lived inside of her. Sakura's favorite method of dodging danger had always been the Fly Card, but she was reluctant to use it. There was no way to, accurately, predict the results. What would it do? Turn her into a huge bird? Change her ears to wings? Call a bevy of doves with a lift basket?
Should she risk it?
None of the other 'get away' Cards provided a better option. So, Fly it was. Sakura closed her eyes (if her ears turned into big, fluffy, wings, she did not want to *see* it) and concentrated, trying to remember Kero's advice. She only needed a small amount of magic for this.
"Fly," she whispered. For an endless moment, nothing happened, then she felt a tingling on her back. Sakura opened her eyes wide, twisting to look over her shoulder. There, growing out of her shoulder blades like they had always been a part of her, was a pair of pure, white, wings.
~Cool~ she thought, flapping her new wings experimentally. Now, this was alright! She could fly like Yue!
Sakura smiled before turning forward again, only to 'eep!' in fright. While she had been goofing off, the Stealer had gotten much, much, closer. Oh, great! Wasn't that just the way of things?
~Sorceress~ Sakura again heard the hated voice echoing in her mind, ~give me your power, and I might spare your friends.~ It giggled insanely, like it knew she had no choice. The Stealer would hurt them all, anyway.
Unless she could stop it.
Sakura spent a few seconds battling with that 'Fight, or Flight' thing. Then she shook it off and raised her hands if front of her, palms out, facing the (still giggling) Soul-Stealer. She was ready.
The thing was close enough, so that Sakura knew the others were also preparing to attack. They waited for Sakura's command to strike.
"Now!" she yelled as loud as she could, wanting to make sure they all heard her. Then she took a deep breath, separating out the power she was going to use, and called:
"Thunder!!"
To Be Continued ^_^