Chapter Six-End Of Dreams
The group of people and guardians alike, led by the mistress and friend they loved so much, reached the middle of the commotion. In mid-air she stopped and looked down at the buildings below, searching for a sign of Alexander. He wasn't there.
"So where is this jerk?!"Meilin asked through the loudness of the storm raging ahead.
Li turned in his green wrap of wind, surveying the area. "I don't think he's here. Maybe he backed out."
"No,"Sakura said sternly. "He's here, we're just looking in the wrong place." She tilted her head to look at the spiral, swirling above. "Above us, not below." As she took off for the clouds, with Li directly behind her, Keroberos turned to Yue.
"She's very strong, Keroberos,"Yue commented as they took off in pursuit.
"Yes, she is. As she becomes a woman, her powers will only continue to grow and one day she may even surpass the abilities of Clow Reed." He stared at his mistress and than glanced over to Yue at his side. "They both share the same smile."Yue slightly smiled, realizing Keroberos was right, and as they followed her into the clouds above, Yue just hoped she was strong enough.
Sakura broke the surface of the clouds and hovered for a moment, taking in her surroundings. It was as if he had read her mind. She was floating over a beach, where the earth met the sea, the sky was clear overhead and there was the night sky on one side and the day sky in the other. There were candles and torches everywhere to light the darker side, the sun was in the distance and it's light barely reached her. Sakura had seen this before. "My dream, he's…he's seen my dreams."
She delicately landed on the ground, her wings sheltering her from evil. Li came through the clouds and went to her first, landing next to her and pried her wings open as the green swirls faded from him. He held her for a moment, "Are you okay, Sakura?"
"Alexander…he's seen my dreams. He knows everything, Li. I don't think we can win,"she sadly stated as her wings enveloped them both in a barrier from the rest of the world.
"No, Sakura. We have to win. I know you can do it. I have faith in you. Find the strength, my love." She looked up at him and acknowledged that he was right and opened her wings and released him. She tried to smile but couldn't as she called The Fly back to its card form.
Keroberos along with Meilin and Madison, came through the clouds, next to Yue. As soon as they landed, Sakura turned to the two girls getting off of Keroberos. "Meilin, Madison…I want you to be careful. Go behind those rocks and don't come out of there, okay?"
"But, Sakura if you need our help I'm not going to hold back do you…"
"Of course we'll stay there, Sakura. Come on, Meilin,"Madison said, tugging at Meilin's shirt and leading her to where The Mistress suggested they go.
As soon as they were out of sight, Sakura stepped forward, waiting for the appearance of Alexander. She turned around to face them all, ready to ask Li if he sensed anything but hands wrapped around her stomach from behind and cold lips kissed her cheek. "Alexander…"she softly said.
"Don't touch her,"Li said, stepping forward and grabbing her from Alexander's grasp. He unsheathed his sword with his left hand and held the hand of the one he loved in his other.
"My aren't we a little…testy,"he said in disgust, searching for the words. He floated away from them and put his hands together like he was going to pray, then separated them slowly while a long deep blue staff materialized and he grabbed it. "Now, what brings you to my world?"
"This isn't yours, Alexander. You stole my dreams,"Sakura said, stepping forward and releasing her grip on Li's hand.
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time I stole something from you." Kero and Yue looked at each other in confusion and Li growled under his breath. "Oops! Must have slipped…but…you didn't tell your guardians? I didn't think you were the type of girl that would hide things from the ones you love."
Sakura stepped forward some more and held her staff with both of her hands. "Alexander, you can't have my cards. I'll never let you have them."
The sorcerer touched the end of his long staff and pulled out a piece of paper then it floated to Sakura. "A contract. If you sign it then the cards will belong to me and by contract…I will not hurt your friends."
Sakura touched the paper and then cast it aside. "No, Alexander. There will be no contract. I will not sign my life away and the world's,"she said with anger as the piece of paper disintegrated.
"Then I challenge you to a fight, Sakura. Do you accept?"
"Yes,"Sakura said holding her wand in one hand. "I accept."
"Then let the games begin,"Alexander said as he started to glow a dark blue color and floated a few feet off of the ground.
Sakura thought about which card to use first, but her thoughts were cut short when Alexander lifted his staff and hurled a shot of lightning to her. Without even thinking, Sakura grabbed The Jump card and called upon its aid quickly so she could dodge it. When she landed it was her turn to fight back. If he used lightning, then maybe I can use thunder to weaken him, she thought.
"Thunder card! Release and dispel! Thunder!"She yelled, hitting the point of her staff to the card. The Thunder did not do any damage, as Alexander dodged the attack and returned to its form. She glanced over to Li and they both nodded their heads in unison. They each yelled their own spells. "Thunder!" "Lightning!" Both of the cards attacked and did minimal damage but Alexander was still standing strong.
"That was cheap!"Alexander called to her. "You can't use your friends to help you."
"And why not?"Li asked, holding up his sword in protest. "She was helpless when you hurt her before, she deserves to have some help."
"This is a fight between Sakura and myself. She can't have help from the likes of you. It just wouldn't be fair." Li growled and was about to make an attack, but Sakura held her hand up.
"No, Li. He's right. I have to do this on my own."
"But Sakura…"
"Li…no. Not today." Li backed down and sheathed his sword and then took his place next to Keroberos. "There, Alexander. None of my friends will help. I give you my word."
Alexander smiled at her response. "Good. And just for good measure…" He lifted his long staff and Madison and Meilin lifted from their hiding place along with Kero, Yue and Li. They all hovered together and stayed there, unable to move.
"Hey! I gave you my word, Alexander! Now let them go!"
"You're my enemy, I don't trust your word." Sakura growled at him as she put her staff up, ready to call upon her next card. "Well, I guess that upset you. You really care for these people don't you?"She didn't respond, just stared at him. "Well, if you're not going to be civilized about this then that's very rude, I asked you a question my dear girl."
"Shut up, Alexander! I don't have to answer anything. You wanted a fight, well you got it!" She grabbed a card from behind her and The Clow…no The Sakura seal appeared from below her as the anger built up inside of her. "Fiery Card! Release and dispel! Fiery!" Sakura yelled, striking the card with her staff.
He dodged and then counter-attacked each time she summoned an elemental card. Each time he attacked, she barely missed and was hurt each time. She was getting weaker and she knew that her judgments had to be better in the future. It wasn't going to be long until she ran out of energy. The elemental cards had already wasted a lot out of her.
"Sakura!"Keroberos yelled. She didn't look at him as she summoned The Jump to dodge Alexander's attacks.
"You can't run away forever,"Alexander said in annoyance.
"Sakura,"Keroberos continued. "The element cards aren't working, they're only providing minimal damage. You have to change your strategy!"
"Shut your mouth, Keroberos,"Alexander said even more annoyed than when he last spoke to Sakura. "I could have told her that,"he sighed and then added. "Some guardian beast of the seal."
Sakura stopped jumping and summoned the card back as she took out two more in her hand. The seal appeared below her as she threw the cards in front of her. "Fight Card! Power card! Aid me in defeating Alexander! Release and dispel!" Sakura hit the cards as the energy surrounded her and created a red light and then a blue one. She opened her eyes and ran towards Alexander, using her new-founded martial arts skills and strength to try to hit him.
"Now, who's running?!" She called to him as she went to kick him, but he dodged carefully as she fell to the ground.
"Mmhmm,"he laughed. "Silly little girl. You'll get no where like that."
Feeling even more anger and power building up inside her, she put her hands in back of her and used her weight to flip up and then ran at him as fast as The Fight Card would allow her to. Alexander was a little surprised and tried to dodge her attack but was finally punched in the side and then kicked in the back, which sent him flying until he hit a tree, thanks to The Power Card.
"That was good, Sakura,"he said, slowly standing up. "I underestimated your strength. I will not make that mistake again."Sakura could feel the air change around her and summoned back the two cards she had just used and called upon The Fly card, preparing to fly if need be. "Choose wisely, Card Mistress. I only get hit once."
He closed his palm and bent his head as she started to hover and fly towards the sky. A few moments later, he opened his palm and she could see and almost feel the energy build strength and power as he slowly lifted his head up to look her into the eyes. "Say hi to your mommy for me,"he calmly said as he released the energy into thousands of spikes.
Sakura did a barrel roll to the earth, using her wings as a shield to protect her from the pain, but it didn't work. A shield, she thought. Sakura tried to grab The Shield Card but it was too late and she was plummeting towards the ground, her wings disappeared as her power had run out from protecting herself.
She was lying on the ground as her friends called to her. Alexander walked up to her and stepped on her left hand, she yelled in pain as she hit his leg with her staff. Meilin yelled in glory as Alexander winced in pain. "You're friends…are getting very annoying. It's getting hard to put up with this much longer." He grabbed his staff and pointed it towards her friends but Sakura hit him in the shin and he fell over, holding his leg. "Damn…it!"
"I told you to keep my friends out of it, Alexander!" She grabbed another card and flung it in front of her. "Shield Card! Protect my friends from Alexander! Release and Dispel!" The card released its energy and protected all her friends, lowering them to the ground. Li ran up to the edge and shouted to her. "Sakura! Take this down! Use it on yourself!"
She shook her head as she watched Alexander get up, "No, Li! I can't!" Sakura took out the Jump Card and summoned it one more time but in the middle of calling her card, Alexander grabbed her ankle before she could jump off and then grabbed her throat.
"You…are a thorn in my side. I don't know what I was thinking when I healed those wounds."
"Alexander…you healed my wounds? Why would you do that?"
He shook his head, "I don't know. For some reason it was a good idea at the time. I didn't want to feel like this was an unfair fight after all. It would be too easy to beat you while you were injured. Especially since I gave them to you when you were unaided by your cards." He shrugged. "But that all changes now,"he said, releasing her. But instead of falling, she flew out towards the sea and hovered while he talked to her.
"Sakura, you lasted for a while, I am to say the least, surprised. But then again, I'm not. I admire your courage…and that is why my brothers were weak. More so than you even. They relied on brute strength to win their fights and that is the reason that they lost to Clow Reed. They didn't have the heart,"he smiled to Sakura. "But you do. Unfortunately, that all ends now."
Sakura wanted to plead for her life so she could stop him from hurting her friends but that idea stopped. She only wanted to know one thing before she died. "Alexander, what do you have? You have not the physical strength of your brothers and you definitely do not have the heart. What drives you?"
He thought about whether he should answer her or not. He looked into her eyes and saw a calmness that he could only describe as acceptance. "What drives me?" Alexander paused, smiling. "What drives me is the power of the world. The winds, the earth, beckon to me. The volcanoes bow to me and the water of the oceans would stand still for me. That is my power,"he explained as he raised his hand and with it came four columns of water surrounded Sakura and started to spin faster and faster. "Oh, Sakura. You remind me of your mother, Nade-,"
"Don't say my mother's name!"Sakura yelled as the four columns became a ball and surrounded her with water. As the final air was breathed in, the ball submerged itself into the ocean and plummeted to the depths.
Her friends stood, shocked. They couldn't grasp what was happening but Li couldn't just stand there and watch her. The shield faded away, but another one replaced it, indicating the inevitable.
"She'll drown if this continues if she hasn't already! We have to do something!" Li said, pounding at the barrier. He tried summoning his magic but nothing worked. Yue and Keroberos tried as well and Meilin tried punching and kicking the barrier. Madison dropped her camera in the sand and tried to dig her way out, if it was possible.
After most of their energy was gone a few minutes later, Li was the last one standing; still summoning what little magic power he had left. Keroberos was trying to stand, but collapsed out of exhaustion. "There is nothing to do, Li. We are…helpless,"he admitted defeat as he bowed his head.
Li continued to pound the glass with his fists long after his magic power was gone. Meilin joined him as Madison continued to cry in Yue's arms. "Well, we can't just let her die you stupid stuffed animal! You're her guardian, damnit! Start acting like one and do something!"
"Sakura! SAKURA!" Li yelled as he continued to punch the barrier until his hands couldn't do anymore and he slumped down unto the sand. "Sakura…my Sakura…no…"Meilin hugged him tight. She hated to see her cousin unhappy. "I just told her I loved her…this can't be."
Alexander walked closer to the barrier and knocked on it playfully, "Oh, but it is. This is not a dream but very much a reality." He turned away from Li and walked over to the ocean, raising his hands, summoning the cards. As they rose from the water he exclaimed joyfully, "The cards have chosen a new master!"
Madison ran away from Yue's hold and ran to Meilin and Li, "That can't be, Alexander! The cards love her!"
Alexander sharply turned to her as he yelled, "They will learn to love another! Don't you understand?! Sakura is dead! That is why the cards are coming to me."