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Chapter Twelve - Where To Go From Here
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Total loss only comes
After when you realize
The things you could have done
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Since Yumiko and Naroay's deaths...the sky has grown to become darker, the ground become less fruitiful, the feelings that once existed now lay dead.
...thus was the world after they died. I could understand why...Naroays was dead...once a part of Syaoran a part of the Cosmos now...
...and Yumiko...gone...
The snow fell almost every moment of my passing search. The sky, cloudy, for which the snow could fall. I felt cold most definitly, causing me great pain in my wrists.
I've been stuck in this snowy wasteland for almost a week since Yumiko and Naroays both disappeared.
Kenji...his laugh seems to echo in this realm. Behind me, where the Dome of Souls lay, was where Kenji's laughs were eminating from. Still...something made me want to enter that dome...as if I sickly desired to go there, unknown to me, but a feeling...a strange feeling of that place suddenly.
A path lay ahead of me, one that wound through the wintery wasteland like such of a serpent at the bottom of a pot, a winding path with seemingly no end in sight.
...and since then, I've followed the path, beaten and bitterly cold, I've pressed on. The wintery breezes pounding at my head, the only thing to keep me warm, Yumiko's old thick jacket. From the distance, however, a bright light shone, which I could only hope was a door to get me out of this damned region.
...stepping...closer...and...closer....I could....only...realize...
...that it was a door...
I ran towards it with all my possible strength, but fell over onto my hands in the process. Screaming, for the snow was cold, I stood back up and ran as fast as I could towards the door. In my haste, I ripped open the door, and fell through the portal it held within its hinges.
'...Kinomoto Sakura...' I heard from the distance. I turned my head, to see Yumiko and Naroays, standing one by the other, holding hands. I took a breath, and walked over to them.
...they're supposed to be dead...
'Yumiko!' I yelled out, as she held out her hand for me to hold. I reached for it, but...my hand...
...passed straight through it...
'Yumiko...Naroays...are you two even alive...? Or am I seeing things?' I asked them, walking towards the two of them. Their bodies seemed to fade slightly, as if they were being blown away from me.
Naroays looked at Yumiko, and then at me. 'She is as much alive...as you are.'
'What is that to mean?' I asked him, whom gave me a look back that gave me the feeling that it was something I should have gotten immediatly.
Naroays took out a small one-sided blade, and it reflected the light off, shining into my eyes. He parted his hair, and started to cut the top of his forehead. A cut appeared, but no blood came out. He gave out a loud growl, as the cut started to shine a bright white. The wolf's head slowly disappeared, showing nothing more than...
...Syaoran...?
...Yes...It was Syaoran. He stood there, as the wolf's head fell to the ground. I ran over to hug him, but he held me back.
'I am not the Syaoran you know. My name is Naroays. ' he spoke to me. I nodded, and looked towards Yumiko.
'You must know who I am as well then, I'm you...' She said, as if she knew just what I was going to ask. It was near obvious though.
'Wait....How can you be me...if you are a part of Syaoran...? You don't even look anything like me at all...Naroays looks just like Syaoran.' I said back to her, thinking hard about what I had just heard.
Yumiko smiled at me, and replied back to me, ' Sakura...I'm only what Li sees of you in his mind. I am not completly you, as Syaoran is. I'm a representation of you within Syaoran.'
'Wait' I started. 'Are you telling me...that...you both are the projections of me and Syaoran in his mind...which is being torn apart by the Cosmos?'
Both nodded in unison, as I finally understood.
'Yumiko...Naroays...' I asked them, my final question. 'Why did Syaoran get attacked? Why did it have to be Syaoran...?'
Naroays walked over to me, and held out his hand. Within it, the music box appeared.
'This music box, this is the Cosmos.' he answered in a calm tone. 'You may have noticed it, but this music box had merely just appeared next to Syaoran before you had arrived here.'
Yumiko then started to answer my question. 'Sakura, you may know that Kenji has possession of the music box right now.'
I nodded and looked at her, knowing she had something to say.
Yumiko smiled at me, taking the music box from Naroays. 'You should know that this isn't the real music box, Sakura.' She giggled, but I didn't laugh back.
'I'm sorry' she apologized. 'I can't help but try to lift such a dreary moment.'
'Anyways, Kenji is using the musix box to swallow up Syaoran's soul very very slowly, but effectively. As we have already been trapped, we cannot oppose or fight it at all.'
Naroays then began to speak. 'Angel, you are the only person that can possibly stand a chance against Kenji. It doesn't matter how you do it, but kenji hides what you have come here for.'
'...Syaoran...?' I asked, hoping to be right for once.
Naroays nodded as I smiled. 'Then I guess I have to find Kenji, for both our sakes.'
'You make it sound like you're doing us a favor...' Naroays said, hiding a small grin behind his cheeks. I smiled at him, and cooly replied. 'Maybe I am'
Another door appeared, as I looked behind my shoulder to it. I would have to guess that that was my queue to leave. I waved to naroays and Yumiko, but Yumiko suddenly ran over to me.
'We're not going to see eachother again.' she said to me. Her figure seemed to fade away along with Naroays. 'I don't have much time...'
She tried to run over to me to try and hug me, but instead passed through me. She stood in place and turned around. I could see tears within her eyes.
'Sakura...I wish we could hold eachother like friends again, but I guess that that is all but impossible now...' she said to me, her voice trying to hide away the sorrow that flourished within her heart. She gave me a fake smile, water seeping from her eyelids.
'Sakura...I've always been afraid to die. I try to resist it, but I can see myself slowly fading away before you.' she spoke to me, her image flickering away with every word.
'...please, Sakura, defeat Kenji...get Syaoran back...just don't let me die in vain...'
Her image nothing more than a shadow, she gave out her final sentence. '...don't let it be your loss as well...'
I looked at her, as she gave out a silent sigh and fell down to the ground. With a single flash of light, she and naroays were both gone. Where Yumiko once was, a small destined flower lay, but instead ... a golen hue, a beautiful golden hue.
Picking it up, I put it into my bag, as it shone with a bright echo. Boldly, I turned the knob of the door, opening it and stepping through.
I won't die in vain...I can't die in vain...
~to be continued
