Hoo ha! Yes, I actually got my butt moving and wrote the next chapter to this! Actually, to tell the truth I was gonna abandon this fic immediately, but then I realized how unfair that would be to you guys, and I owe it to my writer pals AngelSweetie, AngelHart and SpringbloomOpal to finish this. Lmao! Anyway, I wasn't exactly sure how I was gonna set about doing this, as Artemis: The Huntress reminded me of, but I figured I'd just do the old-fashioned thing and make it up. This chapter is light-hearted and strays from the main plotline a bit, to relieve you all of the darkness. This is more a setter-upper for the next chapter and it's really short, but I promise I'll make up for it in the next chappy.

I don't own CCS. When will you ever understand?

The Awakening

Chapter Two: It Doesn't Look Pretty

"Whoah!" Syaoran cracked open an eye slowly and immediately wished he hadn't. Light, fierce blinding light engulfed him and brought on a terrible migraine. Had they somehow done it wrong and had landed themselves in an alternate reality?

Damn this glaring light!

He swore profusely and rolled over to shake Eriol awake who was dozing happily beside him, a small smile on his face and droplets of drool emerging from his mouth. There was a groan as Eriol, just like Syaoran, opened an eye warily and then shut it again. "Where are the clowns  and the dancing jelly babies?" he muttered under his breath.

Syaoran grinned. "Rise and shine!"

Pushing Syaoran aside, Eriol rose to shake both Kero and Yue awake, both of whom seemed to be having equally nice dreams. "Plenty of sprinkles and hold the cherry," Kero called out cheerfully as Syaoran and Eriol exchanged a glance.

It was then that Syaoran noticed that they were one person short.

"Hey – where's Meiling?!"

~ * ~ * ~

"Who's idea was this anyway?" Meiling growled. She surveyed the expanse of dancing coloured light swirling around her and groaned. "It looks like I landed myself in the 6O's. Love beads, peace and rainbows…this is supposed to be the Underworld?"

Where are the dead people?

"And more importantly, where are the others?" She groaned and slapped her head in exasperation. "With all my luck I bet I've been separated from the group."

The colours were so irritating and bright – were they meant to bring on headaches?

"Where's a Panadol when you need one?"

~ * ~ * ~

Sirens went off around the entire area and out of instinct all five brought their hands to their ears to block off the ear-splitting sound. "What the heck is going on?" Tomoyo demanded, her face pained. "It sounds like Kero – trying to sing!"

"Not good," Sakura agreed, ignoring the confused looks on the other three's faces.

"Who's Kero?"

The both of them – Sakura and Tomoyo – had just been about to explain their dilemma and what they had been doing here – dead – when the sirens had gone off.

The many creatures and people around them were in absolute hysterics, and ran this way and that being ushered by winged creatures which Sakura supposed were meant to be angels who hadn't gotten the job as Kami's secretary and were reduced to Underworld guide instead. She almost felt sorry for them, but that still didn't explain that horrible racket.

"Excuse me ladies – if you follow me…" Another one of the angels took hold of Sakura's hand and ushered them away from the noise and toward a great building held up by pillars.

"What's going on?" Chiharu panted, fighting to keep up with the others. "First of all, we're dead. And if that's not enough, there's that noise that's bugging the heck out of me…"

The angel looked her up and down, his face look haggard and lined for somebody who was supposed to be so angelic and light-hearted, and his shoulders sagged in his too-loose white robes.

"Some idiot has tried to enter the Underworld when it's not their time yet, and things are on a malfunction. We're trying to track them down now - "

He scurried off in a wild frenzy to calm the rest of the Underworld spirits down, leaving the five of them to exchange a glance beneath the great building where many of the other spirits were now regaining their wits.

"Three guesses who," Sakura muttered.

Tomoyo didn't need the other two guesses to know. "Eriol and the others."

~ * ~ * ~

"I could've been Kami-sama's secretary," Geraldo grumbled beneath his breath as he scurried past the hysterical spirits and toward section 18 where the rest of the faculty of the Underworld were trying to locate the source of the sirens. "But nooo. I got this job instead."

He glanced warily around him and sighed. New spirits, crabby because they were stuck in the Underworld until they were sorted to a Heaven or Hell. It was torture having to deal with these mere amateurs.

He gave a curt nod to Ailena who guarded the doors dutifully, and strode into the main building which controlled the entire Underworld. The rest of the faculty looked up when they heard his heavy steps and managed weak smiles.

"Have you found him yet?" he demanded, running a frustrated hand through his thinning hair. As an Underworld Staff Member he shouldn't have lost any of his hair – that was one of the reasons why he had taken this job offer instead. He'd have to talk to Kami-sama about that. Rule 2567 was 'no false-advertising.'

"Uh," Magri stuttered nervously. "We've found the source…there are five of them sir. Four on sector 8K, and one roaming the Lost Sector."

There were gulps as Geraldo's face went a deep crimson.

"Who in their right minds would willingly come to the Underworld?!" he exploded.

"Somebody who has just lost a loved one," Ailene murmured from the door, and it was as if that was all the explanation that everybody else needed…

~ * ~ * ~

"So let me get this straight," Kero groaned, his arms crossed over his chest in exasperation. Yue stood beside him, his ice-blue eyes showing no hint of emotion whatsoever, as opposed to Kero who looked ready to blow his top.

"We came here to bring back Sakura and Tomoyo without knowing if our plan would work in the first place, and now we're separated on top of everything else, and we're lost. And there isn't a dead spirit in sight."

Eriol pushed up his glasses and smiled wryly.

"Yup. It doesn't look pretty. We're screwed."

~ * ~ * ~

There next chapter up fairly soon – I promise. Holidays are nearly here! This is just to tide you guys over until I can get my brain ticking, my butt moving and my ideas up and running. ^_^ Told ya it was short.

Suggestion, constructive criticism, even flames are welcome!