The Desease that Killed Love

Chapter 8-Meiling

Everything was dark. Everything was quiet, save for our group that still remains in there. I did not escape the flashing light that came from my cousin, and so I was with them.
" Where are we?"

That was one of the more idiotic questions perhaps in reality. But when you're dealing with magic, you're dealing with more than what's real.
" Where are we?"
" I have no idea." Tomoyo shivered. " Is it just me, or is it really really cold around here?"
" It's cold. It's not just you." Touya looked around. " Very dark, also, but I can see you all very clearly."
" It's not black," Sakura decided to be technical, " It's just dark."
" Whatever, kaijuu."
" Where is Syaoran-kun?" Sakura asked.

Yue, in his true form in whatever dimension we're in, looked around and answered the obvious.
" He's not here."
" If we know what here is." I was getting frustrated. " Are we in a black hole of some kind?"
" Not likely." Eriol answered. " I sense magic around here. It feels like...something from long ago." He closed his eyes and thought.
" Oh that helps a lot." Touya threw up his arms with disgust, and with good reason.
" How do we get out of here?" Sakura looked around. " This does not look familiar to me at all. Not even the Dark Card was so...I don't know. Dark?"
" This isn't the Dark Card." Eriol swallowed. " This is something that has to do with Syaoran. The light came from his body. I think this is some kind of void that he had escaped to so the pain will pass. We just have to find him. This place is so familiar," He added, scratching his nose. " Maybe something in Clow's time..."

I wasn't happy. I wasn't scared, I was just not happy, and there is a big difference between the two. The adventure with the Maze Card did not help much with my present condition, partly because Kaho no longer has her bell and she's not with us anyway. And since there was nothing that's actually solid to break through,

" I wonder," Yue suddenly stopped as we were walking. " If Syaoran can hear us."
" Syaoran-kun?" Sakura blinked. " Should we call him?"
" Not a good idea." Eriol swallowed. " It's best if we look for him. I don't remember if there is anything else in this place, and if there are, than calling wouldn't be such a good idea."

" Daddy?"

We all flinched. Especially Yue. The voice was not Syaoran's. Or, it was, perhaps, but it was so much younger, a Syaoran I almost completely forgot. No, the voice I completely forgot, but a Syaoran I barely knew.

" Syaoran?" Yue looked around. " Where are you? I'm here."

Silence.

" This is sooo creepy," Tomoyo looked around.

" Another year is passing Yue." came a voice, different, much older, no longer Syaoran's. " And within each passing winter, your son is venturing further and further into this domain." The voice echoed through the dark places. " We do not want a child of light in our domain."
" The child of light brings too much radiance."
Voices echoed, different voices, some high, some low, some sweet and some bitter.
" Too much pain into an emotionless world,"
" Too much life,"
" Too much sorrow,"
" Too much fear,"
" The child is not ready..."
" Yue..."
The first voice came again. We were all seriously spooked. " The sun strikes one on the end of the first year..."
We hesitated, and then came a slow murmur, as if a prophecy,

The sun strikes one on the end of the first year,
The moon shrivels into the black hole,
If not protected, the blended one,
Puts on the one shield he knows,
And time is creeping...

" I don't get it. What is the voice talking about?" Sakura asked.
" About Syaoran." Yue answere quietly, as if in a trance. " Every night he comes here, and each time he is in pain. Every night he comes here in his dreams, in this empty void, filled with nothingness and completely empty of all emotion and feeling. Here he brings all his sorrows and rage, and these same voices listen to all his words and speaks so he could face the morning and day."
" What is this place then?" Sakura asked.
" This is the dead land Sakura." Yue lifted his head. " This is where the dead go. They disappear amongst the darkness. Which was why Syaoran must not come here, as the voices had said. He brought too much pain of life, too much sorrow and fear, yet he is not ready to die yet."
" Who are the voices?" I asked, shivering.

Yue paused for a second before answering,
" The Dead."


" Meiling?"
I groaned, opening my eyes a little.
" Meiling, are you alright?"
It was Aunt Yelan. I open my eyes completely.
" Yeah," I answer in Cantonese. " I'm fine. What happened?"
" All of you for some reason fell unconscious." Fuutie answered beside her mother.
" Oh that." I sat up. " Where are the others?"
" They're coming to." Said the voice of Fanren.
" Are you alright Syaoran?" I heard Yue's voice ask. There was a groan. I looked towards the sound.

Yue gently lifted my cousin up. His cello laid beside him, hopefully not broken. The guardian helped him sit up.
" I'm okay." Syaoran swallowed. " What happened?"
" You went to the other side." Yue told him. " And thankfully, dragged us along with you."
" I..." Syaoran paled. " Gomen nasai-"
" Iie, don't say that. It's actually the better. Come on, I didn't know that you were so nervous." Yue clenched his teeth, his pale eyes soft.

I have never seen him like that before, and I don't think anyone else has. Even Eriol seemed surprised, but Yue never had a son, so I guess there are exceptions.

" So that place is the realm of the dead?" Sakura looked at Aunt Yelan. " Do you know anything about this, Li-san?"
Aunt Yelan hesitated. " Hai." She said slowly. " Every night, his heart stops beating, he stops breathing and freezes there as if time itself froze. Yet every morning he wakes."
" Isn't that risky?" Tomoyo asked. " I mean, he could just go and never come back."
Aunt Yelan looked at her. " I know. That's why I always worry. So far he always comes back. But I don't know how long it will last."
" Not long." Yue answered from Syaoran's bed. Syaoran had his eyes closed, but this time he didn't take us with him to whatever place he went. Most likely back to the creepy world again.
" Not long." Yue repeated, still holding Syaoran. " He doesn't have much time. It may prolong for a while, I think." He turned his head and looked at Auntie. " He hasn't been to the Dead World in the days when he was in Japan, has he?"
" I don't know." Aunt Yelan answered. " He never spoke of it, and I never asked."
" You should." Yue's voice was cold. As cold as his words.

As it always has been.