**usual disclaimers apply**

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A MAGICIAN'S CURSE

by Yumemi

~Epilogue~

"Sorry, no more hotdogs." The lady at the counter said.

"OH MAN!" shouted a male, blonde, blue-eyed SeeD with the trademark tattoo on his face, Zell. He walked away from the cafeteria just to see Sakura walking towards him.

"Zell…" she said, with a half-smile on her face.

Zell looked up. He smiled and waved his hand in the air. "Don't mind me. I'm fine." He said.

Sakura opened his mouth to say something but closed it again.

"Sakura, just take care of yourself for me, okay?" Zell flashed a genuine smile.

Sakura looked back at him, smiling, with sparkling eyes filled with tears and embraced him. "Thank you…"

Zell embraced her for the last time. "Don't mention it." They broke their embrace with Sakura wiping her tears. Zell joked with her a bit to make her smile. Though deep inside his heart ached for the loss of her, Zell was happy to see her happy.

"Sakura, it's time. Saehri's calling." a male voice from behind her said. Sakura turned around to see a brown-haired boy, just Sakura's age, with amber eyes and well-built body.

"Sayoran…" Sakura said, walking closer to embrace him.

Syaoran broke their embrace and faced Zell. "Thank you. Thank you for taking care of Sakura." He said as he clasped Zell's hand.

Zell gripped it tightly and smiled. "Always glad to be of service. You better go then; Rhi might get angry with me for keeping you."

With that, the trio walked to the quad where a host of people were seen. There was a talking lion with wings and no mane on one side, there was a black panther with green butterfly wings, a tall and stately man with silver hair, ice-blue eyes and a pair of wings. It was like a costume party actually.

"Sakura! Syaoran!...Zell!" a female wearing a magician's robe and hat with deep blue eyes and long black hair greeted them, holding a camera in her hand. The three subjects waved and smiled for her.

"Tomoyo! You can never change!" Sakura said.

Tomoyo turned off the cam and smiled. "It would be boring if I did." She said.

"I think so too." Sakura replied.

They then proceeded to walk towards Saehri.

"Wu's dead - because of the Death and Sakura's deepest desires came true… so was everything else - you know, things fixed and stuff - because of the Life card." A tired Saehri explained again to the others… for the sixth time.

"Interesting." A slit-eyed boy named Takashi said. "I think…"

"Keep quiet, Takashi!" Chiharu, a girl with pigtails, interjected.

"Can Wu still die if she's already dead?" the glasses-wearing Naoko asked.

Saehri sighed.

"It seems you're having a hard time controlling them." Rinoa said, laughing.

Saehri smiled. "Yes, yes. Quite the though bunch I say…"

"'Tough Bunch'? what do you mean 'Tough Bunch'?" Takashi asked.

"Takashi…" Chiharu said, pinching his ear.

"Hmm… killing an undead… interesting…" Naoko said, walking away.

Rinoa and Saehri both sweatdropped. "weird." They both said at the same time.

"Hey! Sakura's here!" Keroberos' loud and booming voice said. The huge guardian then turned into his 'stuffed animal' form and flew directly at her. All other people crowded them.

Rinoa smiled. "I'm gonna miss her." She said.

"Very likely." Saehri replied. And then she stood up and shouted, "Hey! All people needed here come over here now! Say all your final good-byes!"

The majority of the crowd then migrated behind her, all prepared. Sakura, Ruriko, Shun and Yukino said or waved their good-byes to the SeeD group.

"Thanks again for the wonderful "Light" experience." Irvine told Ruriko.

"No prob." She said.

"I'm gonna miss ya man!" Shun told Zell.

Zell smiled. "Me too. Too bad I wasn't able to get hotdogs for you." he replied.

Then, they too left and joined Saehri. Zell and the others stepped closer.

"Thanks Rhi." Zell said.

Saehri only smiled. "Good-bye, Huan-Lang, your majesty." She bowed.

No one laughed, only smiled. Everybody was quite solemn and sad - but at the same time happy as well. Then, a dark-haired boy with glasses holding a long staff with a golden sun on the top end, and a tall man with light brown hair and glasses stepped forward.

"Hold on." She told the two of them. Saehri then said something and a bright light came out from the two people and joined into one. When the bright light faded, a tall man with long black hair tied at the back - looking just like a male counterpart of Saehri - with glasses wearing a Chinese suit appeared. Saehri smiled. "Reed…" she said.

The man called Reed smiled. "Until now you still can't perform this spell on your own?" he said jokingly.

"With this many people? No…" she replied. Then whispered, "I'll be seeing you soon."

Clow Reed, as Sakura knew very well, smiled at his twin sister. Then, at the same time the two chanted and a large teleporting circle encircled the whole group. Sakura and the others waved good-bye for the last time and then there was a flash… then nothing at all.

Zell wiped a few tears away from his eyes.

Irvine clasped his hand on Zell's shoulders and said, "There are still many fishes in the sea, you know."

"Shut up." He said.

Then, for the first time in the whole event, Squall spoke up. "Let's go."

Rinoa smiled and put her hands akimbo. "You're so heartless." She said.

"What did I do?" Squall asked.

Rinoa just smiled and led him out. Everybody else followed them.

"Mr. Fujitaka Kinomoto was a very nice man." A sweet voice from behind said. Zell looked around to see matron walking behind him.

"Hi, Matron." Zell greeted.

"Hello, Zell. Feeling better?" she asked.

Zell nodded. And then, he looked up and said, "Thank you Matron. You saved me."

Matron just smiled. "Let's go now and forget that. Your Ma will be pretty worried about you by now." She said.

Zell smiled and walked away from Matron and closer to where Irvine, Selphie, Quistis, Rinoa and Squall were. "Hey guys! Let's go to Balamb and visit Ma! Let's eat there!" he said.

"Won't Ma Dincht get angry? It's really unexpected!" Rinoa said.

"Nah! She won't!" Zell replied.

"Let's go then!" came Selphie's jolly answer.

And so, they went to Zell's house and ate there.

Meanwhile, on the other side…

They all arrived at the empty lot where the Gatekeepers were still standing. Only five minutes had passed since Shun, Ruriko and Yukino were kidnapped and they were surprised to seeing them come back with the other - supposedly dead - guys. Ruriko started explaining since they needed explanation and just kept a few things to herself. On the other hand, Eriol and Fujitaka Kinomoto were back to normal, as they had fainted when Clow arrived, and well.

For the many people who had seen and talked to Saehri, only Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Eriol and Mr. Fujitaka noticed that she had disappeared. Only Sakura knew where she was now.

Looking up at then sky Sakura closed her eyes and smiled then whispered, "Be happy there."

___________________________________________________________________

*sniff* *sniff*

Well, there you have it. The end. I hope you liked it. Well, it's not actually the type you might have expected but hey! There it is. For those who wished that the Z+S thing should have worked, sorry, I'm quite the S+S fan. And besides, I don't think it would have worked out very well either.

*someone saying, "What do you mean by that?" is heard from the background*

*Sweatdrop*

Hehehe...

Anyways, for those who didn't get why Zell thank Matron, here's the info: remember the 'Liberi Fatali' song? (You know, the Latin song that the Song sang) Matron sang it to Saehri – through mental telepathy – with Ellone's help (hey. let's not forget that Edea was a born sorceress) and therefore, waking the spirit deep inside Zell and thus, shaking him to his senses. (So, it's like the song was a spell to wake Zell up - gets?)

- There! I hope you liked it!

Special thanks to: (people in order of who first reviewed)

C.M Aeris Queen of Insanity, Azrael.EXE, Kali, Leesa, :D, Purple, cjchan, Triad Card 844A, marcia moon, Never-A-Final-Fantasy, CJ-Chan (I dunno of u and cjchan are the same but I'll just write this one…just in case), Callisto Moon, Xtreme Nuisance, Jean, wakka, Mitski, SparkleCandy2002 (Krissy), Rumorgirl411, Hotaru-The Sovreign Of Silence, The-Guardian, The Freaky Angel of Fire,

Dagger_Girl

And of course, let's not forget those readers who didn't review but read anyway AND the other reviewers but aren't included. (Remember that time when FF.net was kinda in a jam – the other review pages *might* (I'm not sure) have been erased. I swear that I started only with C.M Aeris Queen of Insanity!!!! Even if you take a look!!!!) You all inspired me!!! Thank you!!!!!!

~THANK YOU FOR READING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~

until the next fic! Jaa ne!! ^_^

~Yumemi~