Somewhere Over the Rainbow
by Zenin
Chapter Twelve: Dysphoria
"Syaoran Li, just what is your problem?!"
"Syaoran Li, just what is your problem?!"
"Syaoran Li, just what is your problem?!"
I hate echoes…
His face floated before me, all the expressions gleefully announcing their presence in the loudest of voices. Pain. Reproach. Guilt. And that other one. Oh yeah, I remember. Love. Syaoran Li loves me.
You'd think it would be so simple. He loves me, I love him… Seriously, people, the Barney song was making a comeback in the flesh. And that dream of mine--the one where Syaoran had danced around in a teddy bear suit--just about clinched it for me.
I giggled light-headedly…then sank, unconscious, to the ground.
That was when I traveled to Nothing World. More weird dreams there. The whatever-their-names were, Muses, gave me a rhyme that was supposed to help guide my way. Guide my way where? Did I need guiding? Did it look like I needed guiding? Well, I didn't think so. And when Calliope kissed me on the forehead, the flood of information was almost more than I could bear. I instantly knew what most of the rhyme meant. There was only one thing left to do. Make decisions.
And I am so indecisive.
Here is what was presented to me:
"Where nothing breathes, yet they're alive;
Where all men fail, though they strive;
Lies the secret of their past.
Only those without malice or strife
Will survive and keep their life.
Beyond the gates of stony keep
Lies the secret, hidden deep.
"Token of Unity,
Amulet of Wrong,
Created by evil leprechauns.
Destroy the One, and they are free.
Yet choice remains,
'To give, or to keep?"
And here is what I figured out:
Okay, the first line, "Where nothing breathes, yet they're alive" was water. Nothing can breathe underwater. Fish live in water, so that solved that. I was to go to some watery place.
The second line was confusing…at first. "Where all men fail, though they strive." Right. So, I guess that means everyone's gonna fail no matter what. Why try, then? I was stumped...until I remembered the cute little legend about Camp Skittles' founding. The legend about the gigantic rainbow and all those archeologists and townspeople from the surrounding areas that came to see the spectacular (not to mention mythical) "end of the rainbow." There was a stone at the bottom of Rainbow Pond, the place where the rainbow ended, that the people tried to move. But they failed, time and again. And that was that. Nice picnic. Pretty scenery. Hey, how about we make some cash?
The third line obviously meant the stone at the bottom. It had a secret code carved on it that no one could decipher. The fourth and fifth lines were somewhat confusing. I couldn't figure those out; no matter how much knowledge Calliope gave me.
"Beyond the gates of stony keep, lies the secret, hidden deep." Oh, so the secret whatever-it-was is hidden beneath the stone. I get it.
It occurred to me that the Muses could have just said what they wanted me to do, but nooo. They just had to give me a riddle.
"Token of Unity, Amulet of Wrong, Created by evil leprechauns." Okay, so the secret thingummie is a not-too-nice amulet that was created by the very sprites that sent the rainbow. I guess, somehow, the townspeople were lured there. To complete a spell? What spell? What is evil? What's wrong? I saw nothing wrong with the camp, or the pond, or the stone. Nothing seemed out of order.
"Destroy the One and they are free--" Someone is being held captive somewhere…
"But choice remains, 'to give or to keep?'"
Wha--?
When I finally came out of Nothing World, I was in my bed at Cabin Four; with Yukio standing next to me and looking very anxious.
"Sakura? Daijoubu desu ka? You just…collapsed after Li left."
I stood quickly. "Nothing's wrong, Yukio. I'm fine."
His worried blue eyes stared at me pleadingly. "Sakura, onegai, what is wrong?"
I was surprised to feel a tiny edge of anger. "Yukio," I said through gritted teeth. "I'm, fine, everything's fine, life is good. I have some things to attend to; so, please, can I just be alone for now?"
He looked shocked at my verbal rebuff, which only served to somehow heighten my anger. I felt impatient, and he was wasting precious minutes of my time. Yukio finally nodded shortly and turned to leave, throwing one last glance over his shoulder. "Well, if you need me, just call, okay?"
I waved him out the door and shut it firmly, leaning against it as thoughts wildly threw cartwheels in my mind. Finally, one thought surfaced above the jumbled others.
"Let's see if I can get that Amulet."
Everyone was gone, even Yukio. I opened the door cautiously and found that the camp was as still as a mortuary. When I ventured into the guys' cabin, it was empty as well. I guess Syaoran had not run here immediately, because there was no sign of him anywhere in the camp. Except for…his sword.
The ancient blade glimmered from where it lay on the table amidst a pile of polish cloths. A heard a soft voice in my mind whisper, "Take it." So, without further questioning, I took it and swiftly retreated back to Cabin Four, locking the door securely behind me. For a while I just stared at the blade, scared of it and the voice in my head. "Why?" I breathed aloud. "Why do I need this when I have a sword of my own?"
The powerful feeling of magic increased until bits of mist gathered together, forming the owner of the quiet voice.
Gray hair hung in untidy snarls as the Condiment Woman gazed at me impassively. "Hi."
"You?" I gasped.
"You bet your buttons it's me. I'm the Thought Card." Here, she paused. "Actually, please call me by my real name: Aviah."
I nodded, struck dumb at the sudden enlightenment I had just received. Finally, I managed to speak.
"I would have never…never guessed…"
The woman shook her head with exasperation. "No," she croaked. "You wouldn't have. Put the fate of the Cards between you and the boy and we'd be stuck here forever."
I decided to ignore that statement as I turned away. I gazed at the room, at a loss for what to do next.
"You were asking about the sword," Aviah reminded me. "And you wanted to know why you needed it."
I nodded my head wordlessly and stared at the wonderfully crafted blade in my hand. The Condiment Woman pointed to the Sakura Book. "Your sword card was defeated by The Cut, remember? If you were to try something else with a sword, I suggest you have something more substantial."
"Oh."
Yeah, brilliant reply, wasn't it?
"Hey, how did you know that I was going to attempt something?"
The woman rolled her eyes. "Honestly. You and the boy are a perfect match after all."
I glared at her heatedly, finally eliciting a response from the stubborn Card.
"I'm the Thought Card, girl. I can't tell exactly what's up in that head of yours, but I caught a few stray thoughts."
"Well then, here are the rest of them: I love Syaoran and I'm going to go for a swim."
She looked confused. "Eh?"
I promptly ignored her and glanced around the room. "I've established a mind connection with the Sakura cards, so I won't take them with me. I have the Key, and that will do. Syaoran's sword…oh!"
Tomoyo had gone nuts on making cardcaptoring outfits for me to wear on this trip. So far, I hadn't worn any of them. And since this appeared to be the ending of the entire escapade, I decided to go out in style. A lovely, sky-blue gown that was "guaranteed to dry the moment you step out of the water", was hanging in the closet. I took off my grubby town clothes and slipped into the dress, admiring the cool swish of the fabric against my body. Tomoyo had never made anything more comfortable.
"You're going to swim in that?"
I smiled secretively. "Yes." And I'm planning on doing more than that.
The swim to the bottom of Rainbow Pond was chilling. The water was the strangest thing I had ever encountered. Blue, golden, purple, white…the colors scintillated and swirled dizzyingly. I briefly shut my eyes against them, and gasped when my hand smacked into a rough surface. It was a good thing that I had the Shield card helping me breathe underwater.
The stone was there, easily recognizable by the strange code carved all over it. I thought that it would be hard to move; but strangely enough, the stone slid smoothly to the side the moment I touched it. Underneath was a small hollow, a flat wooden box nestled in a bed of multicolored seaweed at the bottom of the hollow. I reached in and grasped it; gasping as waves of strong, weird power flooded my system. It was difficult to fight the strength of the power, but I managed to get the box out…opening it with an effort. The Amulet fell into my waiting hands.
If everything else had been weird, this topped them all. I saw myself at the tops of mountains, screaming spells that made all mankind bow and pay homage. I saw myself sitting in a glorious throne, laughing as I made people I didn't like roll in unimaginable filth. I saw myself killing people who dared defy my power. And it felt so good. I actually giggled as I watched a poor farmer be crushed beneath my will, his property drilled for oil, his wife and kids put into life long bondage… I was Queen. Empress. I was the Universal Ruler.
And, for one moment I laughed. Not my usual laugh, no, a different laugh. An evil laugh. But then Syaoran's eyes flashed before me, full of reproach. I then saw Kero, Tomoyo, Touya, Outo-san, Naoko, Yamazaki, Chen, Xiefa, Emiko, Akashi, Akemi, Meilin… I saw all of them. And I knew that whatever this amulet was, it was evil. And it was to be destroyed.
I swam to the surface, shocked at the sight that met my eyes. Everyone was there, from Kero to Syaoran. Even the Rainbow Cards were assembled, staring as I emerged from the pond, dripping.
Every eye was on me; and for a second, I faltered. Then my shoulders squared as I turned to the Rainbow cards. "Recognize this?" I asked softly, dangling the amulet before their astonished eyes.
Hoshi gasped and shrank behind Laughter, who looked away quickly, trembling. Reveal began crying, held by the Cut who simply glared its hatred at the amulet. Speech was in a similar state…but what shook me up the most was the Condiment Woman.
She was crying.
The Cards were crying. And only humans have feelings, right? Sure, my Mirror card developed a strange liking for my brother, but it was the only Card in the deck that showed emotion of any kind. Not to mention, the Mirror Card is an "it". Hoshi had explained to me not so long ago that Rainbow cards all had distinct genders.
All of these cards had displayed wit, wisdom, knowledge…they had acted towards me and towards each other the same way humans would act towards one another. And this led me to the full understanding of the riddle.
The Rainbow cards were not originally cards. They were humans…perhaps the very same humans who had traveled to the end of the huge rainbow all those years ago. They had been caught by the leprechauns, and transformed into a life of bondage. All hope of seeing their families again as humans had been destroyed in that one spell.
So, there was a decision to make. I could keep them as my Cards, or I could set them free by destroying the amulet in my hand. And something told me that the amulet had other uses to go along with controlling the cards. How many other humans did it possess?
I dropped the amulet and raised Syaoran's sword; my eyes meeting his in one breathtaking, yet painful moment. Destroying something so powerful would definitely have consequences, but that was a risk I was willing to take, so long as it didn't hurt anyone but me.
"Shield," I whispered, too soft for anyone to hear. "Protect them."
The shield flashed up; as I slashed down upon the amulet with the sword.
"Sakura! NO!"
I hope the shield is strong enough…
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Dun dun dun…
Next chappie coming soon. This one is for all those people begging for explanations. So, rather than making you wait a looong time for the next chapter, I decided to post this…in Sakura's POV, no less. I hope it doesn't seem rushed. I really am not rushing this, I just didn't think you all would want me to go into all the details. ^_^ And, I will be thanking all of you wonderful reviewers individually at the end of SOTR.
Yay! I've lengthened it to one more chapter!
© 2002 Zenin Industries