Chapter Eight - Soul Wings

"Okay, I lied. Sakura, you get to learn something...that is, if you will let me borrow three of your Cards," Eriol said after they had set up umbrellas and laid out towels to recline on.

"Sure! Which three?" Sakura pulled her Deck out from her beach bag.

"Uhm, Shield, Mirror and Create," Eriol decided. Sakura handed them over.

"And Li, Kerberos, may I borrow the sword?" Eriol asked both carefully to avoid the issue as to whose sword it really was. It was Li's, but Kerberos had it on involuntary loan as Li couldn't use it. They nodded in unison.

"Thank you!" Eriol bowed.

"Okay, now everyone spread out from that driftwood there, to the shore there and the beach head there. Play for a few minutes doing the normal things you would do on a beach," Eriol directed, holding up one glowing Card.

Yukito and Touya took the beach ball and went into the water, Tomoyo picked up a bucket to look for shells, Fujitaka began digging a fire pit for cooking their food later and Sakura grabbed Kerberos' hand and ran down the beach.

"Oh, 'cute relative' you'll have to stay with me and not move for a few minutes. I'm setting the vision now," Eriol told him as he picked Li up and put him on his shoulder. Li draped his tail down Eriol's back to serve as an anchor and went still.

"Very good! You do learn fast!" Eriol approved as he watched the play on the beach for several minutes.

"That should be enough," he finally decided. "Would you go and get everyone back, Li-kun?" he asked. Li darted off, letting each person know they could return.

"Now that Create knows what I want it to show, Shield and Mirror can set the boundaries," Eriol told them.

"Shield, Mirror, Create! Protect this area from unwary eyes! Conceal the truth and show the world only what I want them to see! Release!" Eriol tossed the three Cards into the air and triggered them with the sword. The three Card spirits whirled up and formed a huge dome over the area Eriol had specified.

"So anyone outside the dome will see..." Fujitaka began.

"...the vision of people playing on a beach," Sakura finished.

"Yes. Even if they come within the Dome that is what they will see, because of Mirror and Shield sets the area so that the Create Card can function all around us," Eriol explained.

"Neat! I didn't know you could use three cards for one spell at once like that!" Sakura said.

"If you can't now, you will soon. The more powerful you grow, the more you can do with them," Eriol tousled her hair and smiled at her.

"I assume that we are not going to simply play on the beach like normal people then, since you set a magic barrier up," Tomoyo noted.

"We are going to play," Eriol told her, "Just in a different way!" he held up a different Card. The Clow Circle on the back was iridescent.

"Ooh! Pretty!" Sakura turned Eriol's hand over so she could watch the light play across the back of the Card.

"This is a new Card I devised. It's more like one of the Elemental Cards in that it houses a spell, not a Card spirit, but it's not just an Elemental attack. I call this card 'Soul Wings'," Eriol told them.

"'Soul Wings'?" Touya asked.

"Yes, it has something of Fly and a new magic element I have been studying..."

"We should compare notes," Fujitaka muttered. "I think I have been researching the same material..."

"What does it do?" Sakura asked.

"Just as its name implies. It evokes wings of magic...that is wings you can fly with, but also wings that tell you something about the person from the shape of the wings or what they are made of..." Eriol explained. "I've been studying the soul in my magical research lately."

"Uhm...okay..." Sakura seemed unsure, "The ability to fly is useful, but why tie it into the soul like that?"

"You'll see! I see you, trying to hide back there! For once, you will be first! Front and center, Tomoyo-san!" Eriol called.

She cringed behind Touya until Yukito encouraged her to face Eriol.

"I don't want to be first! I'm never first..." Tomoyo protested faintly, kicking at the sand.

"I know. That is why I insist you be first now, sweetheart," Eriol told her affectionately. Tomoyo looked up in surprise.

"Yes, even though you don't have any magic of your own, I respect you and consider you a friend. You have always helped Sakura...so you get to be first!"

"O, okay...it won't...hurt, will it?" Tomoyo asked hesitantly. Eriol stepped toward her and laid a hand on her cheek as he looked with gentle intent into her worried eyes.

"I'd never hurt you. Cast you into a never-ending sleep if Sakura had failed to break my spell, yes," Eriol admitted as he rolled his eyes, "but hurt you? No!"

Eriol set Tomoyo in front of him, tossed the Card into the air and tapped it with the sword.

"Tomoyo! Soul Wings! Release!"

The magic circle was light and iridescent, reaching up into a hemisphere that briefly concealed Tomoyo from view. It melted down and disappeared into the ground again. Tomoyo extended the wings the Card had given her.

"Oh, Tomoyo-chan! They're lovely!" Sakura breathed, reaching forward and touching one edge.

"That tickles!" Tomoyo told her. "What do they look like? I can't quite see..."

Eriol stepped forward as if he would do something, only to be checked by Touya's hand on his shoulder.

"Allow me. I suspect you will be casting quite a few spells today. I can manage a simple mirror," Touya told him. Eriol bowed his head in agreement. Touya's spell made a full length mirror shimmer in the air.

"Oh! They're lace and ribbons and bells...!" Tomoyo admired her image. "This is fun! How did you know? Thank you, Eriol-kun!"

"Your soul knew. I just cast the spell," Eriol told her with a smile.

"Ladies first, Sakura!" Eriol told her as he cast the spell on her. The magic cleared to show Sakura's wings to be exactly like the white feathered ones the Fly Card gave her.

"Oh, no different!" Tomoyo was slightly disappointed.

"Yeah, but," Sakura flexed one wing a little, "These I can feel! As if they are part of me!"

"Kerberos!" Eriol called next.

"I have wings!" Kerberos argued.

"Your body has wings. Let's see what your soul has!" Eriol tagged him with the spell.

"You have always liked making me look ridiculous!" Kero complained a moment later, flexing the little toy wings in front of the mirror. "Li's body looks stupid with my wings!"

"You do have two sets of wings, you know," Eriol pointed out, "You can't become the Guardian Beast but you should be able to wear those wings if you want!"

"Hmm, let me try..." Kerberos closed his eyes and scrunched up his face. The Clow circle formed and the toy wings sprouted into his full-grown Guardian wings.

"Much better!" Kero decided, "Pretty cool-lookin' huh, kid?" he asked Li. Li only nodded, impressed with how Kero appeared. He wondered what his own "soul wings" would look like.

"You're next!" Eriol pointed at Touya, "Touya! Soul Wings! Release!"

The magic hemisphere cleared to reveal a huge cloud of feathers. They swirled and disappeared as Touya opened his new wings. His wings looked just like Yue's, but where Yue's were purest white, Touya's were deepest black. Unlike the girls or Kerberos, Touya was actually floating on the power of his wings. As they opened fully everyone noticed another change.

Touya's swim trunks had changed into an outfit that was an exact duplicate of Yue's, except that it was black and silver rather than white and blue.

"You do like altering spells, Touya-kun!" Fujitaka smiled, "Clow would have had either a best friend or a bitter rival in him!" he told Eriol, "Maybe both!"

Eriol's jaw dropped in amazement, "I didn't realize there was that much power in this Card! Touya's become a..." Eriol searched for the words, "...a Dark Yue!"

"'Dark Yue'?" Touya echoed floating nearer, "I like that! You don't mind do you, Yuki?"

"Mind? No! I...he...Yue, looks...like that?!" Yukito stammered, slightly shy in front of this altered Touya. Touya pulled Yuki to stand in front of the mirror. Even he was slightly surprised at how very like Yue he appeared. Only his face was still his own...and even then his eyes...

"Yes, except he's got insanely long silver hair, white wings and a white outfit," Touya pointed out the differences in the mirror. Yukito turned from the mirror and looked at his best friend. He bent down and picked up the ends of Touya's black hair from the ground.

"'Insanely long hair'?" he teased Touya.

"Yeah...oh, man! I hate long hair!" he exclaimed, "On me that is," he amended at Yukito's look, "I like it on Yue well enough!"

"I wonder what your wings look like?" Touya asked Yukito as he slanted a meaningful look toward Eriol. Eriol bowed and Touya floated back to give Yukito center stage.

"They'd just look like Yue's. You don't have to..." Yukito protested.

"Not necessarily," Eriol remarked holding back the sword for a moment, "You are different from Kerberos in that your soul is different from Yue's. You aren't Yue and you aren't simply a scaled down version of him either."

"And who knows? If you do have Yue's wings maybe you'll have his hair and outfit too. Then you can see what he looks like...sort of," Touya pointed out.

"Yukito! Soul Wings! Release!" Eriol commanded.

This time the magic cleared to reveal a floating globe of moonlight. Fujitaka started in shock, wondering if Eriol's spell based on Yukito's soul had broken the spell he placed on Yue's soul in the Ritual. A dismayed silence lasted until the moonlight parted and Yukito emerged. He opened his eyes.

"That was interesting," he said, "For a moment I thought I actually saw Yue...but I couldn't have...could I?"

"I don't know. Wow, Yuki! You have the best wings of all!" Touya told him.

"Really? Are they like Yue's?"

"Nuh-uh! They are definitely all yours!" Touya replied, "Come on, look!"

Yukito let Touya haul him in front of the mirror again. His swim trunks had stayed the same, but the most amazing wings reached up in a shimmering wave from his back to curve gracefully above his head and taper to ends near his ankles.

"What are they?" he finally asked.

"May I?" Touya asked holding out a hand. Yukito nodded. Touya ran a gentle touch along the edge.

"Solid moonlight!" he breathed. "They are so awesome!"

"Do you really think so?" Yukito asked, looking warmly and trustingly up at Touya, as the Dark Yue, for the first time.

"I'd never lie to you!" Touya promised. "I might look different, but I'm still the same. I'm not like you and Yue...this is just a change in appearance..."

"I know that but...To-ya...how did you alter Eriol's magic that way?" Yuki was troubled, "...and why?"

"I don't know...but let's just enjoy the day. It will be over, the spell will be banished soon enough and then you and I won't have wings, either black feathers or silver moonlight anymore. Let's not worry about things that don't matter!" Touya declared.

"Y, you're right..." Yukito hesitantly agreed.

"Fujitaka! Soul Wings! Release!" Eriol called behind them.

"No, Eriol-kun! There is really no need...!" Fujitaka had time to protest before the magic concealed him.

All eyes were on the clearing magic and everyone held his or her breath as Fujitaka's wings were revealed.

"What?" Sakura asked, stepping toward her father.

"Ivy! Peach blossoms! Pinks and sakura blossoms too!" she exclaimed. "Other flowers as well! Otoosan, your wings are a garden!" she laughed.

"All my favorite flowers," Fujitaka agreed. "So your spell brings out..."

"The secret meaning and heart of the soul...I think," Eriol finished.

"Your family is most important to you; your whole life is devoted to them, so to you, symbolically, their flowers bear you up," Eriol guessed.

"And Tomoyo creates beauty in how she puts ordinary things together with cheerful effort. Her wings reflect that," he continued with a smile, pointing to the delighted young woman.

"Sakura's wings show her pure drive to make everything 'all right' so they aren't any different than her Fly Card wings because that is how she uses the Card anyway," Fujitaka mused.

"Kerberos is Kerberos is Kerberos, a Guardian through and through no matter what body he's in," Eriol laughed.

"What about Touya-kun? That took you by surprise!" Fujitaka asked.

"It probably shouldn't have. I know he has the ability to reshape magic to suit his needs...though I am not certain what the significance of Dark Yue is. Maybe a suitable companion for Yue as Touya is for Yukito?" Eriol looked Touya up and down again in solemn approval. "I missed a bet with Ruby Moon! Dark Yue would have been an appropriate Guardian for me!"

"And Yukito's moonwings show us that he is strongly Moon-aligned in his own right, apart from Yue. Wings of pure moonlight..." Fujitaka concluded.

"Hmm. That strong an alignment..." Eriol cupped his chin and looked up at Fujitaka.

"I catch your meaning..." they walked off down the beach, talking about magic.

"I'm going to try something," Touya told Yuki, "but I need to get that Card from Eriol..."

Yukito looked to where Fujitaka and Eriol had paused their walking to hold an animated discussion. Eriol still held the Card, but loosely at his side. Yukito looked around. Sakura, Tomoyo and Kerberos had wandered down further on the beach tentatively trying out their new wings. He spied something on one of the towels.

"Do you want to help us?" Yukito asked as he crouched by Li.

"Me? What can I do?" Li was surprised, but grateful that Yukito had remembered he was here. He was getting kind of bored and lonely.

"Go and get that Card from Eriol!" Yukito smiled, "You're small enough and quick enough to get it away and bring it to Touya..."

"Is it wise to make Eriol mad?" Li asked. Touya reached down and picked Li up. He scowled at him eye to eye.

"Is it wise to make me mad?" Touya demanded.

Li darted off toward Eriol in a panic.

Yukito laughed, "Touya, that was evil! That poor kid..."

"I'll apologize later!" Touya promised with a smile. A moment later, Li dropped the Card in the air above Touya and darted around to press against Yukito's other side. Yukito could feel the tiny toy body shaking with fear and realized that Touya had intimidated Li into doing something against Eriol. From his intense reaction, Yukito suspected that Li was frightened of Eriol for some reason. Touya reached up and caught the Card.

"I won't let either of them do anything to you no matter how this ends. If needed, I'll have Yue show up to protect you..." Yukito promised in a whisper. The shaking eased.

"Li?" Touya called softly. "How do you release the magic of your Cards without your sword? I've seen you do it..."

"I...I...I..." Li stammered as he floated into Touya's sight.

"Li-kun," Touya sighed as he reached for the hovering Li who darted instinctively away, "Do I really appear to be that evil?!" Touya asked Yukito in exasperation.

"No...except when you scowl!"

"I'm not going to hurt you. I was only teasing! You were the only one who could get the Card for me and you are the only one who can tell me how to release the spell. I don't think Eriol will be too upset...and if he is...he'll have to face Dark Yue!" Touya boasted with a laugh.

"And then the real one," Yukito added calmly.

"Come on, it's a prank. Eriol-san does have a sense of humor!"

"O, okay. Focus on the Card...what aspect is it?" Li asked. Touya closed his eyes. Li landed on his shoulder and glanced around Touya's wing toward Eriol and Fujitaka to make certain they were still busy with their discussion. He noted that Fujitaka actually brushed Eriol's hand with a wing tip to emphasize a point. Evidently, the soul wings really did feel like a part of you. Li wished that Eriol hadn't overlooked him when casting the spell, but he was too proud to say anything.

"Wind...Air..." Touya decided.

"For Air I think of clouds...how they change as they move across the sky... Think about that until the spell in the Card is pushing at your mind...once it does, let it build for a moment, then..." Li explained, pulling his attention back to Touya.

"Eriol! Soul Wings! Release!" Touya called.

Eriol turned and smiled at Li, who then knew he hadn't been stealthy enough; Eriol had wanted him to pilfer the Card. The magic surrounded Eriol, then cleared to reveal his black butterfly wings.

"I knew you would insist on finding out what my soul wings are," Eriol remarked as he walked toward Touya, Yukito and Li. Up close there were blue, green and purple marking on the wings as well.

"And my wings show my fascination with change and the idea of emerging into a new life...I'm just a little tired of the butterfly motif..." Eriol admitted.

"Okay...Touya-kun, why don't you, Fujitaka-san and Yukito-san join Sakura-chan and the others. You haven't even tried your wings yet! Here I go and bring this new Card all the way from England and no one seems to care..." Eriol groused. "I'll stay with Li-kun!"

"I bet you're feeling a little left out," Eriol said as the others walked off. "You couldn't be in the masking spell, I can't use the Soul Wings Card on you because the form you are in already has wings..."

"I could have stayed at home," Li agreed, gratified that Eriol had considered his feelings, "but it was fun taking the Card from you for Touya!" he grinned.

"It took me a moment to realize it was gone. You really are good with your wings!" Eriol told him. "Well, Kerberos' wings," he amended.

"Do you know what else Kero-chan can do while in the toy form?" Eriol asked.

"No."

"Ah. Well, if you learn enough of his magic, I think you might be able to manifest as the full Guardian Beast. Kerberos can fly, dispel magic (you already know that, 'cause you did it with the magic flame!), sense magic and levitate objects."

"Oh, pardon the interruption..." Tomoyo walked nervously toward them.

"Not at all! What is it?" Eriol asked kindly.

"Uhm...I have something for Li-kun..." Tomoyo began hesitantly. "No, never mind. It's silly anyway!"

Eriol grasped her hand to check her flight.

"Tomoyo...I could go away for a bit, if that would make it easier for you," Eriol offered.

"Uhm..." Tomoyo's eyes begged him to, even though she wouldn't actually come out and ask.

Eriol smiled and took to the air on the butterfly wings he still wore. He spiraled expertly up to where everyone else was playing in the air.

"Uhm, Li-kun...you'll probably think it's silly..." Tomoyo twisted her hands.

"Where's your camera?" Li asked suddenly, noticing that her hands were empty.

"Oh!" Tomoyo smiled, much more comfortable with this topic. "It's on the blankets. I set it to auto focus on Sakura and record. Once in a while the camera automatically focuses on someone else or goes to a wide angle. It's a program I wrote..."

"That's very clever. You really are an expert with recording equipment, aren't you?"

"Well, I don't know about that..." Tomoyo demurred.

"Anyway, I have something for you!" Tomoyo reached into her beach bag and brought a package out. She opened it and showed Li the outfit she had made for him.

It was a scaled down replica of his green battle costume.

"I had so many shots of you wearing your battle robes on my tapes it was easy to make this for you last night!" Tomoyo told him. "Come on! Let's see how it looks!"

Deftly Tomoyo helped Li into the outfit that was a perfect fit. Li was astounded at how accurate to his real robes it was. He told Tomoyo of his amazement at her skill.

"Oh...I can't tell you how many costumes I made for Kerberos! I could sew an outfit for him in my sleep!" she laughed.

"Th, thank you, Tomoyo. This is..." Li's toy throat closed, almost as if he would cry if he continued to speak.

"Don't worry about it!" Tomoyo noticed his difficulty. "I thought...having something at least somewhat familiar would help...it can't be easy...what you are going through...but I'll help any way I can!"

Overwhelmed, Li flew up and tried to hug her face.

"Li-kun," Tomoyo stroked the back of his toy head, "You'll be okay! Sakura will find the Change Card and undo this soon!"

Li caught her hand between his two paws and rather formally kissed the back of it.

"Thank you, Tomoyo! I won't forget your kindness!"

Eriol landed nearby and walked up.

"Are you done with your discussion, or should I go away again?" he asked politely. "Nice costume, Li-kun! Did you make it, Tomoyo-chan?"

"Tomoyo thought it would help me...I love it!" Li told him vehemently as Tomoyo blushed.

Eriol laughed and held up his hands, "I love it too! The colors compliment your yellow fur perfectly! Are you ready to resume your lesson, or..."

"I did what I came here to do," Tomoyo admitted.

Eriol kissed her cheek, "You did well! Go and enjoy your wings!" he suggested.

Li and Eriol watched as Tomoyo beamed and took off to join the others.

"She has such a big heart," Eriol commented, looking after her, "Someday I hope she finds what she needs..."

"Now! About your lessons!"

Eriol spent several hours with Li, teaching him how to sense magic with Kerberos' ability and then drilling him using a deck of Cards Li had never seen. Li was amazed at the diversity of spells in the Cards. After a while, Eriol had him try to levitate the Cards from his hand. It was hard to say who was more pleased when Li succeeded.

"You know, 'cute relative', you shouldn't be frightened of me. I don't have any reason to try to hurt you," Eriol remarked out of the blue, sitting down, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

"I, I'm not...at least not all the time. It's only when I remember that you are Clow..." Li admitted.

"Only part of Clow. You aren't frightened of Fujitaka-san," Eriol noted.

"I, I knew him as an ordinary man before you gave half of your power to him. I know he is part of Clow too...but you seem more like Clow to me!" Li actually landed on Eriol's hand as he tried to explain.

"All of my life, all I wanted was to meet Clow somehow, to know why he did what he did...I wanted his Cards so I could understand him..."

"And Sakura claimed the Cards instead. You became accustomed to that, started to fall in love with her...then I showed up," Eriol realized.

"Yeah. I could tell there was something different about you from the start. You were also being so nice to Sakura...I guess to throw her off that you were also attacking her..."

"No. Actually, I like Sakura very much," Eriol admitted softly.

"Not that way! You don't need to worry!" Eriol smiled at Li's involuntary bristle, "But she is easy to be nice to. You are more of a challenge, but a challenge I hope to meet. You are my 'cute relative' and I am fond of you too!"

"Oh, this Change between you and Kerberos is frustrating! I wanted to see your soul wings!" Eriol growled.

"Yeah, me too..." Li sighed.

"Well, then, learn all you can about being a Guardian Beast and figure out what you and Kero-chan must do to Change back. I promise I'll use the Soul Wings Card again once you are your normal self!" Eriol offered.

"That would be...cool," Li decided, shining Kerberos' toy eyes up at his... "'My esteemed ancestor'?" he ventured timidly.

Eriol rolled his eyes, "Makes me feel so old..."

"How about...'cute ancestor'?" Li asked.

"If you must..." Eriol grumbled, but his eyes sparkled with quiet delight as he smiled.

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Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!

stargarde@stargarde.com

Next chapter teaser - Moon Arrows