"Sakura's Peace"

A Card Captor Fanfiction

By: Bekah-chan

Rated: PG-13



Disclaimer: I don't own Card Captors or the characters therein.



Thanks for the Reviews!! ^_~



Chapter 12, Darkness:

When the Soul-Box shut Madison felt nothing, the nothing that is the absence of everything. Being cut off from her body and senses she had not expected to feel anything, and she didn't. But, she also hadn't expected to be self aware, and she was.

Madison was awake, aware, and trapped in endless darkness. There was no sense of time or space, no light or sound; Just a horrible emptiness, like something was missing. Something was wrong.

Very soon it began to seem as if this empty darkness had no beginning, and there would be no end. She would be in darkness forever; And she had always been there. She forgot she had a name, or even what a name was......

There was only the Darkness.

And then... Light. It was just a sliver, a crack, defining the edge of the darkness around her, giving it boundaries. It took her a few moments to affirm that yes, this was light, the opposite of Darkness. Then she had to remember what light was.

Next came the awareness that she was sitting on a hard surface, hugging her knees to her chest and shaking. And then the knowledge of what these were.

Then she heard a something, a sound coming from the direction of the Light.

~......ison, Madison?~

It was a voice, a familiar one.

~Madison?~ the Voice sounded a little strained, ~Madison, I can't get it open any farther! You'll have to help me!!~

Help? How?

~Try and open the Soul-Box from the inside~

Oh! The Soul-Box! Right, that's where she was, in a box. And boxes had lids.... Lids opened upward! She could do this. She unclenched her arms and slowly brought them up until her hands met a smooth, flat surface... The lid! She pushed upward, gently, and felt it move.

~Oh good!~ the Voice said, sounding relieved, ~Madison, you can hear me~

Yes, she could hear him. What came next?

~Okay, now that I have your attention, let's try teamwork. I'll pull and you push, as hard as you can, okay?~

Did he want an answer? She didn't think she could do that yet.

~I'll take that as a 'yes'~

Great!

~Here we go...~

She braced herself, and got ready to push again.

~On three!..... One..... Two..... Three! Go!~

She pushed upward with all her strength. And the lid moved, slowly, but it moved. When the gap grew to about four inches, the Voice told her to stop. She sensed movement outside the box, and then got her first look at the face that went with the 'voice'.

He was now level with the box, before his voice had come from above it. He was either kneeling or sitting, because now she could see his nose and eyes through the gap. It was a face she did not recognize, although she felt she should. The voice was familiar, why not the face?

~Madison, it's good to see you~ he said, softly, blinking golden eyes at her, ~Are you okay?~

She thought about this for a moment. She was no longer in the endless Darkness; And she had her name, Madison, back. She supposed that this could be considered 'okay', so she gave him a little nod.

~That's Great! I'll bet you'll feel even better when we get you out of there!~ She couldn't see his mouth, but thought he might be smiling. So, she tried a tired smile of her own.

~I thought so! Then, let's get you out, shall we?~ his eyes positively beamed at her, and he closed one in a wink. This caused her to give him a genuine smile, and another nod.

~Okay, here's the deal......~

She listened attentively as he explained that they could continue to open the box as they had been; But, that might take a lot of time. He then told her that time was short, though he didn't say why, so he had another way to open the box.

~Now, I don't know if you remember this, but you are the one who made this box.~

She had? Why? How? It was incomprehensible, why would she shut herself in a box? But, hard as it was for her to accept, the scenario rang true, and she believed him, so she nodded for him to go on.

~Since you made it~he went on, ~it follows that you should be able to take it apart again.~

That was logical. She nodded again.

~Now, I don't mean that you should take the whole box apart, just to get out of it. But, if you concentrate on the lid, you should be able to make it dissolve....~

Dissolve?

~....... Go away~ he clarified at the confused look on her face, ~And then, you're out!~

It sounded simple enough. Madison nodded one last time, to let him know that she would try it. Then she lifted her arms, from where they had fallen on her knees while she talked to the Voice, and placed her hands flat against the inside top of the box once more.

~You can do this, Madison!~ the Voice backed away to give her some room.

Madison closed her eyes to focus. She wanted out; She want the Soul-Box to let her go. Madison wanted it Gone.

And it was.

The suddenness of it's disappearance overbalanced her, and she tumbled to the floor. Which was hard, cold, and (she noticed as she pushed herself back into a sitting position) resembled white marble, veined with eddies of a pale purple, like smoke.

She looked around. The Soul-Box was completely gone, like it had never been there. There were a few columns, made in a Grecian style of the same marble that was the floor. Traces of lavender mist danced around the marble columns, so she could not see far into the surrounding area. But, something told her that she did not want to; Whatever was beyond the mist was not pretty.

Her gaze came to rest on the only thing that did not match the landscape; A pair of legs. Above the bare, lightly tanned, feet, the legs were clad in soft leather, of a creamy butter-yellow color. Her eyes traveled up these legs, which a small corner of her mind informed her were 'Nice'; to a tunic of the same material that hit around mid-thigh. The loose tunic was open at the throat, and slit along the arms, revealing a tighter shirt underneath, that was a slightly darker yellow color.

His hair, which fell around broad (if adolescent) shoulders, could only be described as 'golden', but had some tawny highlights mixed in. It hung around his face and shoulders in many different lengths, like a lion's mane. The hair style looked a bit ragged, but on him, it worked; And, that same corner of her mind, whispered that it was 'gorgeous'.

But she didn't need that small corner to tell her that his face, with those golden eyes and thick blond lashes, was simply beautiful. She supposed that, since this was a man, he should probably be described as 'handsome'; But his features were too ethereal for that. No, 'beautiful' was definitely the word. He was, in fact, so exquisite, that she could have sat there and stared at him forever. But then, he spoke:

~Madison? Are you okay?~

He looked worried. She didn't want him to ever be worried about anything, so she quickly nodded that she was alright.

~Good~

He was now smiling, that was better.

~And: 'Great job' with the Soul-Box! You did it!~ his smile took on a more serious tone as he held out a hand to help her up, ~I'm glad, we almost lost you.~

She took his hand and allowed him to help her to her feet. When she got there she noticed two things; One, he was only a little taller than she; And two, he was crying. Her brows drew together in confusion. She didn't want him to cry.

~What?~ he asked at her expression.

In answer she lifted her right hand, the left was still holding his hand, and wiped one of the tears away.

~Oh, that. It's okay, I was just really worried about you; We all were. And, it's such a relief to have you back.~

She nodded, and decided to try saying something, ~Who?~

~Who am I?~ he asked.

She nodded.

~Well, I guess you wouldn't recognize me in this form.......~

He smiled at her, she smiled back.

~I'm Kero.~



To Be Continued ^_^