Chapter 5
" Do not touch them." Xuyan replied.
Okawa was trying to get over his bewilderment. He had found the diaries. He had learned the history. He had read the journals. But they were old and worn, recovered only with the help of the Sakura Cards. How could Xuyan...
" You're still alive?" He whispered.
Xuyan looked at the spectres with a sad light in his eyes.
" Hai, I'm still alive." He answered Okawa. " I am the Emperor of the Dead. I
stayed here for some time in the living world. When everyone began dying, I took
their souls to my realm where they could live in peace. When the last one departed I
did as well."
" Why did you come back?" Okawa asked.
" The cards." Xuyan answered. " They must never be used again."
Okawa finally realized what was going on. " You came to end everything."
" Hai. But this must go on, Okawa-san. Look."
Okawa did, pointing his flashlight. Syaoran leaned back, with all his ghostliness, and was chatting silently with his father, who was smiling at him with a smile of adoration. They looked so happy together.
" Is this where Yue went?" Okawa asked. " How come they don't notice us?"
" To them, we don't exist." Xuyan answered. " The house died when Yue departed
to search for his son. It crumbled into dust. But it remained out of pure magic, the
magic of memories. So they live in this house, for they are memories, no more real
then the past and the future. For over a century, they lived the same three years,
over and over again, always with Syaoran dying in the end, only to begin, with Yue
taking Syaoran home from Hong Kong when he just lost his parents. Nothing ever
came in. I closed the door. Nothing ever went out."
" Then how come I came in?"
" I allowed you to."
Okawa shuddered. " What became of the others?"
" The other researchers?" Xuyan asked coldly. Okawa noted how cold Xuyan was
now, compared to the cheerful host that had welcomed him to his home. " They
died. I took their souls so they would never break this secret to anyone. If they
touched the memories of Yue and Syaoran, or of any other character, the memory
will be harshly interrupted and the house will fade." Xuyan turned to Okawa. " It
must never fade."
Okawa shuddered. What a horrible place, it was the living essence of death.
The door opened. Yet it didn't open, because the real front door, however real it was, was closed. There was a second door that opened through it, and in hopped a girl. The cellos became merrier, playing more happy tunes. She shouted, " Ohayo!" But no sound came out. Syaoran stood up and spoke to her, but all was silent, save for the sound of the cello, and the living ones in the house.
Okawa looked around the darkness. " So none of this is real then."
" None."
The specters in the house went on about their business. They passed through Okawa without noticing him.
" Except one."
" There's something real here?" Okawa asked.
Xuyan looked at the house, with all the memories it contained. " Come with me." He led.
Up the creaking stairs, kept tidy and clean, Okawa found himself in a rather bright room. The room was green, a comforting color, with a nightstand at one end. There was a faint outline of a cello case, perhaps unreal. But on the bed, there lied a boy.
He was pale. He was Li Jingxi. He was Syaoran, and he was dead. White as snow, fair as heaven, he slept in blissful peace. Okawa reached out a hand and dared to stroke that cheek. It was cold. He took his hand away, then reached forward again. The cheek was hard and smooth. Frightened, he drew back.
There was no mark on the skin.
Another Syaoran sat up from the dead one. He yawned, rubbing his eyes. The door opened and Yue came in. He said good morning. Syaoran smiled and said it too. But there was no sound.
Okawa looked back at the dead Syaoran. There he still lay, with all his beauty. He was not a body. He was a statue of marble.
" That is real." Xuyan answered his question. " That was what Yue did to Syaoran.
He never buried him. He never burned him. He never threw him into the sea, nor
gave him a funeral. That night he stayed with Syaoran as he died. The following
morning he cleaned up everything, placed all of Syaorans' belongings in this room,
and arranged it as if Syaoran were still alive. Then he opened the windows so that
Syaoran may go flying if he pleased, pulled aside the curtains, and then locked the
door behind him, vowing that no one shall enter as long as he lived. He gave
Syaoran the best gift of all-eternal rest. Syaoran lay here, undisturbed, until his body
rotted of foulness and he became a skeleton, with no identity. Yet, see that cello?
That cello was real enough. See that sword on the wall? That was Syaoran's sword,
his first and his last that he had ever wielded."
" How could he still be here if the house crumbled into dust?" Okawa asked.
" Ah." Xuyan smiled bitterly. " It's the unreal house that supported the reality,
Okawa-san. The memories in this place, preserved Syaoran so that he may always
rest, in whatever form he chose. And since Syaoran was a half mortal, he will not
remain a skeleton for long. Soon, the blood he obtained from Yue, the blood of
magic, enabled that skeleton to rebuild its flesh and skin. But it wouldn't be flesh and
skin, Okawa-san. It would be marble. See the eyes, the lips, the hair? Are they not
as white as snow? Smooth as glass? That is because the skin had turned into marble.
The eyes, closed forever, had also turned into marble. You see, it is Yue's love for
Syaoran, as well as everyone else's. We protect him, even now."
The door opened. This time, a black haired girl came in with Sakura. She laughed silently, and then Syaoran was on the bed again, reading a book. He sat up and the girls sat down on the bed and they chatted, all the while silent.
" Do you want the memory to fade?" Xuyan asked. " For when they do, the marble will shatter. Syaoran will be lost forever. If they continue to exist, they will hold up their treasure. Syaoran will rest forever, in the peace that he deserved. No pain. No suffering."
Okawa looked at the marblized statue. Then he stared at his cards.
" The cards." Xuyan began. " At first I thought I should let you have it, and call a
judge to make you the Card Master. Then I thought better of it."
" I don't deserve them."
" It is not that. The dynasty must end. Otherwise, Syaoran will one day be disturbed
and he will fall. Masters like you would be able to enter and interfere with the
memories. Therefore those masters must be eliminated."
" How can you destroy the cards?" Okawa asked.
Xuyan closed his eyes. It seemed at first to Okawa that he was meditating. But then, something strange happened.
There was a shimmering beside Xuyan. Shimmering figures, and suddenly they appeared.
" Sakura." Xuyan said without turning to her. " Eriol."
" What is it that you want, Emperor?" they asked.
" The book."
Sakura was tall and slender. She turned her emerald green eyes, cold and
harsh, on Okawa. Eriol did the same.
" Do you wish us to release its power?" Sakura asked.
Xuyan remained silent.
The two former masters approached the new would-have-been master. He held the book out. They each supported it.
" We shall release the powers to the world Syaoran dwells in." Sakura said to Eriol.
" Hai." Eriol agreed. The spirits were solemn, emotionless, as Syaoran had once
described. There was no sympathy for Okawa. No acknowledgment. Simply
coldness and indifference.
The spirits began to chant.
" By the power of Clow,
By the power of the star,
We condemn the powers
From near to far,
To go where the half mortal would dwell,
To preserve the half mortal's deepest slumber."
The cards came out of the book. They shimmered and twirled and glowed. Some of the light went into that marble statue. Most disappeared into the sky out the window.
After some time the cards stopped twirling and settled back into the book. Okawa realized that this time they were just cards now. Pieces of paper and cloth, dried to form barriers that now held nothing. The magic was released.
" Return to your power confined!"
" Release and Dispell!"
Ancient voices echoed slowly in the room and then faded. The Sakura Book dimmed and Okawa felt its magic withdrawing. The spirits watched on without expression as the book settled into Okawa's hands and became nothing more than a book. The lock broke, never to be sealed again. Whispers sounded in their ears as the magic departed. The spirits shimmered and then they were gone.
" What happens now?" Okawa asked after a moment.
Something went through the book. It was Kero, the guardian beast of the seal. Without a word the beast looked forlornly at Xuyan and Okawa, before turning and disappearing.
" What happened?" Okawa asked.
" Kero departed to join Sakura." Xuyan answered. " The end is come."
Mariko and Jun started as Kekori looked up from her tea. Dawn was coming,
and with it, the end.
The Sakura Cards had contained all the magic imaginable that may destroy the world. Now, they are released from their confinement. The earth began to shake. Fires spewed out. Tomoeda was burning. Outside, the sea began to rise, and the wind danced across destruction. Trees grew tall, aiding the fires and suffocating everything. Clouds and rains started to fill the sky.
" They did it, then." The twins murmured. " Now with the Sakura Cards gone, the world will go after it."
Kekori shut the window and pulled the blinds. The twins closed their eyes and the cousins sat together with their wife and husbands. Kekori's child came running.
" Oka-san!" He cried, only five years old. " Oka-san, I'm scared. What is
happening?"
" Hush." Kekori murmured. " Don't be afraid. Just stay close to mother, and
everything will be alright."
Okawa looked through the open window of Jingxi's room. Outside the day
was coming and the world was flipping upside down and sideways. He stared at
Xuyan in horror.
" What's happening?" He shrieked, terrified.
" You made the mistake." Xuyan answered coldly. " You came in search of
Syaoran's secret. You are the Card Master and yet you betrayed what the former
mistress had done. Now that the cards and their powers were released, the world is
coming to an end."
" I never knew of this!" Okawa cried. " You never told me!"
" It was the plan." Xuyan answered. " George and I discussed for a long time, the
old wizard and I, while you were doing your research. We knew that as long as the
world lives on Syaoran will always be disturbed. So the world will die."
Okawa stared at the Emperor in horror. " But..."
" Fear not." Xuyan answered. " All will end quickly."
The earth suddenly exploded as if it was a bomb itself. Okawa gave a great cry. Far away at the Kinomoto Residence the cousins and their children seemed to be asleep. Yet everything was burning. There were no wails in that house. It may seem that they were sleeping through the whole thing. But they were smiling. They were content. They were dead.
Back in the House of Tsukishiro, Okawa was already on the blood soaked carpet. But then the carpet was clean again, and Okawa crumbled into dust. He was dead.
Xuyan sat with his royal dignity on the bed beside his beloved cousin. He took in his hand the cool marble hand under the covers.
" There, Syaoran." He said in Cantonese. " Who would have thought, us, rivals, would do so much for each other? No one will bother you any longer. No one will disturb your rest. I know you are in Paradise, but if you look here, you'll see your own body, preserved in the most honorable way."
For once the cello could not be heard while outside there were screams and explosions. The door opened yet again and Yukito came in. Xuyan sat in his natural position when he was twelve years old, and for the first time the voice of the past could be heard.
" Is he still sleeping?" The memory of Yukito asked.
" Hai." Xuyan answered, the real Xuyan. " Sleeping as tenderly as if he were a
baby."
" Tell him to come downstairs if he wakes." Yukito closed the door.
But you will never wake up. Xuyan thought, still holding the marble hand, hard and cold against his own. You haven't woken up in a hundred years. And all the while you have lived your brief life again and again in this house. Now you are free, Syaoran. Jingxi...
He squeezed that hand and smiled tenderly yet again. Then he let go, bidding Syaoran his last farewell. He turned around, and if anyone were there to see him it would seem that he faded into the room and became invisible. Just then, outside the window there came a bright flash, and then everything was gone. The magic of the cards departed into Paradise to join Syaoran and Yue, leaving the living world in ruins.