DISCLAIMER: I don't own any CCS characters, they belong to CLAMP or (very unfortunately) Nelvana, so don't sue me.
Concha was talking to Rika not knowing that it was Rika she was talking to. Rika looked up helplessly. What Concha was talking about, neither Rika nor anyone else knew. Who ever Jadis was, she obviously had offended Concha in some way in the past, and Concha for some reason, was convinced that Rika was this Jadis person. No one was sure what to do either, so they let Concha rant. But then she started threatening them with her knife. Quick as lightning, Yue restrained her and knocked the dagger and key out of her hands and towards Rika. Rika grabbed the key and left the dagger where it had fallen, almost afraid to touch something that only moments before, was poised to kill her.
"Jadis. I never believed you...but you were right again," Concha sobbed in a half crazed voice. "But my magic is stronger than yours, even without your precious talisman!"
Rika could feel Concha gathering her power quickly. It was so strong that even Syaoran, Sakura and Eriol felt it slightly. Sakura got out her staff and was about to use the shield card, but Concha was too fast. A strong force left Concha and headed straight to Rika, who was standing, terrified and wide eyed. But, when the force reached Rika, it hit a wall causing it to dispell and return to Concha.
Concha wretched herself out of Yue's grip, not caring that her magic was slowly returning to her, she decided to get Rika with her bare hands. Like her magic, she too, ran into an invisible wall and fell.
Almost instantaneously, a hooded figure appeared beside her and hissed in indignation. He threw back his hood. "Any of you who dare come near will not live to see the light of day again," he threatened while tending to Concha, who cried out his name upon seeing him.
Her control over her own magic was loosening and her true age was showing. When he had given his magic to her, Sobek had linked himseld to her in a way he had not thought possible. He could feel everything she was going through and this accelerated aging was causing her pain, emotional and physical.
All her magic was going away. The magic he lent her suddenly hit him and he was aware of everything she had been through, her pain and suffering. Her pain and suffering through him. Now he was she and she....she was gone.
How long had he been staring off into space? How had she died? He forgot he was being watched all around and howled his dispair. Sobek had not realized how much he needed Concha to be with him or at least, be alive some where. He had not thought his corrupt heart could be touched by so pure an emotion. So pure and so good.
His bauble floated above Concha's gray-ed head and for once, did not move about in some way, as if it were concentrating very hard on some task. It was then that Sobek understood what the bauble had wanted. It could increase it's power if it absorbed Concha, thereby increasing his own power. He didn't even have to have a key! As much as he grieved the loss of life, this oportunity to increase his magic was too good to pass up, so he stood back.
Rika and the others watched in horror as the black entity slowly engulfed Concha's body. They watched as Concha's body disappeared and then the bauble shrank again. The whole process took no more than a few seconds, and repelled Rika to the very core of her being. She had not felt such a strong emotion since standing at the entrance of the tree and she felt compelled to enter.
"You," Sobek hissed at Rika, locking his gaze with hers. "This is your doing."
Rika's mouth moved, but no sound came out. His eyes challenged her; most of her was terrified, but in the back of her head, a small, tiny thought told her that she could and would beat him. She surpressed it. How could a stupid thought like that be right?
"This is your doing and you will pay." But before anyone could say anything, Sobek vanished.
Rika looked at her companions. "How could that have been my doing? I don't even know who she was talking about!"
"Maybe it has something to do with the 'Child of Light' and 'Child of Dark' thing Rowan talked about," Eriol mused.
Syaoran glanced at him. Eriol looked like he was ready to settle down for a good bout of thinking. "No musing here. I want out. Who knows what will happen when her people find that Concha disappeared?"
"No, we can't go yet," Rika said, remembering the maid who had pretended to be Concha. "There's someone we have to help first," and she led them to the room she had left the fake Concha in.
As they walked, Rika told them the story of what had happened, how Concha had a maid disguised as her, how the maid really didn't know what they were talking about, how distraught the maid was when they were talking, how Rika realized the switch, and how the maid now had lost her voice, and finally, how Rika had promised to come back. When they entered the room though, the maid was no where to be seen. "I...I don't understand," Rika stuttered. "I asked her to stay here..."
"Is this her?" Kero asked pointing at a figure hunched over in the shadows.
Rika came over and looked. "Yes. Yes. This is her." She tried to wake her up unsucessfully and then felt her neck for a pulse. "I...think...she's dead."
Eriol came over. "Yes. She's gone, the poor thing."
Sakura hid her face in Syaoran's shirt. "I hope she's happy where ever she is now."
Rika fingered the key she held in her hand. Was the loss of life worth a key to save her friends and family? Suppi transformed back into his earthly form and landed on Rika's shoulder. "A penny for your thoughts?"
She held the key up to her face so Suppi could see it too. "I wonder...I wonder if all this," she gestured vaugely at the surroundings, "if all this was really worth a piece of stone," she finished bitterly.
"This magicked piece of stone that can bring back our world," Nakuru corrected. "Whether or not this was all worth it though, is for you to decide."
"Wisely said, my guardian," Eriol complemented, "now, I'd like to follow my cute little descendant's advice and get out of here before anyone finds that the lady of the house is missing and not coming back."
When they were safely away from Concha's house and had lef the planet, Sakura suddenly remembered that someone had defended Rika or Rika had defended herself. So she gathered everyone around. "Who put up the barrier in front of Rika today?" she asked.
Everyone shook their heads. "Maybe Rika put it up herself," Kero suggested.
"That's what I was thinking," Sakura agreed.
"How could I have done that?" Rika got a little wild-eyed.
"Remember, you have magic, none of us know how you use it though. I rather think today might have been an example of what you will eventually be able to do," Eriol said.
"Do you feel like it's a burden, Rika? This magic of yours?" Sakura boldly asked. Bashfully, Rika nodded. "I felt the same way too. I felt like I had been tricked by Kero into becoming a Cardcaptor, but then I realized that I already had all that magic inside me. It was just waiting for a chance to show itself. I know you may not believe me now, but-"
"But it's true. Really. Your magic is part of you, and nothing can change that," Syaoran finished for Sakura.
"It's ok not to believe us when we tell you these things; some things in life, you just have to find out for yourself," Sakura concluded.
Rika looked up at two of her best friends who were just as earnestly looking back. "I believe you."
