Amber Eyes

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Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the plot!

Authoress Ramble: Our story is almost over! *tear* This saddens me, truly, because I do love this story, but all good stories must have a good end. I like this ending, actually ... I do believe it is ... I just hope that you like it, too. ^^

Note: If the s,'s and ,s are not quotes and commas, go to View ------ Character Set in Internet Explorer and change it to Western (Mac)! Or change the character set some other way to fix it, it's possible!

Shouts To People Who Reviewed!: Thank you so much for reviewing! Much love to Azi, Amanda Panda, Eclipse, Little Wolf LOVER, Shorty, Draco, CardCaptorHikariWolfy, Kimi-chan and REALLY LIKE UR FIC (you didn't leave a name for me, cutie pie o.o), DL@;~, Ongaku, SulliMike23, kawaiitenshisakura, Cherry, UrbanCinderella, darkemerald22, Sakura-miaka, Tigerdrake, Mika, WezL, hana no tenshi (Eva), Princess Kinomoto, Blossom190, Kwaii Canadian, SweetyPie, twilight-star, SweetCherryBlossom, diablo, Laura, Raymisha, Blozzomz, ZetaBee, Pink Sakura, Kinomoto, Shima And Tempis, HikariWolfSky, Riconne, Cherry Blossom, Kawaii-CherryWolf (cute name!), Rae-Rae (another cute name!), dangerous-beans, ZetaBee, Cute_Leen, Zara, Ebony Black, Shima And Tempis, Mini Sweety, Bloodlust Night, Meinien, :I, Lady Dez, Kat, *~*princess*~*, Jamie, silverymare, Lil' Fairy, Feathers, CoolCat, Val (great idea!), D, Athar-Luna, Azn-Angel, Dark-Luv3, cherryblossom, Li-kyoko-cp, Mysticalia, AnimeObsessionFantasy, Cute Emerald, Friends4Eva08, Cherry13, LilDragonGurl28, Pink-CherryBlossoms, Flaming Sakura, MimiGhost, S+SObsession!, Kammy, Mel, Kate, Shauna, Asayuni, T-Man, Moonspell, Rosy-Ray-Lover, SweetCherryBlossom, Catrina, Mysticalia, Abc, Alflirtbabe, T-man, Aino Saori, Cherry Li, Ying, Stormy and finally, Kitty Neko (I'm a big fan of yours! =3 I am honoured that you like my story!)! Thank you all again for your support!

Note About Above: Due to lack of time, I'm not going to list more names ... but please know that I read every single review with eagerness and appreciate your comments very, very much! Thank you for reviewing!

Extra special thanks to Amanda, who emailed me. That was really nice, and to be honest, the reason I wrote this today and not tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or next week is because of that email! ^_^

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Meiling opened her dark ruby eyes lazily, blinking several times in the darkness before drawing herself up, her long jet black hair spilling loosely over her shoulders. She yawned, pushing away the red velvet comforter of her bed.

It's good to be home,' she thought sleepily. No more sleeping on sticky pine boughs that prick you like needles. No more having to wait weeks to bathe. No more bloodshed in front of our eyes, at least for now. Syaoran and I can finally ...'

Her mind paused at this, and she frowned. She sounded foolish, remembering that there was no longer a Syaoran and I'. That had long been replaced by Syaoran, Sakura and I', though, in almost every sense, the only true version was Syaoran and Sakura'. She'd become the third wheel.

Meiling sighed, trying her best to push away sad thoughts. Her only wish was for his happiness, and if that meant that he be with her ... so be it.

They probably slept together last night, she grumbled to herself. She thought on this for a few minutes, then sighed in disgust, pushing these thoughts away as well. Again, her only wish was for ...

Meiling's thoughts were suddenly interuppted by series of loud noises moving down the hallway. She blinked, sliding out of bed and creeping toward her door, putting her ear to it so that she could hear what was going on.

She heard what she gathered to be the sound of struggling and muffled cursing being drowned out by the sound of heavy, steady bootsteps. She listened carefully, and she also began to hear the sound of quiet sobbing.

Meiling pulled her head back and frowned in puzzlement, suddenly worried and fearful. She waited until the noises had passed her door, then opened it cautiously a few inches.

She peered though the small opening, her eyes widening. Syaoran and Sakura were both being dragged down the hallway by a group of gruff-looking guards, Syaoran struggling for his life and cursing at his father and the men holding him, Sakura passively allowing herself to be lead away. Eriol was at the head of this grim procession, his expression calm and, she was bold enough to say, slightly eager.

Meiling's eyes darkened with anger. She did not know what had happened, but she knew what Eriol was capable of. She knew where they were headed.

Heading back into her room, she knelt down and picked up her sword. With dark eyes mingled with fear and a cold, determined expression, she tied the sheath to her belt and stepped cautiously out the door in the hallway, heading in the direction she knew them to be travelling.

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There was a great room of sorts at the edge of Eriol's dark palace, though, because it was nearly completely outside, it could hardly be called a room. What it was was an outdoor courtyard of sorts, a courtyard that served a very grave purpose.

Walking through its doors that lead out of the palace, you would stand on a wide stone balcony that was suspended at least twenty-five feet off of the ground, at the second level of palace. While the doors upon the balcony lead into the elegant hallways of the palace, the doors underneath the balcony, at the ground level, were used by the guards, leading to their barracks and eventually to the dungeons.

The stone balcony bordered two sides of this part of the palace, and was thus L-shaped, though the two sides of the balcony were of equal length. From the stone balcony you had a wonderful view of the floor of this room', which was nothing more than hard-packed dirt. It was stained with old, bloody footprints and shadows of places were puddles of blood had been spilt. A row of logs, buried vertically in the ground, lined one side of this floor'.

It was here that Eriol held his formal executions. He would sit on the stone balcony while they were done, always finding the time to watch them take place. It was here that he had led his guards.

Eriol and his guards, two prisoners in hand, stepped out of the palace and onto the the great stone balcony. He moved to the side of the balcony that directly faced the vertical logs, taking a seat in a throne-like chair of gold and red velvet. With a swift flick of his wrist, he gestured to the guards to move themselves and their prisoners down the wide stone stairs to the ground level.

They did so slowly, pulling along their prisoners as though to give them time to escape. Syaoran had ceased his struggling, though he still maintained a furious expression. His eyes, however, betrayed him; they were filled with fear, helplessness and desparation. Every once in awhile he looked back at Sakura with a look of complete despair.

Her head was bowed, her walking automatic. She seemed to be in a deep trance, unaware of what was going on around her. In reality, she was very aware, only choosing not to look around her. She couldn't bear even to raise her head to look at Syaoran, afraid that if she did, her heart would die right then.

The boy only, Eriol ordered calmly. The guards holding Sakura, upon having walked down the stone stairs of the balcony, stood with her at the side of the dirt area, each holding her by the arm. The guards holding Syaoran, however, moved past her, dragging him toward the vertical logs.

The guards reached the logs and hesitantly pushed Syaoran against the center log, turning him so that his back was pressed up against it. They tied his hands together at the back of the log, securing him to it. With a deep frown and guilty eyes, one of the guards tied a black blindfold over his former master's eyes.

The guards had grown up with Syaoran, for he had been trained with them as though he were one of them. They saw him as not only a leader, but also as a comrade. They deeply resented Eriol's horrible decision, but had no choice but to obey him. To not do so meant their lives.

The two guards moved away from Syaoran as more guards began to pour into the dirt area, entering it via the ground floor doors. These new guards, ten of them in total, lined up so that were parallel to the row of vertical logs. They made a row at the edge of the dirt area opposite the end with the logs.

Each of them carried a bow and a single arrow.

It's more for ceremony than purpose, really, Eriol said to the guard who stood at his side near his chair. You only need one archer for this purpose. A row of ten simply appears more formal.

The guard looked down at Eriol, both amazed and disgusted at his morbid remark. He nodded quickly but said nothing.

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Meiling opened the door cautiously. Looking around, she saw no guards, and she crept through the door as quickly as she could.

She shivered; the morning air was bitter and icy. The stones of the balcony were colder than ice itself as she crept across them, her feet bare. She was wearing only her red silk nightgown and her heavy leather belt, her sword and its sheath hanging from it.

She moved across the balcony, crawling more than standing, until she was near the stairs. Eriol was on the other side of the balcony completely- she knew where his chair was placed- and he had, thankfully, not placed any guards on the balcony other than the one guard at his side. He always had at least on guard near him, to protect him if necessary.

He must feel safe here,' Meiling thought numbly. She was crowched near the stairs and, cautiously, she moved her head so that she could look down them and out at the dirt area.

What she saw sent a knife through her heart. Syaoran was tied to a log, black blindfold in place, ready to be murdered. The archers with their single arrows were already in place. She closed and reopened her wide, tortured ruby eyes, trying her best to remain calm.

She looked again, searching the area with her eyes until she found Sakura. She was standing to the side with two guards holding her arms, her head bent and moving up and down slightly, irraticlly. Meiling guessed that she was sobbing.

Unsure of what to do, she decided to wait. Moving her hand to the cold metal of her sword, she bit her lip, tasting her own blood as she readied herself to spill the blood of others.

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In some ways, Syaoran was glad for the black blindfold, the mocking curtousy his father always offered his victims. It meant that he could not turn his head and look at Sakura, see her tortured eyes and expression. To do so would rip his heart apart, he knew.

And yet, at the same time, he longed to look at her, to stare into her emerald eyes one final time, no matter how tortured they might be. Silently, he prayed that nothing would happen to her. He prayed as hard and as desparately as he ever had before.

Syaoran had faced death before. There was a feeling that swept over you, a feeling very much like death itself, when you knew that you were going to die. It numbed your fear, stilled your thoughts, made time meaningless. It was like a final gift from the gods to you before your life ended. It made the end calmer, less terrifiing.

Syaoran longed to feel this now. He could not, however, his heart in turmoil, tearing further with each sob from Sakura's throat, each tear he knew she was shedding. It ripped him apart to know that she was in grave danger. He would gladly die for her safety, to know that his death meant her continued life. He could not peacefully die like this, knowing that he had failed to protect her.

Read the charges, Eriol ordered his guard, sounding slightly bored. The guard stepped forward and read, his voice slightly shaking, from a scroll he had been given.

The prisoner, Li Syaoran, is hereby sentenced to death by execution for crimes of treason against the crown, the guard read numbly. May his soul be forgiven by the gods.

The guard stepped back and rolled the scroll, adverting his eyes from the dirt area where Syaoran stood quietly, waiting as his heart was tortured by Sakura's sobs.

Meiling was crowched in anticipation, waiting for the perfect moment that could, quite possibly, never come. Her own heart was in turmoil; there was next to nothing she could do to save her only love.

Archers, stand ready, Eriol ordered from his seat in the chair. At this order, the ten archers raised their bows and readied their single arrows, pulling back the strings of their bows and holding them in place, ready to let their arrows fly.

Meiling's eyes widened. Syaoran had not moved an inch; he could do nothing. She could do nothing. As tears spilled down her face, she realized that everything was coming to an end.

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Sakura had been standing calmly at the edge of the blood-stained dirt area, sobbing loudly despite not moving her body an inch. She could not bear to watch, but rather had bent her head, her hair covering her closed eyes, crying ceaselessly.

When the archers raised their bows, however, she had raised her head up. Her eyes widened, and she moved her head from the archers to Syaoran, who stood calmly, waiting. She studied his body, remembering the times when he had held her in those arms, now tied behind his back, when she had slept peacefully upon that chest, now heaving with fear and apprehension, when he had kissed her with those lips, now trembling.

It was in this moment that she knew exactly what she had to do.

She lunged forward. The guards, whose grips upon her arms had loosened because of her stillness, inadvertently allowed her to slip past them, then began to run after her. One moment ahead of them, they could not hold her back.

She ran for Syaoran. Eriol, seeing this and the fact that the guards could not catch her before she reached him, gritted his teeth. He clentched his hands into fists, furious. He was seething with anger.

he shouted. Fire now, damn you!!

Instantly, ten arrows were in the air. Sakura reached Syaoran as they flew, grabbing his tunic in two fistfuls and sobbing into his chest. He bent his head to her.

Move now, Sakura!, he said desparately. Hurry, now!

I can't, she sobbed. I love you, I can't let you die! We promised tha-

Her words turned into a gut-wrenching cry, then a choking noise. She blinked as her knees gave way, something warm sliding down her back, soaking the dress that Syaoran had lovingly bought her.

Syaoran shouted, feeling her grip on his tunic loosen and then slip away altogether. He heard her body hit the ground and cried out, tears staining the black blindfold as he screamed.

Meiling cried out and looked away, unable to bear looking at her fallen body, her face in the dirt, an arrow protruding from her bloody back. Already she could see a red puddle growing underneath her stomach.

She swallowed hard and grabbed her sword, unsheathing it. Her fear and hesitation had lost one innocent life, but it would not allow the loss of another. Tears running down her face, she stood and began to run to the opposite end of the balcony. As her heart grieved, her mind awakened: she knew what she had to do. She would avenge and protect the two people in the world that were most dear to her.

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To be continued ... in the last chapter ...*tear*.

If you liked it, or better yet, have ideas, then please leave a review! I love reviews! Reviews = writer faster! =^^= Hehe.

Special thanks to Azi, who helped me with a new summary! =3

I hope you liked this chapter! ^_^

In the next chapter(s): The conclusion to our story...