Yeah. Anyhow. Sorry!
Quote: "Another day gone, another smiling child given a chance." –The Guiding
***
Chapter 15: Actual Battle—Not!
"This is bad," Hermione said. "Why didn't you ask me to come along?"
"There wasn't time," I mumbled. "Syaoran's scary when he wants to be."
We were back at the hotel, all in one piece. Now that we were in the room in broad daylight and I wasn't distracted, I had to pleasure of examining the room. The beds were normal twins, squashed against one side of the room. There was about two feet of walking room between each, and an end table with a lamp on each one. At the end of each bed was a short chest of drawers, Japanese in style. At the one end of the room was a bathroom and a wire bar set with several hangers for formal clothes, which was occupied only by our school uniforms.
The "closet" also sported a place for our shoes, which we were required to take off at the door. A low table and several cushions were also in the room, along with a telephone and a phone book. Before we had taken the language beverages, it had been printed in Japanese, but now it was in English because of the spell. The entire room was a clash between East and West, but isn't that what we were doing?
We ate dinner, and then went to sleep. Syaoran and Sakura were waiting for us
"I take it you got here okay?" Syaoran asked. He looked a lot nicer now that he actually knew who I was.
"Yeah, we did," I smiled. "We're staying at a hotel in Tokyo, really near the Tokyo Tower. We're going to go and see it later on in the week. We're hoping to find a few more people to take back with us. Eriol's going to wait until the end of the week to take us to Tomoeda Elementary, I think."
It was a lie through my teeth, but it had to be told. Hermione was with Sakura, trying to get her strong enough to remember her dreams.
"We're growing nearer to the date of the fight," Syaoran said. "Will you be there?"
"I'm sure I will." In fact, I meant to. Someone wanted me there, and I was going to be there.
***
The week passed quickly. Rika, Chiharo, Sakura, and Eriol (the small one) quickly became my friends. It's amazing how I jumped from having no friends to having so many. The first week drew to a close, and Syaoran still hadn't approached me again.
Saturday was halfway over when I heard Syaoran shouting.
"You want to go where?!"
He sounded worried, but I could feel a little underlying knowing under it all. Sakura was a fairly dense person, so she couldn't see it. I decided to drop some eaves and listen in.
"I think it was Tokyo Tower," she said. "I want to know who those people were, the ones who looked like Kero and Yue. And that girl who was helping us, I want to know who she is. And that boy holding Clow Reed's staff.
"That's the dream we had," I whispered to myself, drowning out Sakura's voice. "It's tonight! I've gotta go to Tokyo Tower."
"Kero says my magic power has gotten a lot stronger!" Sakura was saying.
"So you're going today?"
"Sure! Toya and my father won't be home, and Tokyo Tower is pretty close," she said.
"I'm going too. I might not be able to help if Clow Reed's involved, but—"
"That's not true," Sakura interrupted. "You help me a lot. And I feel less worried when I know you'll be there, Syaoran."
She returns his feelings! Sakura likes Syaoran, too. Why hasn't he noticed yet? Duh. Boy intellect.
"Um--!"
"Yes?"
"…Nothing."
"Eh?"
"When we get done today…I'll tell you," Syaoran said.
"You promise?"
I walked away. The promise had been made.
***
"Tonight?" Hermione said. "Okay, we'll go. Change into some Muggle clothes, we need to get onto the train."
"Okay," I nodded. Somehow, however, things didn't seem right. In my dream, I distinctly remembered flying my Nimbus in my school robes, and then appearing in Tomoeda, running down the street. Perhaps it was just a change in the time stream. I don't know.
On the bullet train, Hermione and I stood alone. We'd left a note for Eriol and the boys, in case they came back from the game soon. The boys had all gone to see a baseball game in Tokyo.
"Why do you think everything's changed?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know, 'Mione," I said. "Things are different, for some reason. Let's just get to Tokyo Tower and see." Hermione nodded.
The train pulled to a stop near the Tower. However, we were nowhere near a stop on the board. What was going on? Very suddenly, I found out what. Everyone around us was falling asleep.
"Come on, we're late!" I shouted. I pried the door open with my bare hands and jumped down to the ground, using a talismon to cushion my landing. Still, my Eastern Magic was weak and I landed hard. The moment my feet touched the ground, I took off running.
"Rabbit speed!" Hermione said, holding up a talismon. "I made it last night!"
"Good idea!" I shouted. She spoke a few Chinese words and our speed increased ten-fold. The Tokyo Tower came into focus and she spoke a few more words.
"Tomoyo! Tomoyo!" shouted Sakura. Syaoran was struggling against the sleeping spell. The sun and moon began to disappear then.
"We need to take off the spell that Eriol placed on us, or we're not going to look like we need to," Hermione whispered as we waited in the background.
"He taught me how," I said, pulling a string of my hair out. "Our DNA is still inside our hair. If we point our wands to it with the Finite Incantadum, we should look like ourselves for Sakura and Syaoran again."
"Okay," Hermione nodded. She also pulled out a strand of her hair.
"Finite Incantadum."
"Sakura!" I ran forward. "Syaoran!"
"Angel…Hermione…" Syaoran looked like he was going to faint. "You did…come…after all."
"No time for that, kiddo, it's happenin' for real this time," I said. "Sakura, give me her, you deal with Eriol."
"But I don't want to hurt him!" Sakura cried. "Who are you?"
"You don't have to," I said. "Just…" I gasped. Dumbledore had said something about this! "Change all the cards, Sakura! Change them all!"
"All of them?" Sakura blinked at the cards. "But—"
"Just do it!" I shouted. "I'll take care of her." I took Tomoyo from her and settled the little raven-haired girl against a tree. Sakura didn't have much trouble changing the last of her cards; Eriol helped her with that.
Just then, the flying teenager showed up. He had long white hair, and was carrying Sakura's older brother, Toya. I'd seen Toya only once, and he hadn't been very nice to me. However, I couldn't just sit there and do nothing.
"Bring him over here!" I called to
the winged teenager. "I'll watch him."
"No, I will," said Hermione.
"For some reason, I get the feeling that you should be over there with them,
Angel. Remember what Dumbledore said? Let the Light guide you with the Dark!
The Star will watch you."
Now it made sense. The last two cards in Sakura's hands were the Light and the Dark. Her staff was made of a circular star. I'd seen this all before. What was so new that I was missing it all?
"You've changed it…somehow…" Syaoran struggled to stay standing. "Somehow…you've changed…the path…of…history…" He grimaced, but I think he was trying to smile.
"You've figured it out, have you?" said Eriol—the smaller one. "My older brother has tangled up the strands of time yet again. However, if this spell is not broken by the Star before the dawn has risen, the people of this city will sleep forever."
"He's using wandless magic!" I realized with a choking gasp. "The Draught of the Living Death!"
"What?" Hermione said, turning to me.
"I-I don't know," I said to myself. "It's coming to me…as if something's feeding it into my brain! All I know is that he's using the potion that Snape told us about on the first day of class! Without the actual potion!"
"What?! That's impossible!" Hermione yelled.
"You underestimate the powers of Clow Reed," said the winged teenager. "He made Kero and I. That is how I know."
"Then you're Yue, I take it," I said, still staring up at Eriol/Clow Reed.
"Yes. I do not know how you know of this, or Li, or the other girl," he said. "But that is my Master fighting. And I will protect her."
"But…I don't want to hurt them!" Sakura shouted. "I couldn't bear it if Yue or Kero or Syaoran were lost because of me!"
"That's the thing!" I shouted back. "You have to have faith! Believe in yourself, and the people around you!"
"But—"
Sakura looked up at Eriol/Clow Reed, looking like she was going to cry. She grasped her staff tightly and brought out another card.
"JUMP!"
She leapt up toward Clow and was thrown to the ground. I was just about to pull out my wand, when a gust of wind followed Syaoran's shout of "Wind Summons!" Although Sakura was safe, Syaoran was nearly killing himself by using his magic.
"You shouldn't use magic in such a state," Eriol said. He had the look of pity in his eyes. It was then that I knew that he was not the enemy that we were to face. He was merely a steppingstone for Sakura's magical power. However, if Sakura did not change the Light and the Dark cards, she would not know that she did it completely on her own.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" I shouted, letting Syaoran's magic rest as I gently coasted Sakura to the ground. "Sakura, you've got to change the Light and the Dark! And you've got to do them together!"
"W-What…?" Sakura gasped. She was still surprised. "Who are you?"
"My name's Angel, and I've been watching you for a long time," I said. "Please, you've just got to trust me. Change those cards."
Sakura nodded and pulled out both the cards. Slowly, they began to change. Soon, however, her magic broke and she could not continue. At least, not on her own.
"Cerberus! Yue! Syaoran!" I ordered. "FRONT AND CENTER!"
For some reason, people move awfully fast when I yell. Syaoran was slow in coming, but he was behind Sakura a few moments afterwards.
"Is there anyway that you two can help Sakura change these cards?" I asked quickly. Yue and Cerberus both nodded slowly. "Do it. Let me talk to Syaoran for a sec."
"Syaoran, you've got to help her," I said to him. "Even if it's only for a few seconds. I'll keep those two at bay."
"All right…if you…say so," he grunted in the effort he was exerting. When I turned back around, Yue and Cerberus were gone, and Sakura's staff had turned into a new star. Sakura was trying to change the cards again, at the same time, and it was working, though slowly. Syaoran wrapped his arms around her and put as much of his magic into it as he could.
"Syaoran?" Sakura blinked at him in surprise.
"All right, you!" I shouted to the two creatures. "Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun, prepare to be frozen! STUPIFY!"
Very quickly, neither Ruby Moon nor Spinel Sun was moving anymore. I didn't want them hurt, either, so I used my Levitation Charm to set them safely on the ground.
"Clow Reed! Eriol! Whatever the heck you want me to call you, get your BUTT DOWN HERE!" I roared up at him. He blinked at me, his narrow eyes wide and uncertain. "Hey, you're lookin' at one o' your bro's students here! I won't take no for an answer!"
He finally smirked and used a wandless Levitation Charm on himself, setting his feet softly on the ground. By that time, Sakura had finished changing the cards.
"LIGHT!"
It was bright as day very suddenly, and Eriol smiled. "Now it is over."
"I don't think so," I shook my head. "I get the feeling that this is just the beginning, fella." I clapped him on the shoulder, to which he smiled again.
"Well done, Sakura," Eriol began to walk over toward her and Syaoran, but it was not him who spoke. It was Cerberus. Sakura hugged Syaoran tightly, thanking him over and over again.
I ran over to her and Syaoran and smiled.
"Maybe you oughta keep that little promise you made, Syaoran," I winked at him. He blushed and raved at me.
"How'd you find out about that?!" he shouted.
"I've been spying on you guys all week, as had Hermione and two of our friends," I said, grinning. "Ring a bell? Angel Indigo, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter? Hmm?" I batted my eyelashes at him.
"Y-You're…but…you can't be!" Syaoran said. "You're face is different!"
"You'll soon learn that appearances can easily be swayed," I smiled. "We're here on a mission. To find as many magical ten-year-olds as possible to come to our school in England and learn magic. The East needs to establish a government. That is our goal."
"And a righteous goal it is," said Eriol, smiling. Sakura immediately was on her guard, as well as Cerberus and Yue. "It is over. No more games."
"He was lying," I said, casting a sideways glance toward him.
"Lying…?" Sakura looked at me quizzically. "How did you know?"
"I have a knack for things like that," I shrugged.
"As happy as I am to have that out of the way," Eriol chuckled. "The real sun isn't up yet. Some people will be a tad confused if it's still light out like this."
Sakura nodded warily and activated the Dark card, bringing back the moon and the stars.
"Awright, Clow!" Cerberus yelled. "And you too, missy. You got some 'splaining to do!"
"Yes, I'd like to know, too," Sakura said. "Why—Ah!"
I turned and looked in the direction she was looking, and my jaw dropped. I knew that face immediately. It was Eriol! The other Eriol, the one who had been teaching at my school.
"Eriol, what are you doing here?" I asked, at the same time Sakura asked.
"Dad, what are you doing here?"
We exchanged a quick glance, our eyes wide.
"He's your dad?" I said, bewildered.
"He's not Eriol," Sakura blinked.
We both turned to Clow Reed/Eriol, who looked on the verge of laughing his butt off. "What's going on here?!"
"Take off the spell, Fujitaka," chuckled Clow Reed/Eriol. Suddenly, the man I'd come to know as Eriol became a tall businessman, much older than twenty.
"Da…wha…what the heck!?" I managed to stammer out.
"Dad, you said you wouldn't be back until Christmas Day!" Sakura shouted, crying. She hugged him around the middle closely. "I'm glad to see you. But what's going on? What happened to the dig?"
"Sakura, I'm afraid that I lied to you, too," said Fujitaka/Eriol. "And a bit to you, too, Angel. Come, let's go to my old house. It will be much easier to explain there."
"Okay," I shrugged.
"The others are waiting there, too," Fujitaka/Eriol said.
Hermione and I groaned.
***