Dragon's Eye, Phoenix' Wing

Chapter 5

He did not want to wake up!

That bastard Phoenix!

Syaoran was in a bad mood. That blasted man killed his family, killed his friends, and he's here again???!

Why is that catgirl always around? Why the hell is the Sakura Book on Gaea?

He wanted sorely to just destroy everything in his path at that moment, and he could, actually, but he had never tried before and was afraid to anyway. What if he went snap and nothing happened? Then others would laugh at him.



" Iie, I usually like him less as a phoenix." Yue told Allen as they sat down in his room. " He's usually short tempered and very fidgety. He gets mad at nonsense, and he's violent, most of all. He probably wouldn't hesitate to use his fire magic on someone. So iie, I don't like him that much. As a dragon, I can feel sorry for him. He was actually adorable as a dragon. As a phoenix, well..."
" Why did he transform into a phoenix?" Allen asked. " He seems to like it better as a dragon."
" He does. But the truth is, when he gets scared, the phoenix side takes over. The dragon side blocked the blow and he was too stunned, so in order to continue he was forced to transform. It's hard to get him to go the other way now."
" Why?"
" Phoenixes are proud." Came Millerna's voice from the other room, and Allen immediately understood.
" So how does he go back?" Allen asked.

Yue hesitated. " Water."
" Water?"
" Hai."
" What do you mean?"
" He's afraid of water."
" Do you mean he's afraid to...swim?"
" Iie. He's afraid of water. Drinking water, rainwater, pondwater, seawater. He's afraid of water, end of question."
" Oh...why?"
" He's a phoenix. He's made of fire. He gets hurt by water. Small drops wouldn't kill him, but if he gets completely dunked into water, he'll turn to black ash."

" So...you scare him."
" Hai." Yue nodded, picking up the book from the desk. " What's this?"
" A record."
" A record? Yours?"
" Iie. I borrowed it. It records everything. Of everything that happened in Austuria, mostly, but also the rest of Gaea."

Yue skimmed through the pages. " I can't read." He shook his head. " I don't understand these words. Strange and old, though, sort of like Chinese. Maybe this is Chinese."

At that, Syaoran decided to come in. Allen took a moment to register that the strange looking bird was Syaoran, and that it had actually fitted through the door. Yue jumped up.
" Nani!" He cried. " You've never done that before!"

Syaoran answered with a fierce peck on his head before jumping onto the table. Yue rubbed his head for a moment, a little bit startled at that move, and confused at whether he should be angry or embarrassed. He sat down feeling smug.

Allen was more startled then Yue and was less able to handle it. He immediately stood up. Syaoran glared at him with his bird eyes and transformed into a boy again.
" Weirdo." He muttered, suddenly appearing by the window. " I can't find Kero anywhere. Where the hell is he?"

He curses a lot in this form. Allen thought to himself. He's in a bad mood.

" He's downstairs with Hitomi." Yue answered, still rubbing his head.

Syaoran disappeared without even so much as an " arigatou".

" How rude." Allen nodded. Yue sighed.
" Well? What can one do? That's one reason why Syaoran tries not to be a phoenix. He use to be kind of like that before his dragon side woke, but as a phoenix he's worse. Sometimes he tries to blend the two together so he wouldn't have two different personalities. He never had a chance to though."
" Why?"
" The Clow Clan died." Yue answered flatly. Allen didn't answer.



Van and Hitomi sighed.
" Well? What else can I call you? Stuffed bear, maybe?" Syaoran snapped. " I want it NOW. Quite frankly I don't have much patience with you right now, so you might as well before I decide to fry you to a crisp."
" Oh yeah?" Kero shot back, transforming immediately. " Let's see you do it!"
" Matte!" Hitomi ran between them, immediately stopping the two. " Don't start this, alright? Just give it to him, Kero. We don't want burnt houses, or burnt children, for that matter."
" I'm not a child." Syaoran scoffed.
" Then Man, if you want. You're not that either." Hitomi snapped. " Just give him the cards, and let him do it. The worst he could do is use it to turn you into a bunny."
" No way!" Kero shouted.
" Kero-chan!" Hitomi pressed her hands to her hips. " Don't make me do anything to you!"

Kero pouted and handed the book over to Syaoran. Taking it triumphantly, Syaoran disappeared without even thanking them.

" How rude." Van began. Kero plopped down on the floor.
" He's always so irritating as a Phoenix." The guardian said. " Especially since we're both fire, so he's always competing against me. As if I could outgo against him!" He sniffed, completely disgusted. " I want the old Li Syaoran, the Dragonchild back."
" That makes three of us." Hitomi answered, pushing back her long hair from her face. " But according to history, it wouldn't be anytime soon."



" Hey Syaoran-kun." Merle leaped onto the table. " Whatcha doing?"
" Go away Merle." Syaoran growled.
" Syaoran!!" Merle whined.
" Nani!" Syaoran stood up, annoyed. " Would you please leave me alone?"
" But what are you doing?"
" I need to find some way to destroy that blasted pigeon." Syaoran answered, referring to the Dark Phoenix. " That phoenix wannabe. Now, leave me alone."
" But I want to watch."

Syaoran suddenly paused. " If you don't leave me alone, Van will leave you."
" Huh? What are you talking about?" Merle asked.
" Well," Syaoran looked at her, glaring. " If you don't leave me alone, I won't be able to do this right. And if this turns out wrong, Fanelia would be, quite frankly, gone. Imagine what Van would look like in pieces? Oh, maybe his arm here, his legs, there is his head, all floating in a bloody soupy puddle. How would you like that?"
" Van is a good warrior." Merle sniffed. " That will never happen to him."
" To hell with good warriors! We're doing with a god here." Syaoran answered. " You will never see Van again. He'll be white as snow and you'll have to burn him and scatter his ashes on the ground. Then whenever you wake up you will never wake up knowing that Van will be there when you go downstairs. When you're alone at home you'll never be able to know that Van is coming home victorious. When you're at war you'll never have Van tell you that everything's alright."

While he was saying this Merle's eyes welled up with tears. The door opened to Allen and Yue, who suddenly stopped at the last comment.

" Oh, I'm sure you'll be happy." Syaoran snapped. " Knowing that it's your fault that Van died, and oh, even better. That it's your fault that Van died a humiliating defeat. That's right Merle! And maybe you can wear his crown for that matter! And stop crying! You're making me sick."
" Van-sama!" Merle leaped off the chair and rushed out. Van came in by the other door and was nearly knocked over.
" Van-sama, you won't leave me, right?" Merle sniffed into the Fanelian King's chest. Syaoran cocked an eyebrow.
" What the hell?" He turned away. " I don't understand that blasted kitten."
" Syaoran told me that you might leave me. That you can die and I'll never see you again, and, and, and-"

" Syaoran." Yue began darkly.
" Oh, don't start." Syaoran snapped.
" Remember who you're talking to." Yue answered.

Syaoran paused for a moment.
" So, what is this Moon Guardian going to do?" He asked.

" This." Yue tossed his arm out. A wave of water headed towards Syaoran. A bird like shriek turned into a low whistle. When the water stopped flowing, a small dragon was curled up, his head staring at them, clicking.

Merle was still crying and Van was trying his best to comfort her. Yue's eyes softened.
" Come here, Syaoran. I'm glad to see you're yourself again. Even as a Phoenix you're still upset about the whole thing, hai?"
" Drdrdrdrdrl." Syaoran turned into a boy and dropped to one knee, his body hunched over. He heaved a deep sigh. Yue went over to him, followed by Allen and Kero.

" Gomen nasai." Yue rubbed the child's back. " I had to do that."
" I know." Syaoran sighed. " The bad thing is I almost preferred being a Phoenix. It lessens the pain."
" I understand." Yue answered gently. " Come, get up. You're tired."
" I'm not tired." Syaoran stood up. " Just shakened. But I am so hungry."
" Just as well." Allen answered. " Considering how frail you are. Millerna told me you lost even more weight."
" Food!" Kero cried. " I'm up for it, oh yeah."
" I'm not." Syaoran suddenly said. " I don't want to eat anything."
" You just said you were hungry." Said the blonde.
" Hai, but that doesn't mean I want to eat."
" What do you want to eat." Yue asked dully.
" Chinese food." Syaoran muttered. He was answered with a thunk on the head from Kero.
" We don't have any Chinese food around here, wiseguy." Kero scolded. " We have Asturian food, Fanelian food, Mauralian food, Gazilian food-"
" You're making those up." Syaoran sniffed. " I don't want to eat, basically. Is there anything that can get this stomach to quiet down?"

Allen answered by stuffing a piece of bread into Syaoran's mouth. The child, surprised, gingerly took it out and bit into it more politely. Yue was certain this was the Dragonchild.



Van was angry at Syaoran. How could he!

But Hitomi calmed him and told him that Syaoran really couldn't have helped it.
" As a Phoenix," She explained, " Syaoran replaces sorrow with anger. That's why he said all those things to Merle-he's still distressed about his past and anger was what he felt and he dumped it all on Merle. Don't do anything rash."

So he didn't. He went to find Syaoran though, to note that Allen Schezar, the polite, wonderful knight at arms that respected chivalry, just stuffed a piece of bread into a child's mouth?

Things had been going weird lately.



King Chid found Syaoran in his room...sewing.

And Syaoran wasn't sewing in a chair either. He was sewing while lying on the bed, his head propped up with pillows in the most undistinguished manner.

" You know how to sew?" Chid blinked, dropping the mannerism.

Syaoran didn't answer. He went on stitching.

Chid noticed.

" Daijoubu?" He asked, coming nearer. " Did...something happen?"

The Dragonchild sighed and kept sewing. " You know I was a Phoenix several hours ago, hai?"
" Hai...what happened? Did you insult someone by accident?" Chid asked. " They all know it's because of your temper, you know."
" I can care less if I insult someone." Syaoran muttered. " It's not that I'm worried about. When I was a Phoenix I spoke with Merle."
" Did you get angry with her?"
" Hai."
" Oh."
" When the Clow circle died," Syaoran suddenly began, " They didn't just die all at once. The first person to go was actually Eriol. That day...that day was actually a beautiful day. The sky was bright blue, the sun was shining, the clouds floated overhead and there was a light breeze. It was rather warm and we were outside having a picnic."

Syaoran looked up. " So?" He asked. " Come on, don't tell me you don't know how."
" Of course I know how to play poker." Eriol smiled. " The only thing is, it depends too much on luck. I'm not lucky with games and such, unless it's a sport game, so I usually lose."
" I don't mean the poker they play in casinos." Syaoran explained. " I mean Chinese poker. Let's see, we have Touya, me, Sakura, Tomoyo, you, that's five, right? Then we have Yukito. That's six. Ruby and the guardians can watch."
" Why do we need six?" Sakura asked.
" It's this way." Syaoran smiled. " My sisters and I always play with our mom. You have two decks. We have teams. We have three black cards and three red cards and we each draw a card. The reds are a team, the blacks another. This is how we play-the A's are the largest, the twos are the smallest, and the diamonds smallest and spades largest..."



" So we played poker for several hours because we weren't really in a hurry to go anywhere after eating so much. We were planning to stay for several days because it was summer vacation, and we had a lot of time. There were places to go but I just wanted to show them how to play. After several hours we packed up and went hiking."

" Ano...Eriol?" Syaoran began. " What was that?"

The other boy hesitated. The others stopped hiking.
" Hai, I sense it too." Sakura looked puzzled. " It feels familiar somehow."
" But it's gone." Syaoran blinked. " Since we all felt it it couldn't just be me. I have a nasty feeling about this."
" Don't worry. You have us to protect you." Kero chuckled, but the chuckle held little humor.
" Very funny." Syaoran answered. But he felt troubled. The aura felt exactly like the Shadow of Death.



" We waited for a while before continuing, deciding that whatever it was was gone. How wrong we were. For a long time we climbed. There was a sudden burst of flames."

" What was that!" Touya cried, falling backwards as flames struck right in front of him.
" By the name of Zeus! And I hope it's only Zeus!" Eriol ran up. " Who are you?"

In front was several shadows. Their dark eyes glowed black and they raised their arms in unison. The sky suddenly turned black as night. Syaoran shrieked at an unknown fear.

" We fought them for a long time." Syaoran told Chid. " In the end I used one of my dragon powers and they fled, but I was too late to save Eriol. He received a mortal wound and the following morning passed away."

" The next ones to go were Ruby Moon and Tomoyo." Syaoran swallowed. " It was at Eriol's funeral. A shot rang out and Tomoyo was killed instantly. Ruby Moon turned and we all saw the same sorcerors.

" What do you want?" Syaoran cried. " What do you want from us?" Crowds of panicked individuals swarmed away from them. They were alone. They were vulnerable.

The sorcerors did not answer. Instead they raised their hands again in unison. Lightning flashed, the sky again turned black, and this time Syaoran turned into a phoenix. With his fire powers flames surrounded the group, protecting them from the sorcerors. But the sorcerors used water.

" I was unconscious for five days." Syaoran whispered. " Five days. And when I woke up Kaho broke the news to me. She told me that Tomoyo-chan is dead and Ruby Moon was caught by the water, which sent her to the flames I created and burned to death."

" Several days later, Spinel Sun and Kaho came home possessed. They tried to take me. I asked them, why are they doing this?"



" By the orders of the seven Deities, we have come to destroy the Phoenix Dragon." Kaho answered.

Syaoran stepped back. He pushed Sakura out, and suddenly he told her in a hurry to use the Fly Card.
" What about you?"
" I'm coming with you!"

The children rose into the air and rode the winds. Behind them Kaho rode on Spinel Sun. Syaoran turned around and fired an arrow as a warning shot, but they kept coming.
" We can't fight them!" Sakura cried.
" What are we going to do then?" Syaoran shouted, distressed. A thermal shock rocked the air and they were thrown off balance and lost altitude. The two were separated.



" Two days later I went in search of Sakura. I found that the reason Kaho and Spinel were possessed was because they were dead already. If we had fought them I probably would have saved Sakura. But we didn't fight. We ran instead. And Sakura I found in the water." He looked at Chid. " The fish ate their fill. She was clean, clean to the bone, but I knew it was Sakura because none of the fish touched her pendant. I got out of there. I didn't even give her a burial. I didn't even cry. I was so scared. I ran to Yue weeping telling him what I saw and he abandoned me there in heartbreak. The next day I went over to Touya's home in sorrow and he comforted me the best he could. There was nothing to say."




" So how is Merle?"
" Oh, you know cats. They get over things very quickly." Van sat down beside Allen. " How long do you plan on staying?"
" Well, longer then expected, ever since this Dark Phoenix came along." Allen explained. " I've been meaning to ask you, why didn't you take out Escaflowne? Were you afraid that it will get hurt?"
" As a matter of fact, iie." Van answered. " That was the last thing I cared about. Hitomi said something quite strange...something about if I wished Syaoran to live I cannot help him."
" What could she mean by that nonsense?" Allen asked.
" She means," Syaoran appeared at the end where the hall connects to the large room, " That if you brought Escaflowne with you that I, literally, would be dead right now."

Van and Allen looked at each other.
" What is that blasted thing?" Syaoran asked. " Every time I go near it I lose my powers. It's a good thing you listened to Hitomi."
" You lose your powers?" Van blinked. " Why would Escaflowne take your powers? Maybe because of the dragon heart..."
" Dragon heart?" Syaoran thought for a moment. " Ah. You slayed a dragon. That's how you became connected. I see." He thought for a while longer before turning around and disappearing.
" What could he mean?" Allen asked. Van looked after him and said nothing.



Yue looked over the land. It was nighttime, his favorite time of the day. Night was longer here because the entire day was longer. Gaea was larger then Earth, anyhow.

" Syaoran sometimes leans out the window when he was with me." Yue told Hitomi. " I don't know if you ever saw that. He told me that he usually does that at his apartment, at his house in Hong Kong. Except in winter, of course. He feels that the night is quiet and calm and soothing. Just like me."
" Seems like you two have a lot in common."
" That's because we both have Moon magic." Yue answered. " Now he has all the magic."
" He's afraid of it."
" Who wouldn't? The child cannot handle his powers properly yet. Which is another reason why he prefers to be as a dragon."
" He's very intelligent."

Yue looked down over the land again, the wind making his hair flap.
" Hai, he is intelligent." The guardian said softly. " He had always been and we never doubted that. There was always something about him that was different, that made him stand out, that made him solitary."
" Solitary? I don't understand."
" No doubt Sakura was the first friend he really ever had." Yue answered Hitomi. " He was in truth, very shy. He always had the solemn look on him, as if he had suffered all the pain in the world already. But that time he was strong enough to handle that. Look at him now. He's all skin and bones. I fear for his life."

Hitomi watched Yue for a moment.
" You weren't so affectionate towards him in the beginning." She began.

At this Yue did not answer for a long time. Hitomi briefly wondered. Was it because he was feeling guilty? Or was it because he really had nothing to say?


Nighttime. Syaoran was in the Great Hall, sitting crosslegged on the floor. The reason he was in the big hall was because naturally, he needed a lot of space, and his room was too small and too short.

Iie. That was directly translated from Mandarin. It shouldn't be called short. It should be called low.

But not withstanding, the room was too small and he needed a big room. And he needed privacy too.

Everyone was asleep, even Yue, who didn't know he had crept out of his room at night. If he did, perhaps Yue would have stopped him. Everyone was getting paranoid about him committing suicide. Syaoran couldn't understand why. They have each other. He's just a bother.

Right now he knew he couldn't just draw the sword and just do it because they had a Dark Phoenix to master.

The Dark Phoenix. Syaoran sat on the floor, his mind empty of everything. From time to time something about that phoenix would come to mind. The name, Xyza. Where he came from. The black hole.

He really wasn't focusing on the Dark Phoenix though. The Dark Phoenix was the least of his worries right now. Right now he was focusing on mingling his Phoenix and Dragon selves.

From time to time he would sense his Phoenix side with all its pride and anger. It was too proud to shed tears. Yet it was distressed at the death of so many it loved. He would feel his dragon self. It was depressed and often felt too hopeless to cry. But he wasn't concentrating on his emotions. He was concentrating on the powers.

He felt the Phoenix' ability to control fire. Felt it wield the power of the sun. He felt the energy it held, the light and powers of destruction. The phoenix was built to destroy.

He felt the Dragon's ability to control water and wind. Felt both creatures rule the skies. He felt the energy the dragon held, powers of creation. The Dragon was what created everything and can create even more. But just as it created everything, it can also destroy.

Dragon Phoenix.
Phoenix Dragon.
Dragon Phoenix.
Phoenix Dragon.
Fire, Water,
Feng Shui,
Long Feng.



Yukito and Van ventured cautiously down the stairs.
" I don't think he's doing it." Yukito whispered. " In fact, his aura is growing."

Van, who could not sense any of what Yukito was talking about, did not say anything.

The two of them opened the door silently.



Syaoran felt his powers mingle. He was doing it! Just a little further-

Creaaaaak!

Jumping, startled out of his trance, he blinked at the doorway. Yukito and Van! What are they doing here?

" Oh! Gomen nasai!" Yukito said hurriedly, then shooed Van out and closed the door. The boy knew what he was doing.

But it was already too late. The mood was ruined, not to mention that Syaoran was already very tired. He sat there dumbfounded in the darkness. He had come so close. So close. He wanted to continue.

He was too tired. He was too sleepy. He'll have to save it for the morrow.