Man, I'm tired! I've done the longest writing in one sitting ever! I practically just wrote the entire chapter, and I'm bushed. But I'm glad I got to post this ^.^ whoosh…thanks dearly to all of my reviewers! And guess what! In this chapter, I reveal one of the most important plot thingies ever!!!!!!! I don't know if it will explain a lot for you, but it should, since my entire story is based on that concept (sort of).
So anyway, I'm glad that's done. Read on!
Disclaimer: …you think of one!
*/ lalala /* = flashback
'lalala'-thinking
* * * with italics- Dreaming
~ ~ ~ - in Gnimaerd (either Ananda or Aiden)
"lalala"-out loud
Chapter 15: Syaoran's Memory"LIGHT!" Sakura shouted. The glowing figure of the Light Card appeared and Sakura saw in the faint glow, her hands. For a moment the Light paused and faced her, hair glowing. The card smiled and then opened her arms wide, and then there was an intensely bright light. Sakura held up a hand to shield her eyes, and for a moment she felt her head buzz oddly, but it was like a happy buzz, as if it was saying 'good job'.
Then the flash of light was gone, and Sakura found she could see again. The Light floated in front of her, and its eyes were like Wood's had been. And like the Wood had done, it spoke to her.
"Remember your invincible spell," Light told her. "Yours was the heart I could live in." Then it went back to its card, and this time, Light's eyes were open.
Sakura stared at the card, thinking hard. Then, on impulse, she took out the Dark and released it. Sakura watched as the lovely figure of Dark appeared, with hair of ebony and pale skin like the light of the moon. Sakura said, "I'm sorry, but I wanted to know if you wanted to say anything to me too."
The Dark replied, "Though a different Dark will come for you, if you find 'it', you shall conquer. Remember what Light said." And then it was gone too, like the Light.
Sakura stared thoughtfully at the two cards. Then she looked up, and gasped. Syaoran, Chihiro, and Haku had been watching the whole time. Syaoran looked oddly surprised; Haku, only slightly surprised; Chihiro, though, was staring with a look of complete shock on her face. And Sakura couldn't blame her.
Chihiro said, "You have a lot of explaining to do."
Syaoran opened his mouth to say something to Sakura, but then---
KNOCK KNOCK
Someone was knocking on the door. Everyone jumped visibly, and turned to the door. Chihiro looked outside and noted that the sky was back to a normal velvety blue, and the shadows were only deeper shades of mauve, warm and friendly.
Haku shouted, "Who is it?" Chihiro almost laughed from the normalness of it.
And then someone replied, "Is Chihiro there? She'll vouch for me." And then Chihiro didn't feel like laughing.
Haku swiftly glanced at her, and said, "Do you know who it is?"
"It's Aiden."
Sakura, who had been thinking hard to remember who it was, gave a little "oh" of recognition. She said, "Open the door. It's him."
So Haku did. And there was Aiden. Chihiro had only seen him a few times during her stay at Gnimaerd, but he was still familiar…and handsome. He gave the impression of being the kind of person who you'd meet, and then immediately trust. She was struck suddenly by how green his eyes were, like Haku's.
"I'm overriding the system," he said. "I'll take you to my House myself. There isn't any time left, and we have to leave immediately."
Chihiro blurted out, "But she has to exp---"
Aiden cut her off. "Look, I'm sorry, but any further explanations will have to wait. It's not safe here anymore; They will come back, and it will just make things harder for us."
Syaoran said, "Who's they?"
"The Scelestus," Aiden replied. "Like I said, no time. We're leaving…" he checked the clock on the wall, "…now."
He walked over to another door in the wall that Chihiro hadn't noticed before. It was a regular wooden door, and it looked almost exactly like part of the wall itself. Aiden grasped its small handle, and opened it. "Ladies first," he said, with a gallant smile.
Chihiro hesitated, and then walked over to the door. Sakura, Syaoran, and Kohaku watched as she walked through, and then (with an encouraging smile from Aiden) Sakura followed suit. Syaoran and Haku didn't exactly distrust Aiden, because of what Sakura and Chihiro had told them. He was just an unknown. So they went in too.
- - -
"Wow," Chihiro said softly. With a soft whoosh, Sakura, Syaoran, Haku, and finally Aiden arrived next to her. She guessed that they were in the foyer of his House. 'But no foyer ever looked like this,' she thought.
Behind them, Aiden closed the door and said with a sweep of his arm, "Welcome to my House." The four of them looked around amazement.
The 'foyer' was paneled in a rich golden brown wood that looked practically seamless from one board to the next. The floor was made of many different kinds of marble, from rosy pink, snow white, glittering black, to gold veined blue. Chihiro had the feeling that they made some kid of pattern that was only visible from a higher point of view, since she could only see random colors. Oddly enough, there was no furniture at all in the entire space.
The sheer size of the room was breathtaking. Sakura would've bet that it was at least five times the size of the entire Aburaya. There were no lamps, but light seemed to emanate from nowhere. But it was the doors that caught their attention. All over the walls, placed at complete random, were doors of every shape and size. There were wooden doors, iron doors, brightly colored ones, doors as tiny as books, long thin doors, and doors as wide as garages.
Chihiro had no idea how someone would access the doors, since they seemed to just be stuck on the wall without any way of getting to them. There were no stairs.
Aiden started walking forward. The movement jerked them out of their staring stupor, and they followed him. He said, "We should go somewhere where we can talk."
They trekked across the spacious floor. Haku whispered to Chihiro, "Did you see the floor? It's like the colors are moving." Chihiro looked at the floor again, and saw that whenever she thought she had a distinct shape figured out, it was completely different.
"Yeah," Chihiro whispered back, "and what's with all of the doors?" Haku shrugged in return.
After more walking, in awed silence, they had (surprisingly) made it about most of the way across the floor. Aiden held up a hand and they all stopped. He muttered something to himself, and then said, addressing them, "Stand back." Aiden waved his hand, and one of the doors up on the wall opened.
The door was a plain rice-paper sliding door, and though Chihiro strained her eyes she couldn't discern what was inside. Suddenly something fell down from it. She realized it was a ladder, which looked like it was made from paper too.
Aiden said in an annoyed tone to the door, "Could we make it a little easier, please?" The ladder withdrew into the door, and moments later a stair unfolded from it. It was made of paper, like the ladder. "Come on then," Aiden said.
Syaoran stepped on after Aiden, and then Sakura decided it was safe so she followed. Kohaku said to Chihiro, "Let's go." Chihiro followed, slightly hesitant. The moment she stepped on it, the stair began moving. She was caught off balance and fell forward. Luckily Haku caught her, and Chihiro felt herself blushing as the ladder carried them upwards.
Sakura had also been surprised by the sudden acting up of the stairs, and grabbed Syaoran's arm. She watched as the floor drew away, and managed to see part of the design. There was something that looked like a flower in it…maybe an Iris. And then they were inside the room.
This one was smaller, and looked like the old fashioned Japanese restaurants they had downtown back in the human world. There were low tables and mats to sit on, and the walls were made of rice paper just like the door.
Aiden walked to one of the doors and said, "Let's get some fresh air." They realized that this door was like the modern glass sliding doors, oddly enough. He opened it, and Syaoran let out a small gasp.
The door slid open to a balcony, which overlooked what appeared to be a dueling square. Walls enclosed it in, like the one Syaoran guessed they were in, with balconies overlooking the square below. But it reminded him of a place where he once trained… Syaoran remembered his thoughts before the big 'group dream' thing.
Sakura said into the silence, "You call that a house? It's more like a…a…"
"An airplane hangar, or at least it's big enough to fit a few," said Syaoran.
"Like a giant portal to different places," Chihiro added.
Haku said thoughtfully, "Or like an in-between place…"
Aiden said, "Well, it's my home, and it's basically in the Spirit World. But we're not here to discuss my House. I'm sure you all have a lot of questions. But first I think we need to be a bit more open."
"Yes," Chihiro said. "What was that you did, Sakura? Back there with those…shadowy things. You brought the light in, didn't you?"
Everyone looked at Sakura, and she said, "It's a long story…"
Aiden replied, "We have time enough. In my house, time is irrelevant. So we should have enough time for even Chihiro's story, am I right?"
Chihiro said, none too taken aback, "I should have guessed that you knew about that. You're not like the rest of us; you're like Ananda."
"Well, let's sit and first we'll hear Sakura," Aiden answered coolly. So they all sat at the table in the middle of the room, Aiden at the head.
Sakura took a deep breath, and said, "First of all, Chihiro, I have a feeling that you're the only one who has no idea what Syaoran and I can do." She held up a hand as Chihiro opened her mouth. "Haku saw us use our magic before…anyway…a long time ago there was a powerful magician named Clow Reed………"
Chihiro listened with wide eyes as Sakura told her everything about her magic up until the part when Eriol left. She even demonstrated, at the request of Aiden. And then, her voice growing a little hoarse from the talking, Sakura told the truth about what happened with the Iris Spirit, with help from Syaoran (who explained about his odd dream-visit from the Iris Spirit when he had been knocked out). When she was done, there was a silence.
Sakura said, "I hope you're not angry at me for keeping this from you, Chihiro. But not even my dad knew till the end about my magic."
"I'm not mad. I kept things from you too…" Chihiro replied. "It clears a lot of things up…in a way. But then again, I have a lot more questions now, especially about that Iris Spirit…"
Aiden, who had been listening with a mask of indifference on, thought, 'So that's what happened. But then they didn't get the whole message. Ah well…'
Out loud, Aiden said, "Well, we'll leave questions for later. Chihiro…let's hear your story."
Sakura said, "I've been waiting to hear this." Syaoran nodded in agreement.
Chihiro began, "When I was ten we moved. And I used to be so lazy…but anyway, we were on the road and my dad decided to take a shortcut…"
Syaoran and Sakura were amazed to hear Chihiro's story. Sakura was very impressed with how well Chihiro had handled everything, and thought it was very sweet on how much she seemed to care for Haku. Sakura thought she saw Haku turn a faint pink when Chihiro told them about how much she had been worried about him.
At the end of her story, Sakura said, "That's what the hairtie was about. Now I get everything."
Chihiro laughed a little. Aiden stood up and said, "Well now, doesn't it feel better to get that kind of thing in the open? Now let's have some food, I'm starving."
He was met with cries of surprise. "Didn't you say you would answer our questions now?" Haku said.
Aiden replied, "Yes, I said later. It's not later yet, and I'm a bit hungry." He closed his eyes as if he was concentrating, and the said, "I just ordered us some food from the kitchens."
Syaoran said, "What?"
"I have kitchens," Aiden said, as if it was perfectly normal, "in case of guests. And servants, though you haven't seen them just yet. I'll be right back." Aiden walked out onto the balcony, which actually was joined to the other balconies, so it was like a whole veranda on the inside of the square.
After he disappeared, Chihiro said, "Well."
"This is very interesting," Syaoran said. "What do you make of him?" he asked Haku.
"I don't know, he seems so different. Like what Chihiro said earlier, he's not like the rest of us." Haku replied.
Sakura said, "Aiden always seems to be so relaxed. It's like a mask or something. And he looks only a day past seventeen…"
Chihiro said, "Well look at Ananda. She looks like she's ten! But then it's seems on the inside, Ananda is older than that."
"Is she immortal or something?" Syaoran asked no one in particular.
Haku said, "I think they are something else, something that's not human or spirit."
Chihiro added pensively, "I think they're both very old. Like the saying 'as old as the hills.'"
Before anyone could say anything else, Aiden was back. He was holding something in a package, but he put it on a shelf before they could fully analyze it. He looked to the door and it opened.
A large tray floated in, and then Chihiro could see that a small thing at the end was carrying it. It looked like a little shapeless ghost, the color of frost in the morning. The little spirit-servant set the tray on the table, and then left. Aiden said, "That's one of my newer models. I design spirit-servants to do things for me, for as you can see, my House is a bit large."
Syaoran muttered, "That's an understatement."
Aiden said, "Dig in!"
- - -
Syaoran stood at the balcony. He had finished eating a while ago (he didn't know how long; whenever someone mentioned time, Aiden always said that was irrelevant) and had gone outside to think. He felt like something was pulling at his memory, something important that he had to remember. The feeling had grown since they'd entered this room.
He could hear Chihiro and Sakura talking quietly inside, and had the feeling that Haku was sitting and thinking, or maybe watching Chihiro like Syaoran had noticed he did. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Aiden.
"What's up?"
Syaoran raised his eyebrows. "The sky," he replied dryly.
Aiden gave him a wide grin. "I wanted to show you something," he said, and walked over to the shelf where he'd put the long package. He brought it over and unwrapped it. It was a sword.
Syaoran couldn't help but whistle in appreciation. The sword looked like glass, or a milky crystal. The blade was curved, and had designs etched into it, in some sort of alphabet Syaoran didn't recognize. The handle looked like the handle of a katana, only it was made of glass, with colored swirls and whorls like a marble.
"Do you like it?" Aiden asked quietly.
Syaoran looked up at him. "It's amazing…but the it's like it's made of glass!"
Aiden only chuckled. "Take it, try it out," he urged.
Syaoran hesitated, and then took the handle. He held up the sword and balanced it on the end of his finger. It was perfectly balanced, and weighed practically nothing. Then he tossed it in the air, and it made a sound as it swished through the air. Syaoran caught it, trying to think of the sound…it was like…pouring glass out of a cup…or…the sound of diamonds…
Syaoran held it tight, and brought it in an arc through the air. He fought an invisible opponent with it, listening to its soft zing as the blade cut through the air. After a few minutes, he stopped and held it out to Aiden.
Aiden held up a hand. "Keep it. You deserve a sword like that."
"But," Syaoran protested, "I can't take it…I have my own sword. The blade is made out of diamond, isn't it?"
Aiden ignored his question and said, "You may need it. Will you give it a name for me?"
Syaoran looked at the sword. 'Why would you name a sword?' he thought. But then, as he looked at it, a name came up in his mind. "Meracus…" he whispered.
"An interesting name," Aiden said. Then, out of nowhere, he held out a sheath for it. It was plain and unremarkable, except for a word written on it: Meracus.
Syaoran stared at it in interest, and then decided not to ask. He took the sheath and buckled it around his waist, and put the sword in it. When he looked up, Aiden had gone back inside.
- - -
Haku sat, watching Chihiro talking to Sakura and eating. His eyes lingered on her face, silently drinking it up with the pretense of being deep in thought. He knew he should be trying to think over all of this information, but Kohaku's mind kept drifting off to Chihiro.
Suddenly, a voice said into his mind, "You like Chihiro, don't you?"
Haku immediately sat up and looked around. He saw Aiden sitting in the corner, and realized that the voice had been Aiden's. 'What do you want?' he thought warily.
In Haku's mind, Aiden sighed. "You still don't trust me completely. Be a little more open, Kohaku."
Haku thought coldly, 'You still haven't explained everything. We hardly know you. How could I be expected to trust you so easily?'
"How should I know? I'm just telling you to."
'Well what do you want?'
"Do you like Chihiro? You do. Admit it."
'I…don't know what you're talking about.'
"Oh come on. I'm not stupid, as you must have figured out already. And besides, you should know that I'm not like the rest of you. I have my ways."
Haku sat up when he heard the familiar words. So somehow Aiden had overheard them…the voice in his head said, "Yeah, it's my House. I know what goes on in my House."
'And you can read minds.'
"Well only if I want. It's a nice parlor trick."
'So………what if I do?'
"Do what?"
'You know what I'm talking about!'
"No, I don't."
'I………I love Chihiro. Okay?'
"Good. That's what I thought." Aiden was silent in his head for a moment, and Haku sat wondering if he had been smart to confess his feelings for Chihiro to Aiden. But now that he thought about it…he was beginning to trust him. Aiden said into his head, "Look in that box to your right."
Kohaku looked down and saw, with surprise, a small box. He reached over and opened it. Inside lay a rose. But it seemed like so much more…as if the rose was filling out its outlines completely. Its leaves were a brilliant green, like the green of a thousand of trees, and its petals were deep red and as soft as velvet. Haku picked it up.
'What's this?'
"I want you to give it to her."
'Now?'
"No. You'll know when the right time is. You'll know."
'If you say so…'
- - -
Syaoran stared blankly into space, his mind not really concentrating on anything. He felt oddly at peace.
He found himself thinking of his master, and lessons that he used to have along with his training. Syaoran fingered the handle of Meracus. His eyes widened and Syaoran could feel himself thinking deeper and deeper…
Syaoran felt himself climbing down a chain of memories…he was looking for the right one…he knew there was something important that he had forgotten…
He had it.
- - -
Aiden sat inside, waiting. Chihiro said, "Can you answer our questions now?"
He said, "Not just yet."
Chihiro sighed and munched on a donut. Sakura stared outside at Syaoran. He looked like he was in some sort of trance…suddenly he straightened up and turned around.
Aiden knew Syaoran should remember soon. Meracus would help him remember.
Syaoran burst through the door, startling everyone.
"I have it!" he shouted. "The significance of Ananda!"
Aiden smiled.
Syaoran looked at Aiden. 'He knows, doesn't he…'
Sakura said, "What are you talking about?"
"Ananda. It's Sanskrit! That joy in existence without which the universe would fall apart and collapse."
@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@
So what do ya think? If you didn't get it, the big revelation was the last line. And that bombshell of a clue I dropped was Syaoran mentioning Sanskrit in the last chapter…but anyways, please drop a review!
Today, all of my lovely reviewers will be getting ramen, by special request! Dig in!
silent H :D