Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will. I think the idea has probably been used quite a few times, but hey, oh well. Can't win everything. *shrugs*

Summary: It is believed that a coin cast into a wishing well grants wishes. With a small splash, the coin lands in the water, slowly sinking to the bottom. Syaoran tossed his coin in and asked a wish... and he got an answer. Thing is, was it the right one?

Notes: And this chapter is finally off my back. It's taken so long to get into gear again, so I'm just going to leave it as it is. I hope you guys enjoy it... And yes, this has been revised. This chapter, however, is a new one.

Wishing Well ~ Shattering of Trust

Mayare had noticed Taiaha and Salyra walking and talking, and she wasn't very happy about it. She felt that maybe Taiaha was turning Salyra against her, as he had tried many times before. That was one of the many reasons why she didn't trust her celestial angel partner as much as Salyra.

Wing saw Mayare's mind go for a minute and he butted his head against her arm. She looked down, acknowledged the eagle and started patting his feathers absentmindedly. Her thoughts were elsewhere. Her hand went down the bird's strong neck and down to the powerful wings that were now injured. Wing couldn't fly very well now, since he had been possessed and Salyra forced to attack him.

Mayare's hands started glowing a soft gold and magic flowed from her into the eagle, helping to heal the damage that had been done to him. Without any healing, the eagle wouldn't be able to fly anymore, and if he wasn't able to fly, he wasn't able to have the freedom that he enjoyed.

Mayare knew that the great bird yearned for freedom, and that Salyra usually gave it to him, apart from the times that she needed him to help her. But here Salyra was, leaving her beloved companion to go off with Taiaha. She felt for the bird.

After Mayare's hands stopped glowing, Wing tried to move, but found that he couldn't. A terrified shriek escaped from him. Mayare's reassuring touch soon calmed down the great beast. He stayed still, as if she was communicating to him that it would take a while for the bird's wing to heal. It certainly would.

Mayare's voice was a whisper as she talked to Wing. "Wing, I'm getting scared. You know that Taiaha and I have never really had a good relationship. I think that he's trying to turn her away from me and force her to not take me seriously anymore. I can't have that happening, Wing. You know your friend. You know me. What am I doing wrong?"

Wing's knowledgeable eyes were focused on Mayare as she spoke to him. Though he couldn't speak her language, he knew somehow that she could speak his, and began coaxing in soft low tones for her to speak something that he would understand.

Mayare looked down in surprise at Wing. She seemed to get the hint, and began speaking in the language that both of them, but no one else, could understand. To anyone else, it would just sound like random sounds were being made, but truthfully, words were being spoken, but they were not of a human, or even an angel's, language. The language that they spoke was of the same as the words, or sounds, that were spoken by birds. Though some mimicked, they could string words together in the way of humans or magical beings.

"Do you understand me now, Wing?" Mayare asked in a low tone.

Wing's head nodded, and he let out a tone of consent. "Yes."

"Then you must know what I have been talking about. I know that you can't speak the human language, but I know that you can understand what I'm saying when I'm speaking it." Mayare gazed down at the eagle.

"I know I can, but I needed to communicate with you."

"You did, but you wanted me to speak the language of the birds?"

"It was the only way."

"I could have done a language translation spell."

"That may be true, but I don't want you to lose the tight bond that you have with nature. I'm pretty sure that you're going to be needing it to survive soon."

Mayare's forehead was creased. "And what do you mean by that?" she asked. "I don't know what you speak of. I know that Taiaha and I don't get along very well, but I don't think that we hate each other that much."

"Mayare, everything is more complex than you make of it. Even though I don't have a very good grip on the future, I have intuition, and it's telling me that something's going wrong in this world."

"What's going wrong?"

"I don't know exactly. It's just a sense of foreshadowing. I don't know what might become of it. Even I do not know."

"Wing, can you please find out for me? I'll try my best to heal you, but you'll need to do most of the recovering on your own. Hang on, I'll go look and find out myself. It's probably best anyway, and I don't want you getting hurt even more. I would feel really terrible if I was the one that caused it and it could have been avoided. Salyra would never forgive me." Mayare placed her hands on Wing's powerful wings again, and she began glowing, transferring a lot of healing energy into the beast. By the end of it, she was sapped of all things healing, but still had a lot of magical energy left.

She smiled wryly at the eagle. "Take care of yourself. There should be some food put out later, and I think that Taiaha and Salyra will be back soon. Meanwhile, I'm going to go. If they come and ask where I am, please don't tell them that I'm going to look out for information, they'll only interrogate me when I get back. Please, Wing? Can I count on you not to say anything?"

Wing looked a bit hesitant, but finally nodded. "Okay, I will do that, but I want you to be careful. It's dangerous out there. Make sure that you stay out of the way of rabid spirits, and I don't want you to even consider going anywhere near the Asyliah realm. It's dangerous there, and there are many things that could hurt you. Promise me that you'll listen to me and not go there." His gaze was steady as he looked at the celestial angel.

Mayare bowed her head in acquiescence. "Okay, I'll listen to you this time, Wing. I have to learn to trust in your judgement and experience. But please, by all means, don't inform the others of anything. I mean that. If I find out anything, I will be telling you and only you, because I don't think I can trust Taiaha with any information at all, and Salyra will only tell Taiaha everything, and I don't want that happening."

Wing watched the celestial angel for a few moments, and he understood. He knew what she was going through, and why she was fighting so hard to keep her emotions about Salyra and Taiaha rendered contained. "Very well."

Mayare spread her big white wings, the ones that seemed oversized for someone of her build. She was quite small, with the look of a thirteen-year-old, but in truth, she was as old as Time itself. She had been around longer than the other two, and knew of the dangers that the world possessed better than they did. Wing had been her faithful companion until she had met Salyra, and Wing had taken to the young angel.

Mayare had let him go, and had gone her own way before discovering Salyra's destiny as a celestial angel. She remembered it so clearly. There had been some spirits after Salyra and Wing, not the ones that had possessed Wing, but some other ones, stronger ones.

Salyra had been holding her own for a little while, and when Mayare had sense distress, she had gone to the aid of the young girl and the eagle, only to find Salyra sealing away the spirits. That was only something that a celestial angel could do, and Mayare had been amazed. She had decided to keep a closer eye on Salyra, and had invited her to live with her.

Then Taiaha came along, in his usual suave swaggering way. He had been nothing but a jerk to Mayare, but seemed to like Salyra. He had outcast Mayare, and left her with nothing, but herself and the rest of her friends, and an always-dwindling friendship with Salyra. Everything had been going so wrong...

No, she thought. I can't allow this to go on any longer. I have to put a stop to it. To him. I don't want to hurt Salyra's feelings, but this seems to be the only thing that I can do. I must find out what Wing was talking about, or we could all be in grave danger. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

Be careful, Mayare, Wing thought. You're getting yourself in over your head. I just hope that you'll heed my advice and stay right away from the Asyliah realm. You could end up destroying yourself there. Please, I beg of you, listen to me and don't be stupid. It could be our downfall if you don't make it out of this alive. Please, Mayare, be careful... The giant winged creature arched his neck and raised his head, watching with fiery eyes. He saw the celestial angel go, and then vanish as her wings carried her at amazing speeds.

Mayare twisted and turned in the air, avoiding random objects and obstacles. She was close to crashing into some things sometimes, but somehow, she managed to just avoid them. Her eyes narrowed. Her senses were closing in on something. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to follow the signal and when she felt that the signal was at its strongest, she stopped in the air, and opened her eyes.

Following that was a state of shock. She was at the Asyliah realm.

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Salyra had been out of it for a while. While her body was walking beside Taiaha, her mind was elsewhere. She kept thinking about Mayare and Taiaha, and her thoughts flickered back and forth between the two.

What's going on? Salyra thought. I know that Mayare and Taiaha don't get along very well, but I just wish they would. I mean, I know that Mayare has been around longer than Taiaha has, and maybe has more experience than he does, but she could just be open to some of his ideas. He does have some good ones, and he's caring too. He doesn't act that way around her. But I've seen those sides of him, and he's always there for me. I'm grateful to Mayare for taking care of me all those years.

She helped me to regain and control my powers, and helped to constrain my magic when it became too much. She was going to teach me healing as well, so that I could help Wing whenever he got hurt, but I found everything within that too frustrating, and I couldn't sit there for a long time without doing anything. I just don't have the patience for it. But she does. She's a great healer, and I trust her with Wing. What reason do I have not to?

She's always been good with him before, and she was the one that he went to in the early stages to be healed, even though he always protected me. I used to think that she put him up to it to protect me, but now I know that he did it for friendship. That eagle is a smart one, and he's the best friend that I've ever had. Mayare is a lot older than I am, and she's more serious than I'll ever be. I can't be around her all the time. She takes me down with her when she's thinking and in a serious mood and I feel choked.

She pulls me down. I have a different personality, different nature, different disposition from Mayare altogether. There is no way that we are the same. I could not even be her daughter. I am her equal, even though I am a lot younger than she is. I look older than Mayare does. She looks like a thirteen-year old from the other world, which makes me wonder. Could she be from there? When I stand next to her, we are different. I am darkness, she is light. Yami and Hikari.

She has blond hair and blue eyes; I have brown hair and brown eyes. She's just so much more different than I am. It's kinda strange actually. I think I can relate more to Taiaha than Mayare, but Mayare has been such a good friend to me over these past few years. She's helped me so much, and I feel really bad for not listening to her more.

There's also been something wrong with Wing lately too. He's been seeming so out of it. There must be something wrong. He talks more to Mayare than me, so maybe she knows. I should probably ask her.

"Salyra? What are you thinking about?" Again, Taiaha's voice barged into her thoughts, and she looked up at him a little irritated. She quickly tried to keep her temper under control and managed a forced small smile. It wasn't that long before she was feeling a little more irritated.

"Taiaha, my thoughts are my own. I don't want to talk about it," she said tightly, looking away from Taiaha's visibly abashed face.

"Salyra, come with me. I want to take you somewhere," Taiaha said, and he grasped her arm tightly and hauled her up into the sky.

Salyra wrenched herself out of his grip. "What do you think you're doing, Taiaha?!" she yelled.

"I'm taking you somewhere where I think that you should look. Please, just trust me on this, Salyra. Even if you don't trust me much now, please, just trust me on this. I won't let you down." Taiaha looked genuine.

Salyra was still feeling a little distrustful and she didn't know if she could trust him or not. He'd never before grabbed her arm in such a tight grip. Should I trust him or not...? He seems sincere, but then again, he always seems sincere. He has that way of hiding his emotions that it just makes it so hard for me to read him. I don't know how I see him anymore. If I could only break the shell that surrounds him and get into his emotions, but he's so distrustful of many people. Did something happen to him to make him this way? Did he love someone, but it was unrequited? I need to know...

Salyra let her grip go slack, and her voice was a whisper. "Take me there." Her brown eyes were listless and sad, as if sorrowful for Taiaha. Her features softened.

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Surrounding her were statues of figures. She could see the horrified expressions on their faces, even though she was quite a distance away. She felt like she wanted to be sick, and to get out of here as soon as possible. But she couldn't. She was rooted to the spot by some invisible force and it was holding her spellbound. She didn't know what to do. She had to move, before anything got to her, but it seemed like it already had. She wanted to move. She had to move.

Then she was sailing away. Her blue eyes widened. Something was carrying her. She couldn't see it, but there was a definite presence there. She began struggling a bit and flapped her wings to get loose. She managed to after a few moments, and her eyes were on the spirit. "Who are you?" she demanded. "And what were you doing with me?!"

The spirit was hesitating for a while and then it chose to reveal itself.

Mayare was rendered speechless. She knew this spirit. It was the one that had helped her save Salyra all those years ago. Mayare had looked up to see where the spirit had gone, and had seen it nowhere. She had supposed that it had scarpered, or vanished, in a literal sense. It probably had just gone invisible, like it had been. "Y-You!" she stammered. "I know you! You helped me save Salyra a long time ago. I never got to thank you for that. I'm sorry for being so rude..." Mayare bowed her head in shame, remembered something, and then looked back up at the spirit. "But I never really got a good look at you, I only got to sense your aura, and that was what helped me define you right now. What is your name?"

The spirit took a few moments to think before speaking. "Shika. My name is Shika." Then it revealed its true form to be a young woman, having a startling resemblance to Salyra. "And I am Salyra's mother."

If Mayare's jaw hadn't already dropped in disbelief, it had by now. "You're her mother?!" And then she got a good look. The hair, the face, the eyes... it was like looking in Salyra's reflection. Though Shika had an older look to her, her features were more defined and weathered. She had a sad aura to her, one that was blue with sorrow and misery, as if she had lost hope in searching for something. It made Mayare want to cheer her up somehow, but Mayare didn't know how to do that, and she wasn't sure how Salyra would take to the news of her mother suddenly turning up out of the blue. Mayare definitely would have gotten a shock, exactly like she had just now.

"Shika, why did you take so long to appear to me now?" Mayare asked. She was confused, and a little curious to know of the spirit's reasons.

"I didn't want to disturb my daughter's life, while she was at the peak of her enjoyment and having fun. I mean, you wouldn't want to do the same if you ever had a daughter, lost her, and then found her having fun, while she had no recollection of you at all?"

Mayare was stumped. "I would've tried, but if she didn't want to get to know me, then I would be heartbroken, because I would've wanted to get to know my daughter and the person that she has become, because she might be someone that I might really like having a talk to, and catching up on the past and events that have happened in the past. She might have turned me away, but when I look at you, I can see the resemblance to both you and Salyra, and there is now way that she would turn you away, that's not what she's like. She's never been like that to anyone and I don't think that she'll start being like that now.

"I remember when she first saw me and thought that I was the scariest thing in this world. Who knows, I must've looked hideous, but I had spent that last few decades fighting evil and rabid spirits and demons, and who knows what else and it had really taken everything out of me. Then I found Salyra being attacked, and even though I didn't have much left in me to fight, I did anyway, and I narrowly won; though I was hurt very badly. Salyra cared for me, and because you weren't with her at the time, I decided to take her with me."

Shika had been listening to what Mayare had said with great interest, and had been thinking over what she could do. She could either go follow Mayare's advice and go see her daughter, or she could just do what she had been doing for a number of years, and try her best to forget that she even had a daughter. That was not going to be very likely, because it was hard enough to pretend, never mind forget.

"I think I'll go see my daughter. But I'm going to wait for the right time. It would be too much of a shock for her now, if I were to turn up on the spot." Shika cast her gaze down. "I don't want to hurt her feelings and make her think that I left her alone on purpose."

Mayare was looking at Shika. "I'm sure that both you and her will get along okay..." I hope, she added to herself. Because I need to talk to her as well...

Trust in yourself, and others will trust you.

To be continued...

I'm off to bed now guys... so goodnight to you all, and I hope you all have a good Christmas.

Merry Chrsitmas to you all, and I wish you a Happy New Year.

There also won't be any updates for three weeks, starting from the 27th December, as I'm going on holiday. I'm currently on summer holidays, and I'm going camping down south. So no computer for three weeks. Though I'll post a lot of updates when I come back. So anyway, see ya!

Review if you want to.

--Kari