Chapter 4

Beta Notes: Thank you again! Once again, all comments-criticisms welcome. If you think a sentence should be worded differently, go ahead and keep putting it in parentheses next to the original sentence. Working with reincarnations was tough – not sure at all how Eriol grew up so I just alluded to his earlier 'childhood' very briefly. If you have any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them! And as for Clow's Chinese version of the 'Fly' incantation, does it make sense for him to say it that way? I pulled the verb off an online dictionary, and now I'm wondering if he'd say it in English, after all.

Kinomoto Fujitaka, even in his prime, had never run so fast.

Never one to call off one of his classes, he had barely even said goodbye to his students before all but dashing out the door. The early evening breeze felt ice cold against his face as he ran away from the sprawling campus and blindly towards home. Something must have happened to Touya or Sakura - the grief welling up inside him made him want to collapse beneath the still-bare cherry trees and weep until he had no more tears. He didn't even know where exactly they were - they were both filming the movie for Touya's class, but they hadn't mentioned where it was. Sakura had mentioned, however, that Tomoyo was coming along to help. Sonomi-kun might not be home much, but if she didn't know where her daughter was, her bodyguards would know in a matter of moments.

Fujitaka was about to turn in the direction of the Daidouji house (manor would be an understatement) when the sound of muffled conversation, sniffling, and soft crying brought him to a halt.

A group of Seijuu students turned the corner, easily recognizable in their blue blazers. Every one of them was red-eyed, and every one of them looked up him with an expression of wrenching sorrow as they realized whom the slightly out-of-breath professor was.

"Kinomoto-sensei-"

"Kinomoto-sensei, I'm so sorry...."

No, no, no, no, no, he thought, his brain racing, trying not to believe what surely had come to pass even as time seemed to slow to an endless moment of agony.

"Kinomoto-sensei...tell Touya-kun we're so sorry.."

Time picked up a little bit as Fujitaka looked up into the eyes of a clearly grieving student. But if she wasn't grieving for Touya, and if she wasn't telling Fujitaka himself she was sorry - 'Sakura is all right, thank the Gods' - then who were they mourning, and more so, why had he felt the loss, miles away, as keenly as it was his own child?

"Tell Touya-kun...we're so sorry about Tsukishiro-kun," she said, dabbing her eyes with the sleeve of her blazer. "Tell him if he needs anything..." She broke off, unable to speak, and another student near her wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"Tsukishiro-kun?," Fujitaka asked, readjusting his glasses. Touya's best friend had been sick, he knew, something serious enough to dampen the gray- haired boy's usually happy spirits and to make Touya more worried than usual. But Tsukishiro-kun had been over just a few nights ago, and even if he was yawning a little bit more, he seemed fine. His tiredness didn't stop him from helping with the dishes, all the while complimenting Fujitaka on his excellent cake.

Another student, an older boy Fujitaka recognized from Touya's soccer games, stepped forward. "We were filming the last scene of the movie," he said, his voice husky and none-too-certain. "Tsukishiro-kun and Kinomoto- kun were on the balcony, and Tsukishiro fell...."

"He fell? Is he all right?" As soon as he uttered the words, Fujitaka wished he could take them back. If Tsukishiro-kun was all right, or even if he had only been hurt, he wouldn't be seeing the suffering he was now.

The soccer captain closed his eyes as he shook his head. Some of the students behind him had started crying again, even those who thought they had shed every last tear.

"It...it was fast. He had fainted...I don't think he even felt it."

It was all so fast, Eriol thought, as he stumbled inside the house. He had told the sobbing Seijuu student that he would call an ambulance, even if knew it was too late. Yue may have no longer been his guardian – no, he never was my guardian, he protested, fighting the memories bleeding into his – but the loss affected him as keenly as if had been his own moon guardian lying there, his own beloved creation torn away before his eyes...

"Stop!," the young sorcerer whimpered, collapsing against the open doorframe leading into the large study. "Gods, just make it stop..." He wanted Spinel Sun here, he wanted to sink against him and sob into his fur, knowing his stoic sun guardian would stay there until Eriol's tears ran dry. He wanted Ruby Moon, no, he wanted Nakuru, to cheer him with her impossibly sunny nature, despite her lunar alignment.

And Gods, he needed Kaho. He missed her gentle, soothing presence, her playfulness, her lapses in memory that made her adorable and endearing, in addition to making her seem younger than she was. She would have felt that something happened, even if she didn't know what it was. Though with her strong affinity with lunar magic, she might have a better idea than most. He wiped his tears away and walked towards the old-fashioned dial phone on the table, already thinking of what words he would use.

Kaho...something's happened and I need you here...Sakura-chan and Kinomoto-kun need you here...

Kaho, it's me, Eriol. Something horrible's happened. Something went wrong and..

Perhaps it didn't go wrong. Perhaps this, too, was inevitable.

Eriol had just picked up the phone as the last thought came to him, unbidden and unwelcome. First it was Kaho's voice, mysterious and sad, then Clow's voice, full of sorrow and regret, and then it was his own voice, listless and resigned. All saying the same thing. All saying perhaps fate had a swift, senseless death for Yukito and Yue all along, and Eriol's glimpse into the future had been wrong.

"Nooooooo!!"

The phone crashed to the floor as Eriol swept it off the table, then sank to his knees besides it. His Sight had never failed; even the most mundane details of the future were there for him to see. His vision couldn't have been any clearer – Windy gently cushioning the young man's fall, the sigh's of relief at his miraculous rescue, Touya's worry as he carried the sleeping snow rabbit into the spare bedroom Eriol had prepared days before, Yukito keeping a worried, confused vigil over his sleeping best friend. So why was Touya kneeling on the grass, cradling his best friend's body?

Tears borne more of anger than sorrow streamed down his face as Eriol pulled himself to his feet, making his way to the high red chair in the center of the room. There was perhaps only one person who had the answer to Eriol's question, even if he had died in that house hundreds of years ago.

This close to the full moon, everything was full of its magic. The pale branches of the trees, woven like shadowy nets, cool, tranquil ponds waiting to reflect back its cold beauty. Everything was full of the moon – except for the hole in Cerberus' soul that threatened to become a chasm.

Still in his small form, Cerberus could feel his mistress' grief, could feel the pain and trauma of all the Cards, Yue's Cards in particular. He knew he should go to her, follow the dark and twisted threads of emotion back to her but he had to find his brother. As he soared through the purple skies above Tomoeda, he had felt a glimmer of lunar magic, a glimmer not coming from the gibbous moon still below the horizon. It was celestial magic, to be sure, and his heart soared as he recognized a faint, familiar aura permeating it. Clow's aura.

As much as he and Yue had fought since the day the sun guardian was created, Cerberus was devastated by the thought that anything could have befallen his older brother. But no matter how much they bickered, how much he harassed Yue simply out of boredom, no matter how much he had wanted to cuff the moon angel with his wings for giving Sakura such a terrible Judgment, it couldn't change the fact that he loved his brother and would be incomplete without him.

Yue brushing the mats out of his fur, curling up with Yue beneath the cherry tree in the garden, Clow reading them stories by the fire as the snow swirled outside, Yue making pudding for Cerberus out of a sudden burst of kindness – Cerberus was so lost in his memories that he didn't recognize the bright flash of solar magic sweeping up behind him until he was nearly knocked out of the air by the flying black kitten who looked as distraught as he did.

"S- Suppi? No offense, but you need to watch where you're flying," Cerberus said as both guardians regained their lost altitude. Spinel barely acknowledged him, but looked nervously in the direction they had both been flying, Nakuru's trail growing fainter with each second.

"Have you seen a girl with purple hair and butterfly wings?," Spinel asked rapidly, not even bothering to apologize. He didn't have time to be as polite as he would like to be. "She would have been giving off lunar magic, you can still feel she's been here – I have to find her."

"What?" Disbelief and anger crept into Cerberus' voice as Suppi fired off his questions. Whatever passed by here had lunar magic and Clow's imprint – it could only be Yue, not some butterfly girl. "I think you're confused, Suppi, only my brother could have this aura, and I think he's been hurt. Long silver hair, big wings, bad attitude – you had to have seen him."

Spinel's pale-blue eyes widened. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone of his identity or Eriol's plans, especially Sakura's Sun Guardian. But Eriol's plans were in tatters, and his sister was in horrible pain. And Cerberus – Oh Gods, Cerberus would know what had befallen Yue soon enough, no matter how much he denied it in his heart.

"Cerberus, I'm so sorry,' Spinel said, his wings fluttering even faster, tail twitching back and forth. He closed his eyes, gathering as such sympathy as he could, but he couldn't bring himself to say the words. Instead, he shook his head and looked sadly but firmly at his fellow sun guardian.

"Fly back from where I came – your mistress and your brother are there. I have to find my sister before she does anything," Spinel said in a pained voice, looking towards the last glow of light in the east. "There's been too much sadness today."

Spinel shot off towards the last rays of sunset. Cerberus growled a profanity and swiftly followed him.

'Can't you understand me?," Spinel shouted, looking back with only the slightest glances. Nothing would keep him from finding Nakuru now. "Go to your mistress – can't you tell she needs you?!" A twinge of guilt stung at Spinel as he felt his own master's pain.

Forgive me, Eriol-sama, he thought. If Nakuru does anything rash that would be another loss you could not possibly bear.

"What about my brother?," Cerberus shouted as Spinel flew ahead of him, far too fast to follow. "What happened to Yue?!"

"Go to your mistress," Spinel shouted, closing his eyes to keep back the tears at the thought of Eriol and Nakuru. "There's nothing you can do for your brother now."

The silent, empty room gave way to a sky full of stars, whose light seemed cold and brittle to Eriol, where it had always been warm and familiar. He yanked at the key resting at his throat, holding it out in an almost defiant manner as all but snarled the invocation.

"Key concealing the power of the Dark, show your true form before me! By our contract, Eriol commands you. Release!"

The small key flared in brightness before growing to a formidable wand; a heartbeat later Clow Reed was standing in front of him.

Despite being his reincarnation, Eriol's actual conversations with his predecessor had been rather few. On his seventh birthday, when he had come into his powers; age nine, when he was given guidance on making his own guardians; just before he left for Tomoeda. All of the encounters had been initiated by Clow, and so the older magician looked confused at the younger, more powerful of his reincarnations.

"Is there something wrong, Eriol-kun?," he asked, his voice gentle and enigmatic as it ever was, only a few pitches above Eriol's prematurely deepened baritone. (Betas! What range would you put Eriol's "deep" voice in?) His kind eyes crinkled in concerned behind the frames of his glasses.

"You can't feel it? You don't know that he's gone?" Eriol, who seldom spoke above a murmur, was all but shouting at Clow, tears starting to sting at his blue eyes.

Clow swallowed hard, his already pale complexion blanching. Both of his reincarnations shared his calm, unflappable personality. Fujitaka and his kind, paternal nature; Eriol and his playful, mischievous side. Thus Eriol had been perfect for the task Clow had set him to, and to handle his two new guardians-

His guardians. Kami-sama, how had he not noticed it? Cerberus' bright aura he could feel, as strong as ever, but the cool aura of his moon guardian, which had been dimming as of late, could scarcely be felt. As if it was behind a thick, heavy veil his hands, or rather, the lingering magic his spirit had left, couldn't push aside.

"Yue." Clow's anguished voice eerily matched Yue's on the bitterly cold day he had told his two guardians it was his last day on earth.

"In my visions he was fine! Sakura's brother saved him and everything happened as you said it would. What did I, what did you do wrong?"

"I don't know, Eriol-kun," Clow replied shakily. "It was the vision we both saw, it was the way the future should have been-"

"But it's not! It's suffering, and pain, and now there's no way Sakura can convert all the cards." Eriol's anger burst through in his sharp, staccato tone, his hands gripping his staff even tighter.

"But I can still feel him," Clow said, his voice less a statement than a plea to that faint, ghostly aura on the edge of his perception. "He isn't gone, not completely."

"And his false form is dead on the lawn, mourned by the Card Mistress and the one who should have saved him!" Eriol turned his head to where he knew the window would be in the space his physical body inhabited. "There's nothing we can do now."

"All hope might not be lost," Clow said, causing Eriol to look up sharply. "There still might be something we ca-"

A sharp scream cut through the older magician's words, but it wasn't the anguished cry that made them both shiver. That faint sliver of lunar energy Eriol had just begun to perceive at Clow's words whipped around them in a violent, frigid breeze and was gone before either of them could contain it.

"Yue! Yue!" Clow called out but the remnant of his creation was beyond hearing, or beyond hearing entirely. He turned back to Eriol even as he began to glow with a sparkling silver light.

"Go to them and explain everything - there's no more time for subterfuge. I'll come back to you once I've found him. There still must be a way to set this right."

Eriol nodded as he listened to Clow, wishing that the sorcerer was right and there was hope, however small. Relieved, Clow turned back towards the stars, glowing brighter and brighter.

"Hang xing!"

Clow's magic circle flared beneath him as he uttered the words, a pair of magnificent iridescent wings springing from his back. Eriol allowed himself a second to marvel at the transformation before Clow soared off in search of his guardian. But Sakura's voice, floating up from the grounds below, pulled him back to reality and the grim task he had ahead.

"Nii-chan!!!"

Through her tears, Sakura could see Cerberus flying down in a tight spiral, white wings shining out amid the violet sky. Clutching the cards tight to her chest, she recognized their mutual grief for Yue, which was as deep, if not deeper, than the pain she and Touya felt for Yukito's double loss. She had never seen her sun guardian so distraught, so hopeless. As he landed heavily on the grass and sank down on his front paws, she ran over and wrapped her arms around him.

"Gomen nasai, Kero-chan!" Her shoulders were shaking as badly as his as the winged lion could no longer keep deny what had happened. "He fell and...and I don't know why he fell and I'm so sorry!"

"No, Sakura-chan. I'm the one who is sorry," interrupted a somber, familiar voice. All three looked up, blinking away tears to see Eriol standing, ashamed but determined, in front of them. Cerberus was too shocked even to change into his smaller form, but Touya stepped forward, fists balling at his side.

"I knew there was something wrong with you!," he said in a low, cold voice, making the young mage take an involuntary step back. "Yukito had fainted the last time I saw you – I should have dragged him home as soon as I saw you here!"

"Kinomoto-kun, please believe me, I couldn't, I would have never-" Eriol closed his eyes and swallowed hard – even Sakura's kindly eyes had grown suspicious and sharp. He had never meant to hurt anyone but he had. In the worst possible way. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. Please, come inside and I'll exp-"

"Touya-kun! Sakura-chan!"

Fujitaka ran into the grounds, looking as if shouting his children's name had taken every ounce of energy he had left. He came to a sudden halt as he saw his daughter kneeling by a huge winged lion who seemed achingly familiar. "Sa-, Sakura-chan?"

"'Tou-san, I can-" Touya trailed off, looking between his father and Sakura's classmate. There were slight differences, but for the most part their auras were exactly the same – and were far too similar to Yukito's winged aura to be mere coincidence.

And nothing in his world was coincidence, after all.

"Sorry 'tou-san, I can't explain it," Touya finished, leaving Fujitaka more confused than ever. Cold blue eyes settled on Eriol instead.

"I do believe that this young man, however, was going to explain everything to us." A long, eerily silent pause – even the wind stilled for that moment. "Weren't you?'