Well, hello! And Welcome to My Little World of Weirdness!
I state for the record that, despite the fact I really, really wish I did, I don't own any of the official characters that will grace this story; it's all CLAMP's! Always has been, always will be! I *DO*, however, own Marcibay Hilligans and Hei-ying Reed!! I also own Lord Maduokai Kuei and the Two of the dragons, T'listia isn't mine but on loan from one of my favourite reviewers and writers, Tam Chronin! And Mushu is Bluegoo's, he's quite a snapper, but heck, he's good for us! And what the heck . . . I own both of the mansions (The Reed/Hiirawagizawa and the Tsukimine) as well! [Laughs] Also I don't pretend to have any Mastery over the language of Japanese or any clue as to correct grammatical structure. I put it in and hope it gets across the point I'm trying to make! And I don't pretend to be able to write any sort of accents so please don't hate me!
"Speaking"
*Stress/emphasis*
//Thinking//
Extended~ [basically odd letters that the characters extend the sound of or in Ruby's case, sings]
In This Tainted Soul . . . Find Redemption . . .
By Dr Megalomania.
Chapter One: For Every Story Must Begin . . .
**In The Time Before . . . In The Time After The Attack of Mystrasa Kyree . . .**
The smell of incense floated in the air, gently dispersing with the breeze.
A small pink Nadeshiko flower looked almost insignificant in comparison to the large grey stone. The head stone was clean at last; neglect for the few weeks wiped away as if the body it stood over was laid to the final rest yesterday. She sighed and tucked a lock of honey gold hair behind her ear, stepping back into the embrace of her taller brother. Together, they stared at their father's gravestone. A little way off, their lovers stood respectfully, dressed entirely in black.
The gentle breeze was slow, and quiet as the two siblings stood silently in the contemplation of their parents' shared grave.
Their mother had passed away a few years after the Card Mistress had been born; their father was murdered only five years ago to this day. Death seemed to chase the two, threatening both, their friends and their family. For their father, death had come at the hands of a mistake created by Clow Reed, Former Master of the Clow cards.
A flawed reincarnation of his soul had come to try and take both magic and the cards from the Card Mistress, and attempted to turn one of her guardians against her. In doing this, Mystrasa Kyree had unveiled one of Clow Reed's darker secrets. Clow had ignored the ancient magical Law of Triad, creating three guardians instead of the accepted Western Two, or the Eastern Four. The second and the third guardian survived to become the guardians of Clow . . . but the first . . .
The first was sent insane, by Clow's lust, by Keroberos' distrust, and unbearable jealousy of his youngest brother, Yue the Judgement Maker.
In punishment for his repeated attempts to kill Yue and rid himself of his own insanity, Hei-ying was banished from Clow's magic, and sealed in a black book never to be opened again.
Clow placed seals, so powerful that only Clow himself or his reincarnations would be able to open them, upon this book to prevent it from ever being opened and allowing his greatest, and darkest secret to escape. And yet Clow had failed to realise that one of his reincarnations, the flawed, rage-filled Mystrasa Kyree, would be temped to unleash this horror upon the Card Mistress.
Kyree made her attempt to steal the cards, to turn Yue against his mistress and destroy the Card Mistress, and failed because she – like Clow before her – had forgotten the meaning behind the Law of Triad.
Balance of magic must be kept.
While she turned Yue the Moon Guardian of the Clow insane, she turned his eldest brother, Hei-ying the Star Guardian of the Clow, sane.
While she seduced Yue the Judgement Maker, she repulsed Hei-ying the Advisor.
While she showed Yue, an innocent, how to kill without regret, she taught Hei-ying, unremorseful murderer, how to fight for the lives of others.
Kyree failed, and the part of Clow that never wanted to give up his place in life to make way for the future, failed with her.
It lead to the death of Clow Reed, the true death . . . while his body had died peacefully centuries before, Clow Reed's soul was ripped to shreds, and dissipated from existence for one final time. Neither Hiirawagizawa Eriol nor Kinomoto Touya – once keepers of Clow's memories and soul – now possessed his influence. The Sakura cards were not only the Card Mistress' in name alone, but truly hers now. Keroberos The Sun Guardian of the Clow became Keroberos The Sun Guardian of the Sakura; Yue The Judgement Maker of Clow became Yue The Judgement Maker of Sakura. Spinal Sun was no longer the Sun Guardian of Clow's reincarnation, and Ruby Moon was now the Moon Guardian of Hiirawagizawa.
Hei-ying The Advisor of the Clow died, broken and exhausted, choosing to die than live in a world that no longer held even a whisper of his former creator, his former master, his former lover Clow Reed.
All of this happened but a year ago.
Sakura could hardly believe that she and her friends had survived. . .
. . . elsewhere someone could hardly believe his luck.
He stared at the three headstones, his mouth falling open with his awe. Upon his fourth try he had succeed, the spell although ancient had worked. He glanced at each of the stones, and knelt by the first, a rather bland dark grey stone set in the way of a western burial. Scrubbing hard with his dark maroon cuff against the moss-ridden name, the name was slowly revealed.
Marcibay Hilligans.
He frowned deeply, he'd never heard of this person. He shrugged and motioned one of his creations over, "This one . . ." the creature uncoiled itself and slithered forward, extending sharp claws as it began to dig at the soft earth before the gravestone.
Straightening, the magician glanced at the other stones. Behind him, a woman walked out of the rift in the air.
She walked up behind him softly; "Have you found them this time?" She asked, her voice soft, almost uninterested. She looked around with eyes blank of all expression, the breeze played with her fringe, blowing it in and out of her line of vision, and locks of dark hair flowed all around her. The house loomed a little way off, "Who lives there?"
"My dear, Asil . . ." The magician reached out and grabbed her hand, "There will be time for all of this later. . . come look. . ."
He moved over, and motioned to another of his creations. The long, watery creature moved with fluid slithering as it crept closer to its master's side to stare at the second gravestone. It tilted its elegant head as the magician nodded, "This one too . . ." He paused and glanced at a black stone, which had blood red roses curling around it.
Magic resonated from it, faint, and almost non-existent, but still it hummed a little with a small amount of magic. "A creation?" The magician wondered aloud, "Who would waste time burying a dead creation?" He shrugged a little, and clicked his fingers to his third creation, "And then that one as well."
The third creature floated, and swirled in the air with practiced grace, landing by the seconds, and extending its claws. The heat it resonated with burnt the roses, making them curl elegantly as they browned, blackened, and died. The creature made short work of the ground, and quickly dug down to the casket below. The magician watched the three with avid interest, his plan was beginning to be come to into visible grasp, soon . . . so soon would he be in possession of the final ingredients for the first stage of his spell.
Meanwhile, the woman turned in a slow full circle, and spotted a fourth head stone a little way off from this impromptu graveyard. She broke away from the magician, and walked over as if carried by the breeze. Her beautiful gown fluttered in the breeze, the hem brushed the grave as she stood beside it. She stared at the grey stone and tilted her head. Now this seemed to spark her long dead curiosity. There was something so familiar about the name on this fourth stone . . .
"My lady Asil?"
She blinked as the voice of the magician called over to her, any recognition of the grave's name floating away easily. She let go of it, and returned to the side of her lord. The magician smiled indulgently at her instantaneous response. "My lady, Asil . . . have you ever seen the skull of magical creation?"
She shook her head, her expression still blank. It didn't interest her, but he continued.
"My Lady, this is the skull of a living creation . . ." He held up an odd looking skull. The skull was slightly green; it hadn't changed colour with age, it just was a pale green. On the back of it was imbedded a gold etching. It was beautiful in its simplicity and complexity, a contradiction in its own right, the circle held the sun and the moon, which seemed to dance around each other in an endless waltz, to a silent melody. Around them, strong gold lines, and small markings both of the western discipline and of the eastern art of magicks. Instantly, the two magicks seemed to contradict each other and yet compliment each other. This magic circle, engraved in the back of creation's skull spoke deeply of the creator's power.
The magician pointed at the etching, "This is the mark of the creator." He reached down and pulled another skull from the jaws of one of his creations, "This is the skull of the man . . . this man was once the owner of this magic circle." A warm smile pulled at the lips of the magician, "Such a powerful man . . ." The magician's voice was filled with appreciation, he glanced at the green skull and 'spoke' to it, "He must have loved you a lot to bury you beside him . . ."
The magician tossed the slightly green skull into a cream bag held by his fourth creation, then picked up a black velvet bag out of his pocket and placed the creator's skull into it. The woman watched her lord, as he picked up the third skull. "The question is . . ." he asked thoughtfully, "Who was this man, this Marcibay Hilligans . . . possibly a servant, or maybe a friend?" The magician tossed the skull to one of his four creations that dropped it into another bag, and flicked his wrist. The four creatures nodded, and three of them returned through the rift in the air. The fourth waited patiently as the magician climbed back into the saddle, and held out a hand to the woman. "My lady Asil?"
The woman looked around again, it had been so long since she'd seen the light of day . . .
She looked around to the house again, and frowned as she saw two strange creatures fly out of a window. Long pink hair flowed around on black butterfly winged woman as she chased the large midnight blue cat. Their wings flapped powerfully as they flew together, they raced up the side of the English mansion with practiced ease. Their movements were entrancing, their movements spoke of years of practice and the innate ease they had as they flew to an open window, and passed straight into it.
"My lord . . ." Hissed the fourth creature, "The rift will close soon."
"Asil." Repeated the magician clearer, he shook his hand at her slightly, "we must leave now or be discovered."
"Of course . . ." The woman turned, instantly forgetting what she'd seen, the interest in the pair flitted from her mind again as she walked back to the magician, ". . . My Lord Kuei."
"Moshi-moshi, Daidouji residence?"
"Konbanwa Arisa-san, is my mother in?"
"Oh? Oh! Tomoyo-sama?! Ah, yes, yes . . . I will fetch her immediately!! It's good to hear your voice, Tomoyo-sama!"
Eriol looked up as his wife-to-be chuckled lightly, "It's nice to hear from you as well, Arisa-san . . . please, my mother?"
As Daidouji Tomoyo waited patiently on his antiquated telephone, Hiirawagizawa Eriol smiled gently and glanced over at the door of his study. The old heavy door opened slowly, and Spinel Sun padded in, book clamped tightly in his jaw. The midnight blue cat dipped his head in greeting, and quickly climbed up on to the dark red sofa. Ruby Moon raised her head slightly from Tomoyo's lap, to glance at her brother. She nodded a silent greeting, then returned to her favourite position. Ruby was extremely fond of Tomoyo, and adored watching the fire as she lay her head in Tomoyo's lap like a big cat. Tomoyo didn't mind, it allowed her to do her sewing in peace and quiet, as Ruby napped there.
Eriol smiled happily and returned to his reading. One of Clow Reed's notebooks lay open on his lap, and he fingered the pages gently. The book of one of many that he never seemed to tire of reading. His life was a quiet one, his wife-to-be slowly learning a small amount of magic spells to compliment her small, but potent power, his guardians remained interesting companions, and there seemed little left for him to do but live out a life which, while not without challenge, was almost complete. Since the defeat of Mystrasa Kyree, and the death of Clow Reed's soul, Eriol had found that he was prepared to take on a similar life as Clow Reed did in his youth. At the age of seventeen, after the deaths of his beloved mother and father, and a favourite uncle, Clow Reed had packed up, and left his family home, disappearing entirely.
For many centuries to come Clow would cause both the Reeds and the Li's to accuse each other of kidnapping the powerful, young mage and therefore causing a massive rift that would remain unresolved for the rest of eternity.
When in fact, the stubborn young man had travelled to the middle country of England, and set up his home in the very same mansion that Eriol now resided in. Clow had placed a spell over the house, a very powerful spell that allowed him to exist outside of the land's time. Together with his coachman, a wizened old man of little magic, but grand principles, and his magical creations, Clow Reed lived out his days barely making contact with the outside world.
It was here, in this very mansion, Clow created his own kind of magic, which was destined to save the magic world from being forgotten. And yet, in this Clow was exceedingly stubborn. He refused to give his magic to the people of his time, choosing instead to give it to one special little girl. The young Cardcaptor Sakura Kinomoto. With the cards, Clow gave life to two of his most complex creations. The two Clow guardians that he'd raised from their creation. Keroberos and Yue had spent many a happy evening in this room.
Eriol sighed, as a brief memory surfaced, one dim and faded like an old photograph.
Where Tomoyo was he saw Clow Reed, where Ruby was he saw Keroberos.
Those fleeting memories were like mist and smoke, disappearing as soon as he realised they were there. They were the last remnants of Clow Reed's soul, tattered old memories. This was the result of the destruction of Clow's soul, memories like that continued to lurk, but they were fading from his mind slowly, as if he was looking at his own memory of remembering Clow's memories. Confusing as that was for Eriol, and no doubt Touya as well, the only good factor that had occurred out of the loss of Clow's soul, was that his magic remained, and Eriol – like Kinomoto Touya – had soon fashioned it to become his own. Eriol's golden staff had remained the same, but the symbols took on new meaning to him. The sun and the moon now represented to him his two loyal creations, Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun. His robes may have been the same, but his wife-to-be, Tomoyo, repaired them after the battle a little under a year ago. And now, he no longer considered them his version of Clow's robes, but a creation by the hand of his love. A deep, almost purple, red replaced the dark blue cuffs of Clow Reed. Eriol wasn't quite sure how Tomoyo had done it, but the red – she insisted – complimented his lavender grey eyes, and dark blue hair, which he kept for his own sanity's sake in the same style he'd had since the day he'd first travelled to Japan to test Sakura.
Eriol frowned thoughtfully as he looked around, Clow's library, what could be scavenged from the destruction, remained around them. The books were a little worse for wear, but still readable. Since Kyree's attack, and the subsequent repairing of the house Eriol and Tomoyo had lived here for the last six months together, finishing their high school education in England. Sonomi had opposed the idea at first, worried for her daughter and surprised at the declaration that the two had decided to marry. However, Eriol managed to assure her that he had love enough to ensure that Tomoyo was kept out of harm's way. With much reluctance, Sonomi came to accept this, but insisted that Tomoyo keep her constantly updated.
Together for the last six months, Tomoyo was getting used to the idea that she would live out her life in this mansion, with Eriol and his guardians for her companions, and in constant contact with Sakura, the card mistress. She also improved her small amount of magic, allowing Eriol to teach her many small spells such as Levitation, casting flower spells, and momentum spells. They were harmless tricks, and Eriol waited patiently until the day when he could teach her more fun tricks. With their future seemingly forever connected with this old mansion in England, Tomoyo agreed on the condition that they never bothered Sakura with his tomfoolery. Eriol knew his wife-to-be was too polite to say it, and although he was attached to the old home, he just couldn't bear to ask it of her.
"Mother?" Tomoyo's face lit up, "Yes Mother, I'm fine . . . yes, Eriol is here with me as well . . . Mother! He's treating me like a queen!" Ruby lifted her head, and smiled warmly, as Tomoyo absently petted her head. "Yes, Mother . . . I've very happy . . . Of course, I miss you. . . and Sakura-chan. . ."
Spinel yawned quietly in the background and stretched, cricking his joints.
"Have I heard from her? Yes, I have . . . She and Syaoran-kun are heading to China soon, they wish to speak with the elders of his clan." Tomoyo smiled happily, "I'm returning to Japan when they do, I want to see you and Sakura-chan . . . it's been a long time since I was at home with you . . ."
Eriol smiled and closed his book, it floated from him and replaced itself on the shelf as he stood, and walked over to his wife-to-be, placing his hands on her shoulders. Tomoyo glanced up at him, a lock of her dark purple hair falling from her loose bun. She stared at him as she spoke warmly, "And yes, naturally . . . Eriol and his family will be coming back with us . . . We have some good news, Mother. . ."
While it was nice to have this house in England, Eriol knew it would be nicer still to recreate the mansion he'd lived in during the test of Sakura.
Spinel stepped of his sofa and padded over to rest his head in his sister's lap, purring loudly, as Eriol pulled the chopsticks from his lover's hair, and allowed her tumbling purple locks fall around her soft features.
Meanwhile . . . In Japan . . .
"HAI!! SWITCH POWER *ON*!!"
The Guardian Beast of the Seal, Keroberos slammed his small paw down on the controls, and dived over to push the small joystick. The simulated small man walked around the maze, the game's timer had begun, and Kero felt sure his plan of attack this time was going to work. "Ah Ha!! I'm going to get you!!"
Meanwhile behind him, Kinomoto Sakura packed her clothes, ready for travel in the morning. The seventeen-year-old card mistress took great care as she packed her magical costumes and her normal every-day clothes. Beside her, her once rival, now her fiancé, Li Syaoran tried his best to help, his bags were already packed and waiting with his butler Wei. Syaoran watched with some bemusement as his fiancée worried over which costume to pack.
"Sakura-chan. . ." He began as she picked up, put down, and picked up again the ornate pink hat that Tomoyo had sent her in the post, it was a replica of her older brother's traditional robes' hat, only in deep pinks that offset the highlights in Sakura's honeyed locks. "Sakura-chan, it's just a hat . . ."
"It's not about the hat Syaoran-kun, I don't want to look bad in front of your family!" Sakura sighed, as she pulled out her favoured dark pink cloak. It had nearly been destroyed almost a year ago, in a battle that almost claimed her life, and the lives of her friends and family. She loved the cloak dearly, a gift from her best friend, Tomoyo, and almost refused to leave without it. "I'll travel in this, and then—Aa!! Iie!"
Syaoran rolled his eyes, "Sakura-chan . . ." He grabbed her and pulled her close, "Sakura . . . Whatever you wear, as long as you are there by my side, will be appropriate . . ."
The emerald-eyed Card Mistress opened her mouth, but closed it. She blushed slightly and shuffled forward so she could lean her forehead against his shoulder, murmuring softly, "Arigato, Syaoran-kun . . ."
Small paws balanced precariously on the controls, Kero tilted his smaller form's head as he watched their reflection in the television monitor. Sakura was going to be powerful, and even though he and the Gaki didn't get on very well, Keroberos knew Syaoran would make an excellent companion for her. He turned back to his game, and sighed, Sakura had yet to realise how much power she would have, and what effect it was going to have on her in the long time. She really had no idea that she didn't have to impress those stuffy old elders from the Li family because she would far out live them. He shrugged and pounded the 'A' button, distributing more bombs. He knew though, that her personality wasn't as strange as Clow's and that she wanted to keep good relations with the Li Clan, if only to make up for what Clow had done to them so very long ago. The bombs began going off, and Kero leant his small body against the joystick, trying to make his small man move faster. With the rapidly increasing amount of magic that she possessed, Sakura had been granted a chance of a vastly extended lifetime, perhaps even immortality.
The same prospect of immortality that haunted Clow.
Kero stared at the screen, not really seeing the game. Clow had lived his life alone in that massive house with nothing but Kero and Yue to take care of him; it was a surprise Clow hadn't driven himself and his creations insa—
A chill racked over Kero's small false form.
Now that wasn't the real truth, was it? Keroberos stilled as he stared into the screen, he suddenly saw his false form, tiny in the reflection. His reflection's face looked haunted as he remembered the dark, seemingly endless corridors of the Clow mansion, the freezing snow storms that were as beautiful as they were deadly, and especially he remembered the bright silver scissors that twirled over and over in pale hands that had come to yearn to squeeze the life out of this tiny form of Keroberos'. His small black eyes glazed over, and the smile faded from his small mouth as the cold truth surfaced in his mind. Clow had driven one of his creations insane, hadn't he? And Keroberos . . . Keroberos had been there . . .
Kero continued to stare without seeing, not realising he'd begun to tremble as if he was on the cold rooftop once more.
Had he survived and gone on with his brothers the first time around, it was very clear that Hei-ying would have been a good guardian, perhaps . . . he was incredibly intelligent, resourceful; he was created to be the perfect advisor of the Clow, created to know everything, even more that Clow himself, about the cards. He was skilled in so many things, and yet . . . Clow had destroyed all of this, with lust and anger. True, fault lay with Hei-ying's bloody stained hands as well, but the truth was as creator of this flawed guardian, Clow's ingrained arrogance had led to deep character flaws in Hei-ying. Even now, Keroberos could barely think what would have happened had Yue been created first, how different things would have been. As a child, Yue - with his sweet temperament - had been an adorable child, filled with innocence, and an un-jaded outlook on life that helped to craft both Clow and Keroberos into the personalities that they existed as. To think of Clow destroying all of this in a single night . . . or even - Keroberos swallowed hard - over ten years . . . Hei-ying had been locked away with Clow Reed alone for ten whole years . . . and no-one really knew what had really happened . . . what Clow had done to Hei-ying remained a sinister secret, locked forever and the key lost as time swept the years along . . . ten, long, lonely, silent years . . .
Even though Keroberos had sworn never to forgive Hei-ying, Keroberos had to admit ten years of abuse at the hands of their manic depressive, impulsive and incredibly powerful creator was punishment enough for the dark angel. He could still vividly remember the look on Hei-ying's face when he stood up to Kyree, the exhausted, haunted look that spoke of pain buried for far too long. The jade eyes that were sharp and piercing stared dully, stripped of their insanity, as the dark angel revealed briefly a glimpse into--
**GAME OVER**
Keroberos blinked as the screen flashed at him insistently, manic laughter of the evil overlord he was meant to defeat ringing out merrily. "Na-na-NANI?!" Keroberos jumped to his small hind legs and screamed at the screen. Behind him, Sakura and Syaoran glanced at each other puzzled; the screen had been blinking like that for a few minutes. Keroberos' reaction was extremely delayed, Syaoran shook his head, as the small gold bear stood up and walked over to the screen, yelling loudly, "WAH!! I LOST!!!"
"I got so far!! I would have beaten him easily!!! I don't understand what went wrong!! My plan was brilliant!!"
He glanced over at the Card Mistress' bedroom door as the voice of his elder brother rang out.
Moon Guardian of The Sakura, Yue smiled slightly, and returned to his book. It was one of his old notebooks; from when he was . . . he raised an eyebrow . . . from when he was a child. It was so hard for him to even think of himself as a child, that once – according to Keroberos – smeared bright green paint on Clow's study carpet, and then, when confronted by a frankly bemused Clow Reed and a shocked Keroberos, simply smiled and burst into a hearty round of baby giggles.
A small picture of Keroberos' false form sat on the date of one page, with a finger raised and lecturing sternly.
Yue shook his head, and began to read the lesson of that day. It was one of his manipulations of the cards lessons, his ability to control the Woody. He touched the faded ink markings of Clow's hand writing, complete with its near illegible sprawls and almost incomprehensible punctuation, tracing with a finger the faint pencil of his childish diagrams. It seemed like a lifetime ago . . . it was a lifetime ago.
Yue looked up, and stared as a dark, thin cloud rolled in the night's velvet sky.
He was sat at the top of the stairs, finding himself most comfortable there. Just at the right angle to catch the moonlight as it poured in from the skylight. He sighed and shivered as the magic filtered over him, at the end of the corridor, the shower was running loudly. Kinomoto Touya was bathing, ready for the evening. They were going to drive Sakura to the airport tomorrow with the Li Clan head and Keroberos, while Yue stayed behind with his Mistress' elder brother.
Sakura was seeking the elders' approval to marry into the Li family. Or rather she was seeking permission to marry the clan head. It would not be appropriate for the Card Mistress to marry into a magically lesser family. Yue shook his head and flicked a page; the traditions of the old ways still dictated many things, even if Sakura wasn't aware of it and the fact that the Elders rightfully should have been begging her to join them. He tutted to himself and tried to continue to read, unable to really absorb what was on the page because of the over whelming amount of magic being infused into his body by the full moon, as the dark clouds cleared again.
There'd been little call for him lately, and he and Yukito had come to a joint decision that Yue could come out and enjoy life more while Yukito took the chance to delve into their subconscious mind, trying to piece together their shared memories, looking possibly for his own real childhood.
Since their temporary . . . he gripped the pages tightly . . . separation during the time of Mystrasa Kyree's attack, Yue had come to value Yukito so much more. It meant a lot to him, that his late eldest brother had give Yue a chance to save Yukito once more . . . even though, originally the two had once been of one mind, one body, and one soul . . .
Yue and Yukito still couldn't bridge the spilt, still couldn't find a way back to the way that they once were . . . but neither tried very hard. Yuki's attempts to find their past was more like looking for evidence that he really existed, his old worry about not being human surfacing only when he could remember parts of his childhood. Yue wasn't as interested in his childhood, beyond knowing what Clow had been like, what his brothers had been like. They'd become too comfortable as two entities, rather than the one . . . Keroberos and Clow's Little Moonbeam was forever lost, split between Little One, and the Snowy Rabbit.
Yue tilted his head back, allowing his long white fringe to spill back.
The moon poured in through the sky light, filling him with much needed energy. This summer had seemed to last forever, and the winter seemed like an eternity ago.
The door to Sakura's room opened, and Keroberos fluttered out. The small version of his brother quickly transformed and padded up to him, purring loudly as the older lion deliberately rubbed himself against Yue on his way down the stairs. The lion's long, white haired tail came up and patted him on the head idly, as the lion bounced down the stairs. Keroberos was always happier in the summer; winter always brought back too many memories of the past.
Yue watched the end of his brother's tail disappear around the corner before tilting his head up and stared deeply at the stars and wondered . . . about Hei-ying, his eldest brother. The source of many of Keroberos' overprotective traits and some of Yue's worst nightmares. The black haired angel who'd loved Clow so very much, and paid for it with his sanity, his innocence, his duty to Sakura, the purpose of his creation and finally, in the cold winter before this very year, he'd paid for it in full with his life. Looking back, Yue found himself wishing that he'd been able to know Hei-ying, know him as he was before his death. When he'd attained sanity, and become what he was meant to be . . . the advisor of Sakura. The angel, although exhausted from battling his emotions and his past crimes, had been like the eldest brother he was always meant to be.
However, Hei-ying could not have survived . . . the laws of magic would not allow it . . .
His shoulders dropped heavily, as Yue closed his eyes and lowered his head, his fringe reflexively covering his feline eyes.
Everyone else could not understand . . . even Kero could not understand what it was like to realise that once there was someone exactly like him, who had the same problems as he did . . . a false form that could be loved, a true form that was admired yet feared . . .
"You're thinking about him again . . ."
Yue nodded slightly as his senses welcomed the touch of Touya's magical aura. The angel opened his amethyst eyes, and stared into Touya's deep blue, "I find myself . . ." The angel paused, and closed his book, thinking as he fiddled with the object. "I find myself wishing I could have known him better . . . before he died . . ." He watched a drop of water run off Touya's still wet hair, before speaking again, "Unlike your mother, you and Sakura, Kero doesn't tell me much about Hei-ying which I can trust to be completely true and untainted by his anger . . ."
"Perhaps it is true . . ." Touya shrugged, he raised the spare towel and began to vigorously rub his hair. "You are just wishing for a brother that doesn't eat so much pudding, or plays computer games . . ."
A small smile pulled at the angel's lips as he stood and held out his hand to Touya. The dark haired Kinomoto smiled, and wrapped the wet towel around his shoulders so he could take the proffered hand and hold it tightly. The two's Luna influenced magic stirred deeply between them, and Touya smiled privately as Yue's beautiful feline eyes began to glimmer dimly. As the two walked into their master bedroom, Yue leant over and kissed Touya's bare, wet shoulder, "Perhaps . . ."
"Ruby! Don't fly too far!! We're leaving in a few hours!!"
"HAI!!" Ruby called back as she fluttered up to the roof of the formerly Reed Mansion. Eriol shook his head at Spinel as he muttered, "follow her, Spinel . . ." He glanced at Tomoyo meaningfully, "I don't think she listens to me anymore!"
Spinel sighed and shook his tiny form's head, "Yes, Master Eriol . . ."
As the small, blue, butterfly winged guardian fluttered after his sister, Tomoyo laughed gently and looped her arm through Eriol's, "Are you suggesting I order your guardians about?"
"Of course not, my dear . . ." Eriol smirked and patted her hand, "I'm suggesting that my guardians favour you over me, their master and creator!"
The violet haired girl raised a hand to cover her mouth as she smothered a giggle. She looked around as they walked around the paths of the former Reed mansion. Eriol had kept everything pretty much the same, as it was when Clow had lived here. The same flowers in the same garden plots, even a pond with a small shed nearby remained, although Eriol had refilled the pond. She sighed and they continued down the path, walking past the pond, toward the orchard grove where they'd buried Kaho and Hei-ying after Mystrasa's attack. Tomoyo glanced at Eriol; he didn't like to come down this way very often, rarely coming to the graveyard. Eriol beamed at her, "I want to say goodbye to Marcibay . . . it's an old habit, but whenever I leave the country . . . I like to tell him where I'm going . . ."
She smiled slightly, "You never told me who this mister Hilligans was to Clow . . . a friend?"
"A father almost . . . he made sure Clow kept his feet on the ground . . ." Eriol smiled slightly, "Although now . . . now I have no connection with the man, Clow's habits still come out ever so often . . ."
Tomoyo nodded, and unlinked her arm from him. She closed her eyes and chanted softly, a bunch of roses came into existence in her hands. "There . . ." She smiled warmly as she held them up, "While you visit Hilligans-san, I shall wish Hei-ying-san and Clow-sama a happy day . . ."
She stared into the empty sockets of Clow Reed's skull.
The name echoed around her mind as loudly as the footsteps of her lord did in the huge room. He entered the room, pushing the double set of doors wide open, and stormed in. "My spell is almost complete!!" He called to her; she turned and glanced at Lord Kuei. His dark grey eyes were wide as he pushed his long black hair back out of his eyes. Lord Kuei smiled and reached out to touch her shoulders, "So soon, my Lady Asil . . . you shall regain your true form!"
"That is good . . ." The woman smiled faintly, trying to appear more happy about this than she felt. She felt nothing, she wasn't happy, she wasn't sad . . . she wasn't angry, nor was she blissful . . . she felt nothing . . . thought nothing . . . she was nothing, but a body in motion . . . and yet . . .
There was a time, she knew she felt something . . . was something . . . she was someone once, and a prevailing sense of wrong echoed in her heart . . .
Lord Kuei smiled triumphantly, as he pulled the first skull, the skull of Marcibay Hilligans, from the shelf.
"I shall experiment on this . . . then . . ."
He glanced at the other two skulls. Both sat beside each other on the mantle shelf. Eyeless, and empty, the two stolen skulls glared out from their position. Kuei smirked, as he stared at them. There was nothing they could do that could stop his plan from going into motion.
"I shall recreate this creation of Clow's, and then Clow . . . the man himself . . ."
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And Now's It's Time to LEAVE IT TO DOCTOR MEGALOMANIA!!!
DrM: I know, I know, I said I wouldn't but then this idea just would not leave me alone … mostly it's Clow'd9, Tam Chronin and Bluegoo's collective fault, I can't help it, but I've started so I'll finished!! I hope that this will be a decent sequel to the others, and that you enjoy this new story, as much as I do!! Please R&R!!