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 Two: Awakening The Past
**In The Time Before . . . In The Time Of The Mistress' Return To Japan**
"Sakura-chan!!"
Syaoran yawned as he and his fiancée stepped through the gates. He pulled his bag over his shoulder a little more, and looked around for the source of the voice in the milling crowd of arriving passengers. Tomoyo was waving hard from the visitor's meeting way, Eriol and Nakuru just beyond her. "Tomoyo-chan!!" Sakura called loudly, she hauled her small egg bag up higher, and waved hard. "Tomoyo-chan!!"
Sakura picked up her other bag and jogged over, passing through the crowd easily. Behind her Syaoran and his butler Wei picked up the suitcases and ran after the seventeen-year-old card mistress. They came to a stop as Tomoyo smiled tightly, and grabbed Sakura's hands tightly. She glanced over Sakura quickly, looking for any signs of stress at all. "I'm glad your journey was without trouble so far . . ." she murmured, and closed her eyes briefly.
"Hoe?" Sakura blinked and glanced at the others, sensing a small bit of weariness and tension in the air. Despite the warmth of the day, Eriol looked pale and faintly angered as he nodded to Syaoran. Nakuru grinned brightly, and – although she too was pale – took the bags off Wei. "Please!" She chirped a little happily to Wei, "we'll take them home!! Please go on without us!"
Wei blinked, and glanced at his eighteen year old clan head. Syaoran too was taken back by the unusual request, "surely a reunion can wait for a while, the journey—"
"No," Eriol snapped uncharacteristically, he reigned in his anger for a moment, and smiled cordially. "Please . . . we have much to discuss . . ."
"Eh?" Sakura blinked and glanced at Tomoyo, noticing for the first time, Tomoyo's smile was a little forced as well. "Tomoyo-chan?"
"Please . . ." Tomoyo murmured, squeezing Sakura's arm tightly, "something strange has happened . . ."
"What now?!"
The sunlight filtered in through the drawn curtains, warming the room, but hiding the occupants from view. The teapot steamed, filling the air with the sweet smell of fresh tea. Syaoran growled at Eriol, as the English magician sipped from his teacup calmly. They'd travelled to Sakura's home thanks to Tomoyo's mother and her limousine, stopping at Syaoran's home to drop off Wei and to allow Syaoran to get a change of clothing and a shower. Now sat around the coffee table, Syaoran glanced at Sakura and frowned deeper, "why can't we have a break?!" He turned his glare on Eriol, "It's just one magical disaster after another with you!"
As Spinel shook his small head, Eriol lowered his tea and breathed in slowly. "Clow Reed's . . . and Marcibay's and Hei-ying's graves have been desecrated . . . their skulls have been stolen."
Ice blue magic sparked quickly under his feet, as Yukito's eyes rolled back in his head before he had time to react fully to the news and Keroberos choked on his biscuit, spilling crumbs all over Spinel Sun. Sakura blinked, "hoe? But why?"
"I don't know." Eriol sighed and breathed out, "But whoever did it will be found. I may no longer be Clow Reed's reincarnation, but it's disgraceful that someone should think that they could steal from Clow Reed's grave as if it's some sort of trophy!" Eriol growled darkly, "the dishonour that my former life's dearest friend should face, his grave, untouched for hundreds of years!"
The magical maelstrom of Yue's transformation ended and Yue's wings retracted as the angel stood, making a swiping motion with his hand. "Why didn't you inform us sooner?!"
"Yue-kun!" Nakuru's transformation finished as soon as Yue's, as Ruby Moon too stood. She slammed her hand down on the table, irritated by the implication that they had taken this disgrace lightly, "we were about to leave for Japan!! We had no time!"
"No time?!" Keroberos stood and dusted himself down. The small guardian turned heated anger on Spinel as the small blue guardian held a paw on to his arm. "You had no time to tell us that someone stole from our former creator's grave?!"
"All of you!" Touya raised his hand, "please. . ." he stared at Eriol, "can you think of any reason why?"
Eriol sighed wearily and sat back. "I've not got a clue why . . ." he raised his hand and rubbed at his eyes, "I can't think of any magic spell that would require the skull of anything, let alone Clow's . . ."
"Strangely, someone took from Mister Hilligan's grave . . . yet left Kaho-san's grave intact . . ." Tomoyo murmured, picking up her cup and holding it to warm her hands, "it's so pointless, few people know of Clow aside from the magic world . . . and even fewer know who Mister Hilligans was to Clow Reed."
For a moment, Sakura glanced at Eriol as the young man sighed unhappily.
"Eriol-kun!" He blinked and looked at her, Sakura leant forward, "kitto!" She promised faithfully, "honto kitto!! I'll help you find them!" Sakura clenched her fist, "Clow-sama should be allowed to rest in peace!!"
Yue breathed in and closed his eyes, raising a hand to brush his fringe back. "I too wish to search . . . Clow's remains have to be found, no matter what . . . but I . . ." he opened his eyes and stared at them all, "my brother's grave should not have been touched; my brother should be left to rest!"
"And This Hilligans man!" Keroberos stood and transformed quickly into his full form. He landed beside Yue and stared at the others defiantly, "I remember Clow was very protective of his memory! Clow Reed may have been strange, but he was our creator too! We'll find them!!"
Eriol smiled gratefully, and glanced at Touya. The two reincarnations nodded to each other before Eriol looked at the others, "with such enthusiasm . . ." Eriol smiled back at the four magical guardians, "I'm sure it will be no time until they are found . . ."
The hustle and bustle of Old Bird Street was loud as ever, he could barely hear himself as he sold his wears.
The tourists from all over the world poured over his goods, picking out the most quaint and taking their time sorting out each of the pennies. He smiled, in all of his eighty years; people had never changed. The tourist kept coming openly staring at the old structures and the even older barterers. The Chinese children ran in the narrow streets, the laughter mixing with the chirps of the birds. He smiled happily, the noises, even though they never changed, were always sounding like a different symphony every day. He loved the noise of people bartering in rapid fire Chinese, of the English tourists asking in slow Chinese for directions. Of the children and their silly little songs, and their laughter, and of the old women who gossiped and the old men who shouted their wares.
He could tell you any noise at anytime, he knew them all, heard them all . . . his sight may have been fading, but his hearing was the same as the day he was born to a small peasant family, working the padded fields.
And this was why he blinked with confusion when the new noise came.
It was strange in that he couldn't hear it, and yet he could. He looked around, frowning deeply as it came closer. It was like it sucked all sound into it, and was definitely not natural. His eyes finally fell upon her.
The woman was of Chinese descent, her eyes told him that much and her black hair was too black and sleek to be western.
She was slight, and neatly presented. Marrying her would be easy for any father to arrange, and a matchmaker's delight.
He frowned; she stared at him . . . and only him.
A chill came over his old shoulders. She moved forward, her eyes bland and unseeing. The old man wanted to run, but his fear held him in his place, he couldn't escape her dull, uninterested gaze at all. "What?" He asked in archaic Cantonese, "what do you want from me?"
She stepped closer, and raised an eyebrow, "nothing . . ."
His lips twisted in distasted, "why are you here?"
"I don't know . . ."
The old man paused as he realised all around him had fallen silent. No woman gossiped, no man cried out. No child laughed, no tourist bartered. Even the birds, such a constant through out his long life, had fallen unbearably quiet. There was nothing but this woman.
"Why are you doing this to me? What reason did you have to do this to me?"
The woman blinked slowly, her beautiful eyes still horrifyingly blank.
". . . I don't remember . . ."
For the old man, there was no reason to know why. For this poor man, as the beautiful woman turned away from him, and silently began to walk away from him, he would never really know why he was chosen. His life began in silence, his mother dying at the moment he opened his eyes. His life ended in silence.
**In the Time Before . . . In The Time of The Search For Clow Reed's Remains . . .**
The Watery.
The Shadow.
The Twin.
The Return.
The Create.
The Watery.
The Shadow.
The Twin.
The Return.
The Create.
The Watery.
The Shadow.
The Twin.
The Return.
The Create.
The same five cards came up in the fortune telling. Over and over. No matter what Sakura said, no matter what she did. They shuffled the cards, even had Tomoyo deal them, and the results were the same. They didn't make any sense, but the fortune remained. Watery. Something with water, Sakura had that sense, something about water. Shadow. Sakura felt it was something to do with darkness. Twin. The sight of the card had made Sakura blurt out Oniichan, but she felt that Touya was in no danger. Return. It was not a return to a time, but a return of something to this time.
Create.
Create was the hardest to explain, and Sakura couldn't understand the feelings it invoked in her. During their search for the skulls of Clow, Hei-ying and Mister Hilligans, the Create card felt the most important. Sakura couldn't understand it, and that was why the fortune made no sense. Even Eriol couldn't explain it's meaning to them. For the two years they spent searching the world for an inkling or rumour of the whereabouts of the missing body parts.
It was a frustrating period in their lives.
No one knew anything, no one heard anything. It was so strange and painful for the guardians, especially Yue and Keroberos. To have their creator's grave desecrated, the eldest brother's final resting place disturbed. It was almost too much for the two. They searched even when the others started to give up, even when Eriol admitted defeat, Yue and Keroberos continued to search.
Little did they know . . . that the answer lay just north of their home, in an old castle hidden from view by age-old Chinese mountains . . .
"Mehza Ha Toru. Mehza Ha Toru. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. Ra, Ta gan Shi garra. MEHZA HA TORU!"
The elderly Chinese man gasped with fear as a long dragon, liquidly and a deep blue slithered lazily around him. It looped itself back, acting almost as if it had no bones within it. The elderly man was going blind, but even he could see the dragon's slow smile. He heard its voice, a feminine, languid voice as she whispered, "don't worry . . . it will all be over so very soon . . ."
He felt water trickle all over his body as the deep blue dragon started to cover him, he didn't understand what was happening. Why any of this was happening, he was just selling his wares one moment to the young woman with the long black hair, and the next he was laying on a cold stone in this strange room. There was flicker out the corner of his eye, and a dark red dragon moved toward him. It rattled like a cobra snake as it watched him, moving slowly forward. A dark growl issued from it, as it waited to strike.
"Mehza ha Toku. Mehza ha Toku. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. Ra, Ta gan Shi garra. MEHZA HA TOKU!"
The red dragon breathed in, rapidly dragging air into its lungs with a rasping sound. The old man bit down on his gag and cried out, as the dragon circled him quickly and a ring of fire surrounded him. From within the flames, the old man could see the bright eyes of the dragon staring at him intently. The voice of their master, a Chinese man with strange robes, spoke in a strange language that he read from a large book. The man paced around the altar, excitement in his every step. Besides the altar there were five pillars. Four of which sat the dragons before he called them. On the middle one –slightly raised above the others – was a skull, a human skull. The old man was fearful, what kind of trick was this?
"Mehza ha Tozu. Mehza ha Tozu. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. MEHZA HA TOZU!"
The green dragon opened its eyes, and swirled itself around the pillar like a gust of wind. It crept toward him slowly, watching his with age-old patience. It looked as if it was bored with this, it moved toward him, and curled around. Blowing the ring of fire into frenzy. The old man looked up as the flames reached higher, and the wind dragon gusted upwards. Above him, a strange looking portal opened and a dreadful shrieking issued forth. The old man's eyes widened, as he saw faces in the darkness, arms reach out for the wind dragon as it passed before the opening. The man whimpered into his gag, as he stared into the abyss. He glanced out the corner of his eye to see the magician pick up the skull and moved forward. "Mehza ha tozu . . ." he passed the skull over the old man, then held it high in the air, "Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. . ."
The wind dragon swirled around the raised skull for a moment before ascending again.
It dived into the dark waters of the abyss, causing the shrieks to become even more audible. The old man's eyes widened with fear, as the faces twisted, the arms wildly grabbing out. The cries turned from random moaning to clear begging as the dragon searched through them.
The yellowy green dragon reappeared out of the abyss, with a dark form following behind it. The dragon swirled around the skull once more, and corralled the dark form to bond with the skull. The old man was horrified as the skull suddenly jerked into life, and opened its jaws, shrieking with all its worth in English. "DROWNING!! I'M DROWNING!! I CAN'T BREATHE!! DROWNING!! THE WATER!! I CAN'T BREATHE!!"
The old man squirmed violently against his bonds as the magician smiled indulgently and placed the screaming skull on his chest. He stared at the magician, as he stepped back to his position. "Mehza ha Tohu. . ." he smiled, as the fourth dragon, this one black and white, with long claws, and pointed wings, unfurled itself. "Mehza ha tohu . . ."
It crawled down the pillar, its long sharp claws scraping and clicking against the metal.
"Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra."
"DROWNING!! PLEASE CLOW!!" The skull on his chest continued to scream, the last moments of the skull's life being replayed painfully, "YOUR DEVIL IS KILLING ME!! I'M DROWNING!!"
The old man felt his mind begin to slip from him, his sanity breaking like a frail glass as he watched the black and white dragon crawl closer with its clicking claws. Energy crackled from it, the black and white dragon hissed as it came closer to the water's edge. Deep within his chest, the man's heart beat so fast it was beginning to rip itself apart.
Maduokai watched as the man's torso began to spasm. The man was having a heart attack, as the spell began to prepare his body. He nodded happily, all was progressing well, the skull had been given its soul back, and the new body for the soul was almost ready. Lord Maduokai raised his arms joyfully, as he tipped his head back. The magic swelled and throbbed all around him. Lord Maduokai closed his eyes, as he called out the last command. "MEHZA HA TOHUUUUUU!!"
The black and white dragon's crackling magic touched the water, and electrified the room. The water dragon shook herself as magic coursed through her; the fire dragon's flames reached the ceiling and scorched the body of the old man. The wind dragon roared and gusted, and the abyss of souls screamed out as the dragon moved away from them. The white parts of the smallest dragon glowed brightly with energy, as it sank its long black fangs into the old man's neck.
"RA!! TAR GAN SHI GAARRRAAAAAA!!!"
The room was filled with light so blinding . . .
-------
And now It's Time To LEAVE IT TO DOCTOR MEGALOMANIA!!!
DrM: Konnichiwa!! Wai!! Wai!! [runs around in circles] Sugoi!! Everyone is incredible!! Honestly!! Thank you!! Thank you!!!
Yue: I thought you were refusing to do a sequel …
DrM: Yeah, I was but then Brian …
Brian: [really deep voice] Hi.
DrM: … got this brilliant idea, and refuse to leave me alone until I wrote it … Anyway, don't you want to see Hei-ying again …
Yue: Not particularly … CONSIDERING HE HAS AN OBSESSION WITH KILLING ME!!!
Hei-ying: but Yue … we've got so much to resolve!!
DrM: [blushes] And everyone has been so nice and reviewed so wonderfully!! Thank you very much!!
Brian: [really deep voice] Please R&R!