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, and the three of the dragons, T'listia isn't mine but on loan from one of my favourite reviewers and writers, Tam Chronin! 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 Eleven: Misdemeanour
He tipped his head back and breathed deeply.
His heart pounded, he was nervous. Pale fingers betrayed him, trembling slightly as carefully kept fingernails turned slowly purplish blue. Water dripped from his robes, trailing tiny rivers over the large, polished gemstones on his hands. Part of his old costume he could never part with, part of his life he could never forget. He didn't want to forget it.
Still, his hands shook.
Bright, emerald eyes blinked and a smaller, warm hand slipped into his freezing cold grip, lacing a soft glove with his painfully thin fingers. Looking down at her, he fought desperately the urge to fall to his knees into the deepening puddle below him and hold her by her waist, burying his face gratefully into the soft folds of her robe. He shivered, his lips beginning to show the very first signs of cold, turning a paler red and almost hinting lilac. He glanced at his brother.
The golden eyes were brilliant, even in the gloom of the cloudy night-time. The eldest cherry tree in the Tsukimine Shrine glowed dully in the teeming rain, reacting to the strength of the magicians gathered. Softly glowing, gold tinted wings stretched, and the old lion covered his mistress' head. He glanced at their younger brother, Yue, as the moon angel, carefully stepped just out of Keroberos' reach, unwilling to give the enemy any sign of weakness.
A shiver racked him again, and forced him to tighten his jaw almost painfully to prevent his teeth clacking together.
Yue had been born in the winter; he was naturally immune to any kind of cold.
Keroberos – the lion shook himself futilely – was born in the summer, he grumbled under his breath about the rain.
And finally, Hei-ying . . . Hei-ying had been born to the Spring, a time that was neither winter's bitter cold, not summer's blistering heat, and the rain was Spring's most beautiful forte. He loved it, particularly the light May falls but this heavy, constant . . .
He frowned and glanced at his master.
Touya stared at the rain with dark blue eyes, frowning deeply. Perhaps he sensed it too . . . but most likely, he sensed something, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. It almost made him smile fondly, his master was indeed very powerful and had the instincts to be a brilliant magician. However, he'd never been taught the spells and incantations, the theory and the practices of a traditional magician. Without them, Touya would always be partially sighted with magic.
His jade green eyes flicked to the Li Clan head.
Syaoran did know something was wrong. The boy glanced around, his right hand tight on his sword and his left holding out the laisen board. He was careful to keep his expression just above suspicious, as if he did not want to alert anyone else but Hei-ying had killed enough shady characters on the streets of London to know what a 'look out' expression was.
He turned his attention slowly away, careful as well.
Hei-ying didn't know what felt so wrong, but rain like this . . . this kind of rain only occurred when nature itself knew something was hideously wrong. A silent warning bell to all to stay away.
//Be on your guard//
Clow's former reincarnation's words echoed through out all of the guardians' minds, carefully avoiding Sakura's attention. Even though the girl was perhaps more powerful than him, he was protective over her still the same. Hei-ying saw Ruby Moon move a step closer to her mistress, the guardian slipping one black gloved hand up to rest on her mistress' shoulder. A comforting gesture to some, but to Hei-ying it seemed more like Ruby was ready to drag her mistress behind her at the very first hint of danger. Beside them both, unbothered to the point of being unaware of the rain, Lady Asil stood impassively observing the proceedings through her sightless mask. She got to Syaoran on a level Hei-ying wasn't entirely sure he understood. There was something about her, something familiar. Yes, Hei-ying felt that. That deep sense of connection. However he was sure what he felt, the weird sense of déjà vu, was completely different to the feeling that the Li clan head felt. What Syaoran was feeling . . . the Little Wolf glared at Lady Asil sometimes, as if he was accusing her of being something she was not. And then . . . he would look away suddenly, as if he were ashamed of his accusation. His dark coffee eyes, though carefully maintained, betrayed his expression. Hei-ying felt another shiver, and this time he tried to suppress it as his jade eyes rested on Sen.
Sen the manservant.
Sen, who never spoke.
Sen, whose movements were so wooden.
Sen, who honestly haunted Hei-ying.
The manservant's very existence frightened Hei-ying, thrilled him, and shook him to the core. Whenever Sen even briefly broke through the spell, enough to even turn his head slightly; it would always leave his sightless eyes on Hei-ying. It made the dark angel want to cower, shy away from the manservant as if he feared . . .
The man's head turned again, trembling as he fought against the spell.
Hei-ying tightened his grip on Sakura's hand slightly, and felt his master's gaze turn upon him as he tried to pull his gaze from Sen's.
He swallowed quietly, biting his paling lip.
Fighting against the hysterical words bubbling up in his throat like dirty water.
//Why do you stare at me so?! Have I not redeemed myself?! You know nothing of the pain I have felt! You don't know what I have been through! I killed only because I have never lived! Why do you stare at me—//
Hei-ying's jade eyes snapped open as a warm hand landed on his shoulder, snapping him out of his self-induced trace.
Sakura stared at him with worried eyes; Keroberos had stepped closer, his wing now guarding his mistress from him rather than the rain. He looked at the owner of the hand, his Master Touya, and saw clear worry in usually stoic blue eyes.
Eriol glanced in their direction briefly, disinterested. Syaoran gave him a little disapproving scowl.
Hei-ying let his tense shoulders drop, and he breathed out. "I'm sorry," he whispered, letting go of Sakura's hand. "I . . . do not think that all is well . . ."
"Then we should abandon this!" Keroberos growled, just as silently. He glared at Maduokai as the man continued his preparations, "This is nonsense! Stuff and nonsense, the man's a mad man!"
"Kero-chan!" Sakura admonished with a hissed whisper, "we've got to try everything we can to find Clow-sama! I know . . ." she glanced at Maduokai, "what he wants is not to hurt us . . . I can feel that."
Keroberos pursed his lips, giving her the same hidden disapproving glare he used to give Clow, whenever the magician gave any sort of responsibility to Hei-ying.
The dark angel glanced at Yue.
The youngest of the three brothers stared intently at Maduokai, watching everything he was doing. However, he was aware of what was going on. This was something that Yue excelled in. Rarely did something slip his attention, and when it did, it was a cause for concern.
"He's not going to cast anything of any danger . . ."
Spinel's voice carried skilfully over the wind, almost silent yet perfectly clear to each of them. Yue nodded slowly, whispering with the same carefulness. "I can see that too . . . there is nothing thus far that I see that can harm us, Keroberos . . ."
The lion growled again and glanced at Hei-ying, "And you . . . what were you muttering about?"
The jade eyed, dark angel blinked. He glanced at Sen; the manservant's attention had slipped away again. //forced . . .// his mind hissed, paranoia rising up like gorge in his throat, //his attention was forced away!//
"Nothing . . ." Hei-ying swallowed, he glanced at Touya. "I am able to do my duty."
He blinked as he felt Sakura's hand slip back into his once more.
"I know . . ." Sakura smiled at him gently, she reached out and touched Keroberos' head and looked up at Yue, her expression singing volumes. "I trust all of you."
"This rain is horrible."
"Shut up!" He hissed to his sister dragon, "do not disturb the master!"
T'listia grunted quietly, clicking her forked tongue against her teeth slowly. Their human forms were not entirely human still, and her blue hair - remarkable in that it seemed to be every shade of blue possible - lay damply against her extremely pale, almost bluish forehead. Mushu shook his head; his spiky black and white hair tossing large drops of water away uselessly. He glanced up at T'alusia, the fire dragon. Like their sister, T'alusia was a study in the colour red. His hair ranged from dark, dark brownish reds, to bright, vibrant orangey reds, which seemed to spark with heat. His eyes seemed like burning embers, flaring brightly when he was angered and smouldering quietly as he watched. He hated the heavy rain and every so often glared at their master.
"You know he can't do anything about him," Mushu murmured, "it's the skull . . . it's attracting bad luck."
"Hmph . . ." T'alas, the wind dragon, muttered quietly, yellowy greens that had been aged and matured to perfection highlighted his long hair, drooping eyebrows and beard. "I'm not surprised. He's too weak for many, simple things . . ."
"Controlling the weather is not simple!" Mushu hissed at him, "You speak too disrespectfully, elder brother! Must I remind you, he holds your existence now?"
"Bah . . ." T'alas rolled his eyes in a slow way, not too bothered that he took so long for such a short gesture. "The four winds have existed since the dawn of time, we shall continue to exist even if this physical vessel should crack and be destroyed. We would just seep out and blow away . . ."
Mushu glanced at his brother and sister as they nodded in agreement. T'alas was right of course, the four dragons could not be contained by mere spells and incantations . . . but, he glanced upward and let the rain fall on his face for a long while.
It felt good to simply be.
She put her hands into her pocket and withdrew her cards. Holding them tightly to her chest, she breathed in and whispered to them and herself, "Everything is going to be ok . . ."
It was her spell. It was what had saved her every time, and this time she hoped it would save not only Hei-ying, but also Mister Hilligans and Clow Reed from whatever held them. She looked up and stared at Syaoran, she could feel his heart, could feel his magic. He was trying to help her, he was always trying to help her and for that she would forever be grateful. She hoped that one day his family could see how much she loved him for it, how much they meant to each other but until them . . .
She glanced to Tomoyo, the longhaired girl giving her a discrete 'OK' and reminding Sakura to breathe. Her best friend, Tomoyo kept her grounded. Giving her always the same support since she had sat down beside her in their first year together. Sakura nodded to her, smiling helplessly as Tomoyo quickly whipped out her video camera and the familiar red light winked at Sakura, reminding her it was time.
"What do I need to do?"
Sakura turned and looked up at Hei-ying.
The stoic guardian had recovered from the disturbing moment he'd fallen into. Sakura still held his hand tightly, feeling the need to remind him that they were actually here. That she had not been lying when she promised him that they would be there for him. Hei-ying looked cold, showing the signs of it. It made her wonder about Yue. Yue never showed any signs of being cold, yet Hei-ying shivered periodically, his lips were turning slightly blue. His hands shook, his fingers felt almost like frozen claws. He looked tired, wearier and most certainly warier of the rain. But still, Yue stood there unaffected bordering on unaware of the rain, his arms calmly folded, his hair slightly damp yet still repelling the rain. His amethyst eyes stared across the Shrine with a clarity that Hei-ying seemed to lack now. He was watching actions with the eyes of a rational judgement maker; Hei-ying watched everything with the eyes of an worried advisor.
The realisation of the visual differences hit Sakura hard.
Keroberos growled quietly as she swayed slightly. "Sakura-chan . . ."
"I'm okay . . ." Sakura instantly assured him, unable though to take her eyes off both Hei-ying and Yue. "I'm fine . . ." she gathered her wits quickly, "okay . . . what do I need to do now?"
Hei-ying nodded at Keroberos and then glanced about once more. He seemed to gather himself for a few seconds before he turned clear, focused jade eyes on Sakura. "Mistress Sakura, for this spell you are required to channel each of the cards. Also, you must be able to do this through me . . ." he paused looking slightly frustrated. "Normally you would have a close relationship with the being you are channelling through, however Keroberos and Yue are not . . . created for this kind of spell, their functions are not sufficient for them to do it." He paused again, glancing at Keroberos quickly then back at her, "Also, as mistress of the cards, you cannot risk two such important guardians when you are not familiar with the spell." At her look, he explained, "Normally, mistress Sakura, you would practice with a false form of the guardian, it would act like safety switch for the guardian, only the false form would be damaged."
Although Hei-ying's tone was . . . Keroberos frowned as he glanced at Sakura's increasingly horrified look . . . Hei-ying was trying to be reassuring, yet he was forgetting his idea of 'reassuring' was slightly out of sync with the rest of the normal world. Rolling his golden eyes, Keroberos whispered to Sakura, "He doesn't mean any serious damage . . . the guardian would be able to fix it easily!"
The card mistress' shoulders relaxed, the nervousness melting from her face slowly until Hei-ying frowned and muttered, "There are some things a guardian can't do . . ."
Keroberos shot him a sharp look and the dark angel shrugged. Sakura looked at him with sharp emerald green eyes, her mind calming itself as she felt her magic stir within her heart. She worried for Hei-ying, who seemed to slip into carelessness at times when it came to his own existence, but now she had other, more important things to worry about now. Her cards were nervous, she could feel the way they trembled in her hand.
Sakura closed her eye for a moment, "tell me what I need to do now."
"Can you channel?"
Sakura shook her head; "I don't even know if I know what that means . . ."
Hei-ying pursed his lips together, "When you turned Yue from Clow's creation into your guardian . . ." he motioned the angel, "That must have taken a lot of magic, you can't possibly have had the power to do it alone at that age . . . therefore the cards must have channelled some of their magic to you . . ." he frowned at her look of incomprehension, "Did you invoke the cards at any time, anything that sounded vaguely like . . . O, cards of Clow, these will be thy guards; thee will obey them?"
Sakura blinked, "Yes, although I said . . ." she closed her eyes and recited, "O, cards of Sakura, these will be thy rulers, after me; thee will obey them."
Hei-ying nodded, "That is part of the channelling spell, but nothing else?" Sakura shook her head, and Hei-ying stared at her for a moment before murmuring appreciatively, "you are very strong then . . ."
Sakura blinked, "huh?"
"Nothing important." Hei-ying closed his eyes, "You will need to invoke each card separately . . . remember when . . ." a smirk pulled at his lips, "No, you weren't there . . ." he opened his jade eyes and stared at Sakura, "When Kyree stole your cards, she had to invoke each one to get them to come to her and make her spell work, when Clow created the four element cards he had to invoke each card to lend him magic enough to cast his spell . . ." he motioned the cards in her hand, "You will have to invoke each card to channel the magic."
"Like when I asked the cards to come back to me . . .?"
Hei-ying nodded, "Something like that . . ." he tilted his head, "I've yet to remember that particular battle . . . and obviously you were successful . . ." Sakura's eyes widened as Hei-ying glanced off, absently continuing, "I wonder how it went . . ."
Sakura touched his shoulder, "I'm sorry . . ." she whispered, the rain pelting around them, "that battle . . . that was the battle that you died in . . . "
Hei-ying looked down, "I see." He lifted his head and stared at her, all the curiosity he had replaced by the business of the cards. "I believe it would be safer for you to ask me to perform the spell in your name, therefore I will act as a buffer between you and Maduokai. If he would try anything, it would effect me first and I would be able to break the link. . ."
Keroberos frowned, "Is that possible?" Hei-ying looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and the lion sighed, "Why didn't Clow ever tell us these things?"
"Most likely because he thought that he'd already taught you . . ." Hei-ying turned and brushed himself off, "Clow Reed wasn't exactly the most organised of magicians, you know that."
Keroberos snorted, as Sakura bit her lip, "But. . ." Hei-ying glanced at her, and Sakura swallowed, "Will it hurt you?"
"The safety of the card mistress—"
"Will it hurt you?" Sakura demanded, "If the spell goes wrong will you be hurt?"
"If Maduokai attempts to send a spell to kill you with, then I will suffer the effects of such a spell, but the link will be broken . . . anything that he intends to do to you, will be done to me, the safety of the card mistress—"
"I don't want—" Hei-ying raised his fingers and pressed them against Sakura's lips.
"The safety of the card mistress is my duty, it would hurt me more to know that I stood by and did nothing to protect you . . ." Hei-ying motioned his brothers and cousins, "As it would to them . . . I am no different . . ."
Sakura nodded hesitantly; "If anything starts to seem odd, please do what you can . . ." Hei-ying nodded, and Sakura grabbed his wrist, "Promise me!"
Hei-ying stared at her, surprise making him widen his eyes, "Of course . . ."
"Are you ready, Card Mistress?"
The group turned to find Maduokai standing in his place. Eriol walked over to Sakura, and touched her arm. "Touya and I will stand either side of you, we will move into action if anything goes wrong . . ." "Keroberos, Spinel?"
The two sun guardians sat up, as Eriol gave his orders.
"Please circle this area, keep your eyes open for trouble . . . Yue, you will stand with Syaoran, Touya and I . . ." he glanced at Hei-ying, "I assume you will be able to perform this spell . . .?"
Hei-ying nodded. He glanced at Sakura and held out his hands. "Please."
Sakura looked at Maduokai sincerely, "It's not that I don't trust you, but Hei-ying will act as my double in this spell. . ."
Maduokai nodded his head, "Please, do what you can . . ." he smiled, "if you are ready to begin your transfer . . ."
"Sakura, step behind me . . . stay close enough so that our magic circles overlap . . ." Hei-ying spoke quietly as he felt everyone move into their positions. He glanced up as the clouds finally broke above them and the rain petered out. The nighttime sky soon cleared and the stars began to shine through the clouds.
Maduokai picked up the skull he'd been carrying around with him, and placed it in the middle of the circled area. Hei-ying stared at the skull, something stirring in his mind. Was this familiar to him?
"Begin when you are ready." Maduokai commanded, and Hei-ying glanced over his shoulder to see Sakura nod and raise her staff in one hand.
The young mistress gasped aloud as she felt control touch her fingers.
Everything around them seemed to fade away and she looked at her fingers; it was as if she held glimmering jade green thread in her hands delicately. They were loops loosely around her fingers and she could feel each thread shimmer and shake, one tugged strongly at her little finger and she knew that this was Hei-ying's very existence in her hands. She looked closer at her hands and saw faintly under the jade green threads, tied tighter than them, were threads of silver and gold.
Sakura felt afraid suddenly of moving her hands.
She had known she was the mistress of the guardians, but she was not so aware of how much power she really held over them. Her breath caught in her throat and suddenly she was afraid to move her hands lest she jerk and kill any of the three brothers.
"Don't be afraid, Mistress Sakura . . ." Sakura looked up and in front of her, tied to the other ends of the jade threads, Hei-ying stood with his back to her. His voice was soft so not to alarm her too much, "You have lived every day since the opening of the book with these threads tied to your hands and never once have you harmed your guardians . . . I lend my control to you only for now, that is why every string is loose. Now, are you ready?"
Sakura didn't answer at first, she glanced at the threads once again before she closed her eyes and started to concentrate harder.
" . . . yes . . ." she finally spoke as the sound of light rain began to be heard in this fathomless world again, "I'm ready."
"Cast this spell, as the words come to you . . ." Hei-ying spoke once more then fell silent.
Sakura opened her eyes and raised her hands, absently noticing that the threads were gone and she was once more in the Tsukimine shrine. Before her Hei-ying shadowed her every movement, his eyes becoming completely blank, the light fading from them as he fell under the spell of Sakura's voice.
"Thou art that Sakura cards . . ." Sakura said aloud.
Hei-ying's voice was an echo, a whisper on the wind, "Thou art the Sakura cards . . ."
Sakura's magic circle began slowly to draw itself below her feet, white gold magic sparkling as it burnt line by line into the wet, stone tiles. Much dimmer only a little way off, the lines of Hei-ying's magic circle glowed like jade green embers as they too began to form.
"Thou art a power unto thine own."
". . . unto thine own . . ."
Wisps of magic floated up gently from the circles as the cards fluttered away from Sakura and surrounded Hei-ying. A slow breeze struck up from the glowing circles, making the wisps blow one way and then another. Soon, as the circles began to near completion, they glowed powerfully casting their surroundings into complete darkness. Sakura let her eyes slid shut and moments later Hei-ying mimicked her.
"Before us is the magician, Lord Maduokai Kuei . . ."
". . . Lord Maduokai Kuei . . ."
"And he professes to have knowledge to reveal to us the location of Clow Reed, your master and creator . . ."
". . . Clow Reed, our master and creator . . ."
"To achieve this feat, however, he must lean upon you for the power . . ."
". . . lean upon you for the power . . ."
"I have agreed to this and through Hei-ying, I ask you to direct your influence . . ."
". . . and though this guard, your mistress asks you to direct your influence . . ."
The cards floated around Hei-ying in a wide circle, bobbing up and down as they made their decision.
Sakura gazed at them and waited patiently as they considered the proposal. The cards moved in small groups, moving closer and glowing brightly.
She smiled as she realised none of the cards had refused her, "Thank you . . ." she held up her hands again, "Cards, I direct you to Hei-ying, guardian of the star, servant of Master Kinomoto Touya . . ." through his name, "Your power is given . . ."
The cards began to spin hard, sparking with their magic, eager to comply with this exciting new spell.
"RELEASE!"
One of the cards, the Hope, stopped spinning, shimmered and exploded with a bright haze of magic, it turned into a small burning star as magic streamed from it and gathered in the form of a small glowing ball before Hei-ying's hand. Hei-ying's head snapped to the left hard, as one by one each of the cards came to his hand in this fashion. He watched as each of them shimmered and swirled to him with blank, jade eyes.
Each card stopped their spinning, and gradually a small cluster of stars was surrounding Hei-ying, as the ball of magic in his hand shimmered brighter and brighter. White feathered wings burst from his back as the magic surged before him.
Both of the magic circles grew brighter and started to give off powerful enchanted ripples as Hei-ying reached half way, Maduokai watched with amazement as the dark angel gathered the maelstrom of supernatural powers easily, unaware that the spell he'd placed on Clow's skull was weakening. The skull's jaws worked as if Clow himself was casting the same spell. It whispered every name of every card as they lent their magic to the spell.
The strong glowing wind whipped around his feet, the magic building at an almost frightening pace, Hei-ying drew a deep breath. Yue's eyes widened as he saw his brother command more magic than he'd ever seen Hei-ying show, it brought back memories, strange new memories Yue had never really ever accessed before. Memories of watching ice on a pond being broken by Hei-ying's supernatural fall off as the dark angel floated above the frozen over water. Memories of the awe he felt made his heart pound now. Hei-ying's eyes were shut, and he was operating off basic instinct now, flawless as he turned to the last card.
Maduokai stared at Hei-ying for a long moment as the angel floated back down to the ground, cradling the immense ball of magic to his chest protectively. This creation, this defective creation he'd written off as useless . . . but he had no question why Clow had chosen to let this creation be buried beside him. Hei-ying's eyes were blank as he stared at Maduokai. His mind was overwhelmed by the magic and he was no longer aware of himself . . .
//. . . Familiar . . . ?//
"Please . . . I love you . . ."
"You love me?"
"You told me to . . . you told me to love you . . . you and no-one else . . . to crave you and no-one . . . I have . . . I do . . . I always will . . . I've done everything I could to make sure no one could distract either of us from our love! I tried so hard with those two . . . and that old man! The pitiful old man! He didn't put up so much of a fight, but still I should have gotten to him sooner!"
"You are the one who drowned Marcibay . . . You are the threat that almost drowned Keroberos . . . that's why the Watery was snarling at you . . . and I was so blind . . . I was so arrogant in my powers . . .I must say, I thought I didn't have that particular Reed trait in my blood . . . but I was so wrong, wasn't I?"
"You are the Master Clow Reed . . ."
"Hei-ying . . . the Adviser of the Clow . . ."
"Every action you make . . ."
". . .I command thee. . ."
". . .every word you say. . ."
". . . as I strip thee of thy powers, remove from thee the magic I have bestowed upon you. . ."
". . . is ultimate and right. . ."
"I command thee . . . seal thyself in this form I have chosen . . ."
"And I . . . I must obey you . . ."
"Clow card!"
"NOOOOOOO!!!"
// Why . . . Why are you so . . . familiar . . .?//
"I forgive you."
"At least Clow, Fujitaka . . . everyone that bastard . . .That *we* have killed have now been avenged."
" . . . And you? May I say you've been avenged?"
"I need avenging? Keroberos would hardly agree . . . Please do . . . remember me . . ."
"I will remember you."
" . . . And I will remember you . . ."
"I'm ready now . . ."
"Go, little moonbeam . . . Don't waste our mistress' magic by making her wait for you . . . I have one thing I wish to discuss with the stuffed animal here . . ."
"What is it, Hei-ying?"
"I have only one thing to ask you . . . You swore to Clow . . . that you'd always protect Yue . . . Good . . . I ask you . . . I ask you to hold by that oath for the rest of your existence . . ."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing else."
"Thy art the Guardians of the Master Clow Reed . . . Thy art a power unto thine own. Today, I, Kinomoto Sakura, thy Mistress and as thy friend, have elected to transform thee into mine own . . . O, cards of Sakura, these will be thy rulers, after me; thee will obey them. I command thee . . . with all the supremacy over the sun at thy will, the cards of the Earthy and the Firey under thy influence . . . Guard of the Sun, seal thyself, thy magic, thy very soul into this form I have chosen . . ."
"Beyond faith . . . Beyond chance . . ."
"Guardian, thy name given, thy name called . . . Keroberos, Release!!"
"Kero-chan?"
"It's still me, little one . . . it's still me . . ."
"Ready?"
"Beyond all else . . . In this tainted soul . . ."
"I command thee . . . With all the supremacy of the Moon at thy will, the cards of the Windy, the cards of the Watery under thy influence . . . Seal thyself, thy magic, thy very soul . . . into this form I have chosen . . ."
"There lies . . ."
"Guardian . . . thy name given, thy name called . . . Yue . . . RELEASE!!"
" . . . Hope."
//Do I . . . Do I know you . . .?//
"I know you . . . I know who you are . . ."
//No . . . No . . . do I know you . . .?//
Sakura whirled her staff around her wrist and raised it over her head. The slow breeze became a gale as she slammed her staff forward, hitting some otherworldly plain, Hei-ying's hands pushed away from his chest in the same moment and the ball of magic expanded like a dying star only to collapse in on itself and explode like a super nova. The shockwaves of magic extended far then again collapsed in on themselves, this time forming as an orbiting ring of magic around the skull at the centre of Maduokai's strange spell. The Chinese magician wasted not a single second as he stepped forward and began to chant, "Mehza Ha Toru. Mehza Ha Toru. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. MEHZA HA TORU!"
T'listia's human form suddenly exploded, and a beautiful giant Chinese dragon took her place. Sakura gasped as the massive watery dragon reared up and began to circle the skull. She was beautiful, she was composed of water, Sakura could see air bubbles trapped within her form as she moved. Light from the moon reflected off her.
Yue looked at Hei-ying with concern. Hei-ying wasn't only channelling the magic from the cards; his own magic circle was beginning to leak jade green magic into the mix. He stared at Hei-ying's face and wondered why Hei-ying was whispering to himself. No spell ever created by Clow Reed needed chanting. Hei-ying's blank eyes were disturbing him, and he wanted to stop the spell. . . but his voice . . . his lips were moving but his voice . . .
"Mehza ha Toku. Mehza ha Toku. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. MEHZA HA TOKU!"
The red guardian's human form exploded as well, and from it a thin, flaming dragon appeared. T'alusia twisted around once before diving toward the pool of water left by T'listia. Touya raised his arm to cover his eyes from the hot sight, the skull in the middle of the circle was moving, he was sure of it. Its jaw was working, as if it was about to speak. Was this how Maduokai intended to tell them?
Tomoyo jumped as Ruby Moon suddenly dropped the umbrella without warning, "Ruby-chan . . .?"
Ruby's lips were moving in a silent spell, and the rose pink eyes of the butterfly girl were blank. "Ruby-chan?!" Tomoyo pulled at Ruby's arm as the guardian started forward, "Ruby-chan?! Why?! What's wrong with you?! Ruby-chan!" Tomoyo looked up as Spinel and Keroberos suddenly landed heavily, and started to pad toward the circled skull. "Eriol! Eriol!!"
"Mehza ha Tozu. Mehza ha Tozu. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. MEHZA HA TOZU!"
The elderly looking humanoid, T'alas suddenly jerked as his human form jerked and imploded. Sakura crouched forward as a howling gale appeared and the dragon form of T'alas rose above them. She glanced up and gasped as a deep abyss appeared over their heads. Maduokai seemed unconcerned as the abyss grew and voices started to howl from it.
Eriol frowned as his wife started to call over to him; he almost couldn't hear her over the maelstrom of magic as it blew up a supernatural tempest around them. Tomoyo was trying to pull Ruby back, Eriol's mouth fell open with horror as he watched his moon guardian turned on his beautiful wife and slapped her hard. Tomoyo stared at Ruby with shook, as the possessed guardian continued to walk toward the magical hurricane's epicentre, the Skull.
"Touya!!" Eriol yelled, "Sakura!!" He pointed at the guardians as soon as he had their attention, "The guardians!! Something is wrong!!"
Yue and Keroberos, Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun, Hei-ying . . . all five were staring at the skull intently, magic bleeding from their magic circles, first in strands, and then swiftly, torrents of magic. Eriol ran toward his guardians, "Damare!!" He yelled at them, they would die if they allowed more of their magic to bleed form the like this, "Ruby!! Spinel!!"
Touya ran to Yue and grabbed his lover. Yue's eyes were as blank as Hei-ying's were. "Yue! Snap out of it!! Yue!" Touya shook the angel hard, "Yue!!"
"Clow . . ." Yue whispered weakly, "Clow-sama is calling . . ."
"Kero-chan!! Hang in there!! Kero-chan!!" Sakura screamed as Keroberos collapsed to the floor, becoming too weak to support himself. Sakura looked up at Hei-ying whose hands were still channelling the magic, "Hei-ying!! Stop this!! Stop the spell!!"
Hei-ying's features creased into a deep frown, "Clow . . . I can't . . ." he cried out, "I can't stop this!! Clow needs me!!"
"Clow needs me!!" Ruby began to scream, tears rolling desperately from her wide, unseeing eyes, "He needs me!! Master Clow needs me!!"
"Clow needs me!!" Eriol shook Spinel urgently as the panther cowered pathetically, "Master Clow is calling, he needs me!!"
"Clow needs me!!" Yue slumped against Touya's chest and began to cry violently, shuddering all over as he pulled and scratched against Touya's clothes with grasping, clawing hands, "Touya, he needs me, Clow is calling!! He needs me!!"
"Clow needs me!!" Keroberos suddenly began to roar, tipping his head back to the stars like a wolf and howling tearfully, "He needs me!! He's calling me!! Clow needs me!!"
Sakura looked up as the howling above them got louder, the abyss was widening. T'alas passed once before it, before he dived down toward the skull in the middle of this. Sakura's emerald eyes widened as she watched the skull levitate and tip upward as if looking up. T'alas passed through it and then shot upward, diving into the abyss. The groans and the shrieks got louder and louder until they were deafening.
Syaoran dived toward Sakura and held her tight. He didn't know what was happening but the spell was not going right, he could see it in Maduokai's features. The man was sweating a lot as he chanted; he was barely in control of this. Beside him, Sen, the manservant and Lady Asil swayed, affected heavily by what they were seeing. Sen crumpled to the ground, passing out while Asil stared upward. Her hand came up and pulled at the mask, revealing her face . . . free of make up.
Syaoran's mouth fell open, "No . . . it's not possible . . ."
Li Meilin stared up at the abyss, transfixed by what she saw.
"Mei-rin!!" Syaoran yelled as hard as he could, trying to reach her. He shook Sakura, and grabbed her chin, Sakura, "it's Meilin!!"
Sakura stared at the young woman, she'd aged, she was as old as they were, but there was no mistaking it. Meilin stood by Maduokai, staring up into the abyss of souls. "Meilin-chan!!" Sakura screamed, pushing up on her feet. "Meilin-chan!!"
Syaoran grabbed her and dragged her down again, pulling her back to Eriol and Tomoyo. The four lay close to the ground, the two men holding the women down. Tomoyo reached out and grabbed Sakura, "What's happening?!" She screamed blindly as the ground began to shake, and loose parts of it actually started to float.
"It's too much magic!!" Eriol yelled back, motioning Touya to let go of Yue and get over to where they were. The tall boy hesitated, reluctant to leave his love, but as the magic around the skull began to crackle hotly, almost beginning to burn uncontrollably, he was beaten back by the heat. Touya crouched over his sister and Syaoran, "I don't think Maduokai is in control with this anymore . . ."
They stared up as the large green dragon; T'alas reappeared dragging two dark forms behind him.
A look of surprise crossed over Maduokai's features as he stared at the two souls.
Beside him, the Lady Asil was pulled forward; she began to run toward the inside of the circle and stared up as T'alas rushed down at them. Her clothes began to burn with all the magic around them, and yet she herself seemed fine.
Asil held up her arms, unaware of the pained expression of longing she wore on her face.
One of the dark forms belonged to Clow Reed . . . the other to her, the remaining part of her soul . . . that had been lost when Maduokai, inexperienced at this spell had stopped it prematurely . . .
T'alas rushed at both her and the floating skull, bringing with him the two darkened souls. The skull's jaws began to widen, and deeply resonate with sounds. Sakura pushed up as one of the dark forms began to swirl around Meilin. "Meilin-chan!! Onegai!! Meilin-chan!!" She pushed up, "Syaoran, it's Meilin-chan!! We have to . . . have to help her!!"
Syaoran winced, and pushed Sakura down further, "We can't do anything!!" He yelled to her, "Not until this magic dies down!!"
"Meilin-chan!!"
Asil opened her eyes . . . Meilin opened her eyes . . . where was she . . . this wasn't China . . . this was Tsukimine Shrine in Japan!!
"Meilin-chan!!" Meilin spun as her name was called over to her, was that Sakura on the other side of the wall of crackling magic? She winced, as she stared at the grownups that were staring at her.
"Hei-ying . . ."
Meilin blinked as she turned, behind her stood a man. His body seemed to fade in and out of reality as it appeared, for a moment she thought she saw a skull. This man . . .
"Keroberos . . ." whispered the man again, his head was tilted as far back as it would without breaking his neck, "Yue . . ."
Meilin pulled her loose black hair back and stared at the man as his long black hair whipped around his face freely. He was young, barely out of his teens, perhaps in his early twenties. A pair of glasses whipped around him, attached to a small string to his large black cloak. "Who are you?!" She turned, and stared at the grownups, they looked a little like her friends didn't they? "Syaoran-kun!!" Meilin screamed, "What's happening?! Syaoran-kun!!"
". . . Saurian . . ."
Meilin spun to face the man again; his head was slowly falling forward. His head lolled slightly, as he swayed a little. The man's clothing and body became more grounded in reality, and he didn't seem like a ghost anymore.
"Ruby Moon . . ." he whispered. Raising his head, the man opened his eyes to reveal they were a dark almost black blue. Meilin gasped as she realised who he was.
"Clow Reed?!" The man blinked and stared at her. His eyes were starting to loose focus as he spoke the last name.
"Spinel Sun . . ." Clow murmured, as he began to fall back, "Attend . . . your master . . ."
Meilin screamed as the magic around them crackled uncontrollably. "Mehza ha Tohu. . ." Maduokai smiled, as the fourth dragon, Mushu suddenly changed his form and crawled toward the rapidly uncontrollable sphere of magic, "Mehza ha Tohu . . ." Mushu's electricity tipped the scale of control, and all the magical creations screamed out with pain as everything suddenly crashed into synchronisation. The sphere of magic on the outside was a maelstrom of power, but inside . . .
"Ra, Tar gan Shi garra. Ra, Tar gan Shi garra."
Inside, Clow's hair fluttered down until it moved as if blown by a gentle breeze. He stared at the girl before him. All around them, outside their little bubble of calm, was in chaos. He turned around, until he saw the chanting Maduokai. Wincing, Clow suddenly realised that this strange Chinese magician was trying to place some sort of control spell over his consciousness. It was working on the girl beside him; the girl fell under the spell, and walked willing to the magician.
But Clow . . . the young man raised his hands, and chanted a spell. "*Release*!" His magic staff appeared in his hand, and his magic circle appeared under his feet. The magic that formed such a melody of power around him was disrupted hard. Around him, all magical creations cried out, and fell unconscious.
Sakura gasped as her cards fluttered around them like confetti, dull and lifeless. The rain, driven away by the massing of magic, returned and quickly turned from a light drizzle to hard, painful bullets of water. Maduokai growled as he grabbed Asil, and called to his dragons. Clow was too strong.
The newly reincarnated magician stared at Maduokai with wide eyes filled with shock.
Clow watched as the strange Chinese magician and the girl who'd stood with him got onto the massive greenish yellow dragon, and took off, followed by three other dragons of various colours.
"Meilin-chan!!" A Japanese girl screamed, Clow spun as all the magic around him started to die away and the small group of magicians behind him stared up as the strange adult magician raced away. Clow stared at the Japanese girl screaming after 'Meilin-chan'. Behind her, two more magicians joined her, two magicians who stood in robes very much like his, and magical staffs almost exactly like his. Clow raised a hand to his sweating forehead, feeling the fever grow and make his knees feel weak.
A young man wearing his Uncle Li Hei-ying's clothes grabbed the Japanese girl, with her very strong star induced magic flaring around her impotently. Clow swayed, who were these people? What was their connection to him?!
A beautiful girl with purple hair ran up to the Japanese star magician, and held her as the girl continued to scream after Meilin. Stumbling, Clow looked around in the rain. Scattered around him, were dozens of magical cards, resonating with unconscious power and four dead looking creatures. One was a girl with long pink hair, and black and red butterfly wings, beside her lay a midnight blue panther with similar wings. On the other side, lay a stunningly beautiful, white haired angel and a bright golden lion with a strange helmet on. Clow staggered forward, feeling his stomach roll. Barely standing before him was another angel, the twin of the first only this time with pure black hair, and wide, feline, jade green eyes. The creature's features were shocked, but he too was loosing consciousness. Clow moved toward him as the creature lost his balance.
Clow caught this angelic creature, and stared down at it as it lay in his arms. It gazed at him, for a moment before becoming limp, its glowing jade eyes falling dim and unseeing.
"Clow Reed . . ." the blue haired man, with the exact same staff, ran toward him. The boy knelt down beside him; mindless of the fact he was kneeling in a puddle. The rain around them seemed to get heavier and colder but that did nothing to soothe Clow's fever. His vision began to blur and contort, as the other man shook him, "Clow Reed?!"
He couldn't help it, couldn't stave off the darkness enfolding his mind any longer. Clow pitched toward him, mumbling quietly as he followed the five guardians around him into the abyss of unconsciousness.
"I'm . . . Clow Reed . . ."
The four dragons raced across the sea, escaping fast from the failed plan. The lord and master riding the back of the fastest, T'alas the dragon of the four winds. Maduokai stared down at the face of Li Meilin; the girl was showing emotion as she slept fitfully under the spell he'd cast over her.
The spell had been completed, she remembered who she was . . . and worse, the card mistress now knew that he had a Li family member. Clearly, by the surprise on her face and on the Li Clan Head's face, they had not realised that Maduokai had carefully taken the Li girl's skull from her grave. He sighed heavily; his plan had failed because Clow hadn't succumbed to the control spell as easily as he'd hoped. Even half out of it, Clow Reed was still a formidable magician.
Raising his head, Maduokai stared out over the water, as he held the Li girl closely, his plan had been foiled because he'd underestimated how quickly Clow Reed would recover from being reborn. He had assumed the Clow, like any of the others he'd recreated, would be too confused to really fight the control spell he'd attempted to cast. But the magician was far to powerful, even if he'd just been reborn. Maduokai frowned, his dark eyebrows drawing together over his handsome features, he'd have to find another way of getting Clow Reed to submit to him. He glanced down at the sleeping girl in his arms as he and his dragons raced back to china on the wind.
Perhaps he could use her . . . as a new bargaining option . . .
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And Now It's Time To LEAVE IT TO DOCTOR MEGALOMANIA!!!
DrM: [smiles broadly] I'm back! I'm feeling genki, I'm feeling better, I'm feeling like I'm top of the world, ma!!
Yue: [reads through story] . . . is it just me or do I detect a slight change in writing style?
DrM: [preens]
Yue: hmmm. . . definite Lord of the Rings/Tolkien influence . . . Shakespeare . . . Jean-Paul Sartre . . . a return to more English sounding descriptions . . . [raises eyebrow] let me guess, you spent your break reading?
DrM: [grins widely] I can't help it, it . . . it all just sorta happened really. . . just wait until you see the next chapters, it's really weird actually, I'd already written up to chapter 16, and then realised that there was something wrong and so I left it and then came back and then I realised that I simply wasn't writing as good as I could, wasn't writing in the tone I wanted too because I was too scared of what people would think . . .
Yue: [nods] uh-huh . . . and the Batman gothic graphic novel thing you went into didn't influence you as well?
DrM: [just kinda sits there and grins] Do you like my new cloak?
Yue: [sighs] isn't that Clow's cloak?
DrM: [turns into a chibi and shakes head] nope, my mate Elvis made it for me 'cause I'm sucky at sewing, isn't it kewl?
Yue: [shakes head and chuckles] Well, right now you are being too genki, chibi, sickly sweet for even me . . .
DrM: [gets up onto desk, still as a chibi and waves banner] Ne, arigato anyone who has stuck with me to read this!! Arigato Clow'9-sama!! Arigato Bluegoo-sama!! You both are two of the best beta's ever!! Thank you if you review! I welcome you back to this second half of In This Tainted Soul, Find Redemption!!