Identity's Past
by AlterEthereal
Hey there, guys! I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get up, but I tried to wait an extra couple days for more poll votes. The results as of now are:
Go back to place of origin: 2
Stay in cave: 1
There is still time to change it, though. Nothing is really set in stone after this chapter. Alright! Now! Time for the part you've all been waiting for: the thank-you's!! *cue Beethoven's 5th* Hey, wait! Wrong music! (That's my killing music... sorry.) *cue Cristofori's Dream* That's better. Anyway, I'd like to thank Vi3t BaBiI, Tramie, orlha, and sweet-captor for their reviews! *hands out cookies* Lots of love, people! Enjoy! ^_^
Alter-chan: so, is Anaru officially insane yet?
So: nah, i don't think so.
Anaru: *blows up a car**not his, mind you*
Alter-chan: um...
So: eh, i take that back.
Anaru: the moon is made out of cheese now! i ate it! I ATE IT!
Alter-chan and So: O_o;
Anaru: *skips off with Yugi from silver-dagger-113's fic Marik's Boring Day, Wizard of Oz style**I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or The Wizard of Oz, by the way* YO HO! ^___^
Alter-chan and So: ...
So: oh well. at least now, i get his sword... *picks up Anaru's sword*
Anaru: *runs back, smacks So's wrist so she drops his sword, grabs said sword, runs off again*
So: T_T
Alter-chan: whatever. i'm going to make myself some pasta.
So: don't burn it this time!
Alter-chan: *blushes* shut up and just do disclaimer!
So: i can't do both at once, you know.
Alter-chan: *glares*
So: fine, fine... *sighs* DISCLAIMER: Alter-chan doesn't own CardCaptor Sakura. but she does own pasta, which she's probably going to burn into rubber if i don't go and help her, so i'll see all your faces later. *leaves to help Alter-chan cook the pasta*
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Chapter 20: A Son's Revenge
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Sakura's senses led her straight to the cave where a blood-stained boy with chocolate hair battled the towering, robed man who's aura dampened the air. Syaoran appeared to be fine, with the exception of the gashes on his shoulder and sides. She didn't know how he'd managed to survive, but boy, was she thankful.
"Syaoran! Are you alright?" she yelled, running to join him.
The amber-eyed boy smirked to her and replied with confidence despite their situation, "Better than alright, which is what's confusing the hell out of the baka* over there."
"I'm a little confused, myself. How are you still alive? With your wounds and fighting with Wu Tai, you should be dead by now!"
"You want me to die?"
"Ah! No! I wouldn't be able to live without you!"
"I'm touched, Sakura," he said, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek for emphasis, aggravating the bearded fellow across the cave by doing so. Sakura noticed this.
"Um, Syaoran..."
Still bent to her, the boy whispered in her ear. "Just keep him off-balance, alright? It'll be easier for us if his judgment is clouded by anger."
"Oh... gotcha." And she giggled, making it final.
"If you two are quite finished, I believe I still must deliver your deaths," Wu Tai interrupted, a slightly irritated inflection in his voice.
"I'd like to see you try!"
"Yeah, baka!"
"Sakura?" Syaoran turned his head to the girl at his side who again giggled delightedly.
"What? I just had to! It sounded like fun, and it was just so perfect!"
The boy sighed and rolled his eyes, letting them fall once more across the shady figure of their opponent. "Whatever..." You want perfect? Just go look in the mirror...
"Xiao Lang, your thoughts are distracted by this girl. She will be your downfall."
"Yeah right! Maybe she's that secret power well your baka brain has been pondering over for the last 10 minutes or so."
"You lie, boy."
"I didn't lie... I said 'maybe.'"
"Your pendant is that which replenishes your power!"
"Ooh, the baka does have a few braincells afterall!"
Sakura was confused; all this was news to her. Replenishes his power? That must've been how he healed so quickly after the fall in here...
"And where, exactly, did you acquire this object? Perhaps it was given to you by your mother..." Wu Tai spoke in an obscenely calm tone, and Syaoran's smirk faded away, his form visibly stiffening. "...just before she-"
"Shut up!"
"Syaoran? What's wrong? What's he talking about?" she tried to interject.
"Oh, I see I have offended you, young Xiao Lang. I apologize; I was not aware that by killing her I would anger you in such a way."
"You? You killed her?"
"Why, yes, as a matter of fact. I tried to have you killed as well, but," and he turned to gaze at Sakura, "you betrayed me, girl."
His shoes... So that's why he isn't with the rest of his clan. His mother... "Like that was the only offense committed in this situation!"
"Yelan and her little Li Clan were in my way and posed a threat. So I struck her down in the slowest, most painful and humiliating of fashions."
"Which is why no one could figure out what the disease was..." Syaoran growled.
Sakura began to slowly back away, in shock of the frighteningly dense shade of green his aura was taking on. Still, she gathered her wits and refused to leave his side.
"Syaoran, why didn't you tell me?" she asked, but his amber eyes were now blazing with rage, and he was ignoring her completely.
~*~
"You..." Syaoran snarled, trying his best to both stay calm and think of a word that would describe the way he presently felt about Wu Tai.
"Really, Xiao Lang. I should think you would be rather happy that your mother is dead. She was an obstruction, was she not? I understand that she never even displayed affections toward you."
His blood felt like it was on fire. He gritted his teeth together, trying to focus on the then-pleasant grinding sound that it formed in his ears. Mother... you have the power to foretell the future. You knew this would happen, didn't you? Is that why you gave me Clow's Pendant? So that I'd be ready? Mother... your powers grew weak, didn't they? Wu Tai is wrong. You did show me affection before you died, because you knew he was killing you! You grew so weak you couldn't even hide the love you'd bottled up for over a decade because you knew I had to grow a cold, indestructable shell--in order to survive! You did care about me, and I swear, Mother, I will avenge you!
The boy was so focused on his emotions that he barely heard Sakura's attempts at calming him.
"...Syaoran, that thing about anger clouding judgment-"
"I can handle it, Sakura, but," he turned his eyes to her, "I want to teach this guy a lesson about messing with my family. One that he won't live to forget. Will you help me?"
Sakura saw the tremendous amount of hurt and anger in those fiery, amber pools, but also noticed the mischevious, determined glint present there.
"Absolutely. I told you already that I'd stay by your side, and I meant it."
She had no idea just how calming those words were.
~*~
Felix raced to the small hut where the records and ancient texts were kept. He needed healing rituals and he needed them fast. Pushing himself through the door, which was usually locked, he immediately focused upon finding the Old Language book. He'd been told that there were magic spells in the books, rumored to be able to cure the sick and mend the blind. He had never believed this possible, but, as most of the villagers lay unconscious on the musty ground of the cave, he thought anything would be worth the try.
He discovered the dusty-paged book buried beneath a mountain of records. Each generation had tried to mimic the last, but sadly, scarcely learned writing skills and even scarcer reading skills had caused the words to falter and change dramatically since the original--the ALMANAH, it was called. Felix was one of very few who had learned to read and write, but he still had never seen inside the hard-backed, fraying bindings of the "Almanac." Now that he looked over it's pages, however, he realized the full extent of the gap between the village's current language and the Old Language. He could barely understand the words written in their faded, black ink.
As he scanned, a portion of his thoughts drifted to the lady friend of his who was, at that very moment, fighting for her life, and the lives of the villagers, too, while she was at it. Sadly, though, in his mind lay the residue of remembrance from his trance-like state, and what he'd inadvertently done to her. While it was true that he loved her more than almost anything (the exception being little Sorina, who had grown to be like a real sister to him), never in his right mind would he have done something like that to her, the woman who became his first true friend and his first true love. Unfortunately for him, she already had someone to be her everything and who felt the same way about her. Sakura just wasn't his to love.
RITUAL... CICATRIZARE!
The young, sapphire-eyed boy had finally found what he was looking for amidst the pages of that worn-out book. Scanning down a few ceremonies, however, he found that the entire book would probably be useless. All the spells required things like EUCALIPT, CAPRIFOI, and ROZMARIN, none of which he knew the meaning of, let alone possessed.
The boy groaned in hopelessness. He couldn't help the villagers when they depended on him, and he certainly couldn't do anything to help the girl with bright, viridian eyes. Why did it seem like everything he cared about was eventually taken away from him? His past, his love, even his village... was there nothing he could do? There must've been something! And so, Felix dove deeper into the dark ink of that ancient text in search of anything that could help light the way in their terrifyingly bleak situation.
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*baka: "idiot" in japanese.
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Alter-chan: *forks rubbery noodles*
So: *eats well-cooked noodles*
Alter-chan: *glares at So*
So: well, it's not my fault you wouldn't let me help you.
Alter-chan: i didn't need your help! my pasta's fine! *tries unsuccessfully to chew down a noodle* anyway, another chappie's been and gone. we're nearing the end of the fic, but don't say any goodbye's yet! afterall, you do want to see which Hoshiaka sister is left sane at the end, right?
readers: *backing away slowly* oh no... one of you goes insane? someone have mercy...
Alter-chan: *grins devilishly* we'll just have to see!! in the meantime, please leave a review by the door! ^^
~AlterEthereal