Identity's Past
by AlterEthereal
Well... um, how can I say this? I'M SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SO LONG!!! Yeah, I've had a horrible case of writer's block for the past couple of weeks, and lots of school work to irritate me, too. coughinformativeresearchspeechcough Anyway, I'd like to thank sweet-captor, Tramie, orlha, Vi3t BaBiI, and Hitaru for their marvellous reviews, as well as taking the poll! My sinister little mind is whittling away at the idea as we speak! So, here's the long-awaited chapter. Enjoy!
Alter-chan: welcome back to the nuthouse!!
So: today we have something delightful for you all...
Alter-chan: a surprise guest!! grins stupidly
audience: cheers
Tycho: randomly appears Oo
Alter-chan: an angsty, arrow-flingning bishounen!!
audience: cheers
Tycho: glares at Alter-chan what am i doing here?
So: disclaimer, of course!
Tycho: glarespulls out his bow and an arrow or two
Alter-chan: ...or not...
So: um... maybe you'd better do it today...
Alter-chan: he he... ok... Tycho, please put your archery down... DISCLAIMER: I own everything! everything! you hear me? EVERYTHING!
So: she's lost it...
Tycho: lost what?
So: sweatdrops oh, nothing. just her sanity.
Chapter 21: Revision
"Alright, here's the deal. Wu Tai's power source must be either on him or around him, since nothing else can penetrate these caves. And I don't feel any power drain, so he can't be using others to gain his energy. It's got to be something he has," Syaoran whispered.
"Like what?"
"It could be anything... his shoes, one of those ornaments... hell, it could be his hair for all I know. All that's in Clow's history about him is that he used forces outside the elementals. Not a very conventional sorcerer, much like Clow himself."
"So what do we do?"
"First, we've gotta find out where his power's coming from."
"And then destroy it?"
"Well, that's if we can get to it. There's a possibility that his power source is within him, like you and the power of your Star."
"Um... well, whatever it is, I'm sure he wouldn't want it destroyed, so if we split up and attack him from all sides, he should defend that area most, right?"
"Right."
"Blestem!" Felix cursed. He was getting nowhere. By now, he had passed the healing rituals and gone looking for any spell that didn't require foreign materials, but sadly, was having no luck.
He flipped the rough pages quickly now, barely skimming the pages before checking the next. Finally, something caught his eye. It was written differently than all the other spells, mainly being that it was written in the language Sakura had tried to teach him. He couldn't read it, but was more concerned with how it got there than anything. The book was considered sacred, and he had expressed this to the girl. She never went near it. The boy that came back with her seemed like the sly type, but truly sincere in his will to help. He wouldn't have messed with the book, even if he knew it existed or where it was. The only other person that knew that language was the mysterious man in bright robes who had taken Sakura back to her world for those few months. He seemed nice enough then... but was he or was he not the same man that had seized control of the villagers but an hour ago?
Yep, that man was up to no good. Felix wouldn't put it past him to have written in the book, and doubtless he had the sorcery to do it. Whatever was written in there was probably black magic, he decided, and vowed to destroy it. He had asked Sakura once about how she could do the magic that she did, and she had told him about an "inner Star" that she used as a power well. She mentioned something about all sorcerers having one, and that she was fortunate enough to have one that she had access to at all times. If that was so, then the robed man must need one as well.
How to destroy that writing... it was ink, so it couldn't be erased... but it could still be burned! Sakura had introduced the village to handy little things called "matches" that could be used to light fires within mere seconds. Felix rushed around the little hut to find a pack of them and indeed discovered them near the stove. Stoves... what wondrous devices... this was the only one in the entire village, unfortunately. But he would gawk at that later. Right now, there was sorcery to burn!
"There's just... no way... to get at him..." Sakura choked out between gasps for breath. She and Syaoran had been at it for a few minutes already, but there was nothing that either could do to break through the powerful defensive shield that Wu Tai maintained. The man seemed to be totally content with himself, showing no frustration whatsoever concerning the two's futile attempts. He had a smug look on his face, accompanied by an smirk that distorted his already-ugly (to Sakura) features. "How are we supposed to find his weak spot if we can't even break through his barrier?"
"What about your cards? Isn't there one strong enough to break through?" Syaoran suggested, his tone hard and unyielding, despite injuries and anger that dared to seep to the surface.
Sakura imagined that he was growing even more agitated with every second that passed where Wu Tai wasn't dead, after all the suffering caused by just this one man. First, he nearly killed her, alternately trapping her in the caves, then he murdered Syaoran's mother, then he forced her to play a separate identity and kill Syaoran (a plan that, fortunately, went awry), then he kidnapped a villager, then took control over the rest of the villagers, and now he seemed more unstoppable than ever.
"All my cards put together couldn't defeat him, Syaoran," she responded shakily, though she tried to conceal the worry in her voice. Sakura remembered back to her first battle with the robed man, and how he'd toyed with her until her frustration showed. She figured he'd just been waiting for her to lose sight of logic and do something irrational, like using all her cards at once. That gave him the opportunity to tap into this unknown place and drag her down with him without even packing her bags. "And I'm not making the same mistake again," she muttered, barely loud enough for the chocolate-haired boy to hear.
Syaoran gritted his perfect, white teeth behind his lips, his battle stance relaxing noticably until all that was left was the sword in his right hand, a fiery glaze in his amber eyes, and a dense, green aura surrounding his well-sculpted form. "Then what would you suggest we do?" he growled, never removing his gaze from his foe.
"I- I don't know," the young girl stuttered in reply. As much as she loved the Chinese warrior beside her, it did scare her a bit when he got into this mood. Even as a child, he had always found it difficult to control his rage when it arose. Knowing this, however, only made Sakura more adamant to find a logical way out of the situation before it got worse. "All I know is that this strategy has failed. He's got more power than either of us bargained for."
Suddenly, three things happened at once: Wu Tai shuddered violently, veins of light surged through the walls of the caves, and a dark-haired boy came running into the cave shouting. The eyes of the two young sorcerers darted about frantically, not knowing which place to look first, but before they knew it, they were forced to concentrate on the earthquake that had begun. Everything around them shook, and Sakura eventually lost her balance and tumbled to the ground. Syaoran followed, but it was more intentional than accidental.
"Are you alright?" he asked, raising his voice above the rumble of the cave walls and nervously raking his eyes up and down her body for any injury. If there were any, they were minimal, because Sakura found herself squeaking out that she was fine. Something very interesting began to distract her however, as Felix also appeared at her side and began speaking to her in hurried tones that she had to consciously try to comprehend. She caught something about the writing in a book and 'black magic,' then matches and bright light obscuring the paper before it burned completely.
"What?!" she exclaimed, not even realizing when she spoke in her own language. The blue-eyed boy repeated slowly, though it really wasn't necessary. Syaoran, meanwhile, was paying avid attention, though he couldn't understand what the young boy was saying. He could apparently realize it was urgent, and even pertained to the predicament they now faced. But suddenly, something else overtook him, and he let out a muffled phrase below that Sakura could barely discern.
"It's Romanian!" he said again, this time louder. "They're Romanian!" Sakura tried to get to her feet, but the shaking seemed to weight her to the floor, and even Felix was on the ground now.
"Syaoran, this is no time for a brilliant revelation! We've gotta get out of here!" Sakura shouted back, not even bothering to disguise the emergency. She tried once again to get to her hands and knees, hoping that she might make it to some kind of upright position.
"Why? What the hell is going on in this place?"
"We're not in a cosmic waste dump! We're in Wu Tai's personal waste dump! Felix found his power source and destroyed it, and now this entire dimension is collapsing!" Sakura yelled. She tried to stand up on both feet again, ignoring the dizzy sensations running through her head as it was jarred in every which direction. Eventually, though, she made it to two feet and pulled out her wand, attempting to maintain her balance as she did so. She then called out to Felix in whatever warped version of Romanian that Syaoran had concluded it was. The sapphire-eyed boy seemed to get what she was saying, because when she finished her short speech, the he nodded and made to stand up as well. As soon as he was able, he half-ran half-stumbled out of the cave back toward the village. Sakura then turned to Syaoran, who still sat on the ground next to her, "Syaoran! Wu Tai is defenseless!"
The boy suddenly snapped-to. "Gotcha!" After another violent jerk, which almost sent the auburn-haired girl flying yet again, Syaoran got shakily to his feet and gripped his tasseled sword tightly. He thought for a moment of just how to finish the old, kniving sorcerer off. No matter how tough he looked on the outside, he was really disgusted by gore on the inside. In fact, he almost fainted when he was attacked by the villagers earlier, not because of the amount of blood that he lost, but just by the sight of it. "Hey, Sakura!" The girl turned her emerald gaze upon him with undivided attention. "Could you lend me a card or something? This guy's blood isn't deserving enough to have a place on my sword!" He thought up the best excuse possible.
They quickly settled upon The Erase, a quick, painless way of ending Wu Tai's wretched existence. Syaoran stalked up to the robed man, who had surprisingly stayed where he was the entire time. The brown-haired boy's eyes glinted deviously.
"You know, for someone who's lived so damn dishonorably, you sure have a noble way of getting killed. I expected you to run."
"Did I make it less amusing for you, Xiao Lang?" Wu Tai retorted, the same cynical look on his face, but a softer--almost melancholy--tone in his voice. As Syaoran raised his sword, he bent slightly, as if accepting his fate. "I would rather die by your blade than fall victim of my own folly."
A sadistic smirk graced Syaoran's delicate features. "That's why I'm letting you die painlessly, you sorry son of a bitch." And without another word (as it was becoming much more difficult to stand, let alone speak), he spun the Star Card before him and struck it, just the way he was accustomed to as a child, and called the name of Wu Tai's merciful executioner. "Erase Card!"
Alter-chan: is singing Ring-Around-the-Rosie with Zuri, Anaru, and Yugi from silver-dagger-113's fic Marik's Boring Day, who seems to have his own version that includes only the phrase "Yo ho!"
So and Tycho: --;
Althea: hm... i thought something was missing in the dungeon... drags Tycho off
So: uh... please review... i guess...
AlterEthereal