Fallen Angel

Chapter Two: Reunited

by: Mel

E-mail: LightofFaeries (at) yahoo (dot) com

Disclaimer: CCS obviously doesn't belong to me or else I wouldn't be here writing this fanfic. Also, thanks to my lovely readers, I now know the title and author of the book I had forgotten. It's called the Darkangel and is by Meredith Ann Pierce. I reread the book and it is fabulous! I recommend it and the rest of the books in the trilogy (A Gathering of Gargoyles and The Pearl of the Soul of the World). There aren't enough Darkangel trilogy fanfics out there! There needs to be more! ahem anyway, enough of my prattling, on with the story!

It was so dark, and so very cold. So cold that her teeth would not chatter, her body would not shiver. And she could see nothing. She fought against tears that would have frozen upon her cheeks, managing instead to lower her eyelids painfully, where the blackness was at least explainable and familiar. She stayed very, unable to move because of the cold, gathering strength behind her eyelids, within her heart. 'I will get out of here' she thought desperately to herself. 'I don't know where I am, but I will get out. I will!'

Slowly, subtly so that she did not know at first, Sakura began to feel warmer. Her lips curved up in an unconscious smile, gathering the warmth to her like a blanket. Soon, she was no longer cold at all. The warmth turned into heat that seemed concentrated around her heart area. Her eyes still closed, Sakura touched the flesh above her heart gently. And her fingers seemed to burn. Surprised, she opened her eyes…and felt no pain in the movement, saw no absolute darkness. Instead, her eyes met with light that made her wince from the sudden transition.

"Sakura," breathed a familiar voice. "Sakura, are you awake?"

"Mistress Tomoyo?" Sakura whispered uncertainly through chapped lips, wondering if she was still dreaming. She couldn't see anything clearly; her surroundings were just vague shapes and shades.

"Yes, it is I," Tomoyo said warmly, grasping Sakura's hand. "It is a surprise, to find you awake so soon. I was told it took me two days to recover and here you are, astir after not even one."

"Where are we?" Sakura asked groggily.

"We are in my Lord Xiao Lang's home."

"Lord…Xiao Lang?" Sakura whispered weakly, trying desperately to grab on to words and understanding as they fled from her. "Who is…he?"

Tomoyo laughed her tinkling laugh which should have comforted Sakura as it was very familiar, yet there was a quality hidden in the gentle folds of her mistress's voice that twisted the familiarity until it seemed something of a stranger's. Sakura's heart sank. Something was wrong. "Lord Xiao Lang is my husband, dear Sakura."

Sakura's heart sank further. "Husband?" Sakura was so very confused. Had the icarus been a dream? When had her mistress gotten married? Did her master, Tomoyo's father, know?

"Yes. He was the one who brought you here at my request." There was a slight pause. When Sakura said nothing, Tomoyo took both her slave's hands in her own. "I am so glad you are here. I've missed you."

Sakura stared at the ceiling, dimly registering that it was made of stylized gold. Too bright, too bright. Yet the brightness wiped away the darkness that had besmirched her eyes.

There was silence for a long moment, Sakura's hands limp within Tomoyo's hold.

"Sakura?" Tomoyo said, almost tentatively. "Are you not…happy to see me?"

Sakura turned to her mistress again, seeing clearly—for the first time since her awakening—the too-pale skin of her mistress, the jeweled coronet that enwrapped her forehead like a cage. "I am glad to see you again, Mistress Tomoyo," Sakura said softly, feeling for the first time, the extreme softness of the coverlet over her and beginning to believe with relief that she was dreaming. And as she believed she was dreaming, Sakura assumed the reasoning of one immersed in dreams. "And I would like to meet your husband."

Tomoyo laughed with a hint of relief. "Of course, how silly of me not to have thought of it sooner and I have yet to thank him properly for bringing you to me." Tomoyo released her hands and stood. "Come, we may visit him now," Tomoyo said with the same arrogance that had been bred into all children of slave holders which Tomoyo had used unconsciously all her life upon slaves, even Sakura.

As Tomoyo turned, Sakura saw a strange design at the back right base of her mistress's throat. It looked to be a broken circle painted silver but Sakura thought nothing of it, believing it just another part of her strange dream.

Tomoyo walked to an ornate golden door and then turned back to beckon at Sakura. "Come along."

Sakura rose obediently, noticing the pain that lanced through her body with a kind of cool detachment. She walked slowly over to Tomoyo who then opened the door and led her through. Sakura followed her mistress as she had always done in her life; always one step behind, head bent so her face would not be seen. Because of her position, Sakura never saw anything but the floor every time her mistress was in public and among company. This time was no different. The floor was made of some shiny substance Sakura had never seen before; it made her uncomfortable so she closed her eyes, following the sound of Tomoyo's soft footsteps.

At last, the sound stopped. Sakura halted and opened her eyes though she did not lift her head.

"We are before my Lord's hall. I give you permission to look up," Tomoyo said, her voice very distant. Sakura immediately raised her head.

They stood before a pair of the finest doors Sakura had ever seen. She vaguely wondered how her head could come up with something so wondrous. The doors appeared to be dark, very beautiful, stylized wood, yet the grains of the wood seem to shift and different colors managed to bounce off the same piece of wood. The engravings and reliefs did not move, yet seemed to portray several different images at once.

Tomoyo reached up to a glimmering gold knocker, pulled the loop away from the door, and released it. The massive doors opened smoothly and silently without so much as a squeak.

Sakura looked past the magnificent doors to have her eyes arrested by a figure at the opposite end of the vast chamber. She felt suddenly jarred out of a dream and into a nightmare.

Author's Note: Well, there's that chapter. It was originally meant to be longer, but sadly, I've captured the flu and really need to lie down so I'm ending the chapter here. I hoped you liked it. Any guesses as to who Sakura saw? Oh, and I better mention that except for the icarus idea and the first chapter, this story is going to be very different from that of Meredith Ann Pierce. Also, I have my own website now for my fanfiction and I will probably be posting all my updates there first. The website address is I'd love to have people visit and sign my guestbook (which is also being used as a way for people to sign up for my new mailing list). Anyway, please review! Comments are greatly appreciated!

Thank yous to Mage, kim, shimi-mouse, stardust, Twylise, Linda18, and clueless for reviewing chapter one!

Mel

September 28, 2004