Chapter Twenty

Misty Dreams

Card Captor Sakura

starjade

A Torture

She sat in the dank cell, arms wrapped around her legs. The tears had already dried on her dirty cheeks and she was now only staring blankly at the wall.

Everything had been ripped away from her.

The only thing that had been saving her from the darkness was Syaoran...his amber eyes, that shined with determination and strength....his chestnut coloured hair, his strong, wilful body, his magnetic presence....it took her breath away, it made her heart pound...

And her family. Her six brothers, all of them waiting, and who knew? Who knew if they were dead, killed and roasted like the swans on the dinner table just weeks ago? Six strong brothers, always protecting her and loving her....giving her everything she ever wanted. Now she was their only chance...

And she was now stuck in a cell. In the dungeon. Under arrest...for committing treason and infidelity. Her chin rested on her knees and her body shook with the cold.

Her head pounded with pain and turmoil. She wanted to get out...not just literally, but physically as well. She wanted to live the life of a normal girl....she wanted to be a peasant, only worried if the crops would grow aplenty that season.

She didn't want to be responsible anymore...she didn't want to bear with the pain and the insults and the accusations....she didn't want it at all!!

She didn't even have hr starwort with her. If she did, she could've been able to complete the shirts. But she didn't...

Syaoran was gone, who knows where. And who knew when he would come back?

And everyone thought she had cheated on him. What would he think when he did come back...

If she wasn't dead by then....but she was supposed to have a trial! She had to have a trial and if she were proven innocent, she would be able to complete the shirts and save her brothers!

Her eyes alighted with momentary cheer and then instantly dimmed once more and she slumped even deeper into her solitary crouch, wrapping her arms more tightly around her legs as if it would help in bearing the cold dampness of the cell.

Her fingers trailed over her lips and she winced. She was mute. She couldn't speak; she could not prove her innocence. And with the Duke's persuasive words...he could turn every situation around to meet his own needs.

To have enemies like the Duke and Oribia....it was a fatal thing indeed.

The minutes and hours crept by. Rats crawled across her feet and a stench rose around her for she had not bathed in a long time. She felt dirty, alone, hungry, worried, scared-

She felt as if she would burst. And only her remains would be left and maybe then, she would be freed from the prison of her life.

She could not cry anymore. She was too weary. She could not feel anymore. She was numb, inside and outside. Thoughts trailed away from her and she stared emptily into space.

Please....was her last thought before she escaped into the deep, dark recesses of her mind.

Sakura's eyes flew open as a clank against the bars of her cell jolted her awake.

" Here's your food," A harsh voice said, clunking a plate of dirty rice and vegetables through the trap door on the bottom. She looked up surprised and her mouth dropped open in shock.

Lady Rita stood there, her finery and beauty seeming to light up the darkness of the room. Sakura never felt more aware of her situation, appearance and environment then she did now. She nearly shrivelled under Lady Rita's accusing glare.

She reached out with her trembling hands and grasped her food, realizing belatedly that she was starving. Scooping handfuls of rice into her mouth, she kept her eyes down as Lady Rita continued to stare at her. She continued to stare as Sakura finished her food and lay the clean plate on the ground near the trap door and once again, receded to her corner, wrapping her thin arms around her legs once more.

Lady Rita continued to stand there, cerulean eyes gleaming with a mix of emotions, bright golden hair and silk gown seeming out of place in the dungeons.

" H-How-" Lady Rita started, her beautiful voice falling over Sakura like jewels. The woman had a beautiful voice and Sakura was thankful that she could hear such a beautiful voice in the darkness that surrounded her. She had almost lost touch with everything beautiful.

" How could you do this...this to my Xiao-Lang?" Lady Rita choked out. She came closer to the bars, staring at Sakura with a needy sort of pleading mixed with fury. " He married you!! And once he leaves, you're off seducing other men? You should be burned at stake! Stoned to death! Starved, killed, hung, executed...to my Xiao-Lang." Lady Rita turned around, wiping her tears with a delicate handkerchief.

Sakura felt a feeling arise in the pit of her stomach that made her want to retch with guilt, frustration, sadness, hopelessness....She watched as Lady Rita shook with tears and could not do a thing about it.

Maybe Lady Rita truly loved the crowned prince. What pain she must be going through to realize that the man who had left her at the altar, marries an enemy peasant only to have this peasant stab him in the back?

Sakura could not imagine the turmoil Lady Rita must have been going through.

But if it was anything close to what Sakura was going through, Sakura sympathized.

" I loved him!! All Goddesses, I would've done anything, EVERYTHING for him! I lied; cheated, hurt others just to be with him! And yet.....yet he marries you....." She turned and stared at Sakura for a long time and then banged her fist against the bars and Sakura jerked with shock as she knew that the woman's pale, porcelain skin would be marked with cuts if she kept doing that.

"He marries you.....you....Kinomoto peasant.....you!!" Lady Rita slumped to the ground and Sakura moved out of her protective circle in shock. The ground was filthy and here Lady Rita was, on the ground because of Sakura!

It was too much for her. Sakura hurried towards the bars and looked through the iron rods, staring at Lady Rita with compassion. Slowly, she reached through the bars and gripped the silk handkerchief, since her own fingers were dirty and wiped Lady Rita's cheeks.

Lady Rita jerked and stared at Sakura in a mix of shock and repulsion. Sakura tried to smile at her and pointed to her own eyes and shook her face.

Don't cry.

Lady Rita stared at Sakura for a long time before getting to her feet and hissing, " Don't touch me!! Ever again!!" Before racing out of the dungeons.

Sakura watched her go, before receding back to her corner and letting her tears out.

Syaoran come back, she pleaded to herself. She could not, WILL NOT stay here. She was innocent.....

Innocent...

---------

" The trial is scheduled tomorrow. Keili has been in captivity for quite a few days now. I think we should be reaching a verdict by now," Queen Yelan said, angrily.

Duke Jel Tyran shrugged, trailing a feather across his fingers and across the furniture in his room, absent-mindedly. " I would rather that wench be under captivity for a few more days longer. She should have a bit more punishment for her wickedness."

Queen Yelan glared at the Duke. " Duke Jel Tyran, do not disobey my orders. The trial is scheduled tomorrow. Have you found an appropriate Judge?"

The Duke grinned from ear to ear. His blood red eyes gleamed with triumph and satisfaction as he let the feather fall to the ground, wafting slowly through the air before settling at his feet. Then he stomped on the pure white feather, his grin turning quite sadistic.

" I've found a perfect judge for this occasion, your majesty. A perfect judge..."

--------

Hours had passed. Days. Maybe even weeks. She did not know and she couldn't raise the energy to even try.

Boredom had crept onto her a lot sooner then she had expected. The same four dank walls, the stench of human waste and body odour, the rats and the decaying walls had repressed her into an inanimate body with absolutely no life.

She would feed crumbs of bread to the rats that lived in her cell and would count the number of iron rods that surrounded her and then count the number of cracks on the ground.

Lady Rita visited her quite often, some visits involving long stares and then a sob or a sniffle before she would run off. But she would always bring food and she looked forward to Lady Rita's visits a lot more then she looked forward to Duke Jel Tyran's visits.

She didn't look forward to his visits whatsoever. She feared them, she loathed them. He would sit and smirk at her, insult her surroundings, asked her if she finally felt at home, among the filth and the rats.

He would mock her and sneer at her, once revealing that the whole thing was a set-up, that he had set the attacker upon her. She had nearly leapt out of the cell in anger, wanting to claw the Duke apart but she could not.

He told her story after story, about killing Kinomotos, raping Kinomotos, burning Kinomotos....he would not stop and she could not listen. Insult after insult, degrading after degradation, he was relentless.

She didn't know what kind of man he was. Once at a visit, he revealed quite a bit to her.

" I know who you are," The Duke said, coldly as he sat outside of her cell on a chair. He munched on a juicy apricot, staring at her gaunt face with an expression of sadism. " You're a princess. Imagine my surprise as I found out that the seductress peasant enemy, the only daughter of our greatest enemy!! Oribia had contacted me, asking for your death. And I have given it to her haven't I?" the Duke said, grinning. " Or at least, a guarantee."

He sat back in his chair, crossing his legs over. " I was never told the full story of why Oribia would want you dead. She had already gotten rid of your brothers; maybe you're the last one to get rid of before her son will take over the land. If you're still alive, you'll be the heir."

He laughed a bit. Then he stared at her with his blood red eyes and walked towards the bars. " I could, of course, help her a bit by causing you a bit more pain. Maybe by having my way with you..."

Sakura felt her defences flare up and she could not breathe, she was choking on the very air that gave her life.

Then the Duke gave a mighty laugh. " You believed me, didn't you?" He sneered. " Why would I want a woman with gigantic paws all over me? Maybe Syaoran prefers that but I like my women..." He gave her a look over and smirked. " Decent."

With that, he walked out of the room, leaving Sakura shaking.

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Tomoyo and Eriol were barred from seeing Sakura. But since the day of her trial had come, they were allowed to come and see her and clean her up for the trial.

The minute they had stepped into the dungeon, they searched in the darkness for Sakura and when they spotted her, they both groaned with pain.

" Keili!! Keili.....Keili, how could they have done this to you?" Tomoyo moaned, unlocking the door and rushing to Sakura. The stench was unbearable and Sakura was covered in filth, but Tomoyo didn't care and wrapped Sakura in her arms, crying hard.

Eriol looked absolutely furious.

" That despicable animal. I will slit his throat right now. How could Syaoran leave? He knew this kind of stuff would happen! A marriage ring won't stop the Duke! He'll find a way around it!!"

Sakura looked at Eriol surprised. She had thought...she had thought maybe Eriol had believed...

Eriol looked at her and understood her expression. " No way!!" Eriol said, deadly serious. " It looked as if yes, you had been cheating but I know you too well. I know you love Syaoran and I know that you would never do that. Forgive me for not trusting you on the scene."

He bowed low and Sakura shook her head, happiness filling her as she knew that Eriol believed her.

Eriol and Tomoyo believed her.

She was innocent to two people. The two people that mattered anyways.

They got her up, but her knees were filled with cricks and she stumbled her way to the room. Eriol left, in search of better clothes and Tomoyo scrubbed her clean, washing away the filth and the dirt, washing her hair free from the lice and the grime, clucking and moaning at the way her skin had gotten so pale and the fact that she was so thin that she was literally a stick. Eriol came with the clothes and the clothes hung on Sakura since she could not fill it up anymore but Sakura never felt happier in her life.

She was free from her prison.

She was clean. She could feel the deep dark depression she was in lift free and her mind, filled with peacefulness.

" The court trial is about to happen. Please come immediately," A messenger boomed at the door. Tomoyo and Eriol looked at Sakura desperately as if willing her to speak one word just so they knew she could defend herself.

Sakura smiled at them gently. She would do her best....even if she couldn't speak a word.

Syaoran, she thought in the deep recesses of her mind as she began to walk, limping a bit at the weakness and stiffness of her body. Help me.

Eriol cursed loudly as Sakura walked into the courtroom house, watching her with pain filled eyes.

" I don't know how to help her," Tomoyo said, her voice tight. " We can do nothing and even if we beg or plead, we have no proof, no evidence....we wouldn't do her any good..."

Tears had fallen down her cheeks and she whimpered, " Did you see the state she was in? Cruelty knows no bounds when it's with the Duke."

Eriol's fists clenched tightly. " I'm getting that bastard Syaoran and bringing him back. That fool headed man thinks that his NAME will protect Keili? How could he even-" He stopped, choking a bit before his navy blue eyes glinted with determination and his spectacles seemed to gleam as if he had a plan.

" Tomoyo, I'll be back soon!" He cried as he began to run back into the castle.

" W-What? Where are you going? Tomoyo cried.

" I'm going to Kinomoto. And when I come back, Syaoran will be right here with me," Eriol said, his voice edged with steel. He ran off into the castle, coming out soon enough with a pack and a horse from the stables. " Tell Keili that I've left to get Syaoran!! And..." He stopped pausing. " And tell her that we care for her. And that if the Duke even lays a hand on her, there will be bloody hell to pay."

Tomoyo looked up as he swung onto his horse, kissing her goodbye and galloping away towards the gates.

" Bring him back quickly," Tomoyo murmured. " For Syaoran is the only one who can save Keili now..."

For she knew that in Syaoran's eyes was a love for the ragged, strange Kinomoto servant and he would do anything to protect her. Even if it meant galloping into the Li Lands, brandishing a sword and chopping off the Duke's head.

Which wouldn't be a bad idea.

a/n: Angsty chappie huh? Dunn worry...the next chappie starts to get to the good stuff. CAN WE SAY HOOOK UP?!?!? lolz. hahaha. wut romantic potential.

anyways revieeeeew comment, suggest watever!! i lubve all ur reviewz!! and thank yall for ur suppourt...i dislike ffnet for deletin childhood crush, lol.

but yeahhh this chapter has already been updated for a long time on my site and the next chapter will be up shortly, aightt?? im not givin up here!! Lol. my semester's almost over, it was jam packed wit all da hard courses but da nexx one is easy, so im good! lol.

see ya latez,

starjade