'Er... Master,' Spinel began hesitantly. 'What exactly do you have in mind to do now?'

'Well, Sakura's still around,'

'You'd think she's been punished enough,' Spinel mumbled.

'I do wish you'd speak up more often, but yes, she has. I was thinking of having her over for tea, actually.'

'And you think she's going to accept?'

Eriol smiled enigmaticly. 'Perhaps if I promise to tell her how else she can lift the spell herself.'

Spinel was puzzled. 'But... I thought that the Light card was the only way?'

Eriol chuckled. 'Not exactly. There is one other way... but it is quite complex, and it consumes a lot of power, as well as a certain kind of power... a component of the spell that is only to be used in an emergency. But this isn't an emergency, so, naturally, I won't be telling her. I can say I know, because I do, which will lead her into thinking that I'll tell her, and she'll come.'

'Is this how you got all of your dates before, Master?'

Eriol scoffed. 'She hates me now, because of what I had no choice in. I need human company, Spinel. I can't just have you and Ruby forever. I never did before, there was always someone else.' Eriol sighed. 'I must seem so sadistic.Smiling and having a grand old time while implimenting torment on Sakura. I needed to, to keep her at a distance. It is very hard to explain.'

'Well, do try.' Spinel grumbled. 'You didn't even attempt to tell us your plan while we were putting it into action. We just followed your instruction to the letter, knowing that was the only way to make it work.'

'You're resentful,'.

'You didn't need your perceptiveness to tell me that.'

'Spinel...' Eriol said, and sat on a bench. Spinel noted the weariness in his master's eyes. 'This is something that must be done. Whether Sakura likes it, whether you like it... whether I like it or not, it has to be thi way.'

'Why?'

Eriol sat silent, looking up at the darkened sky. It was a while before he said anything, and Spinel thougth for a moment that Eriol wasn't going to say anything else at all. 'I wanted her to change the cards. they were dying, and I didn't want that to happen. I suppose I could have taken them on myself... but really, what good would have come from that? I know you'd be able to think up a thousand arguments, but no doubt, I'd be able to counter them all.'

'What of your fickle attitude towards her?'

'At first, it had to be so that she suspected nothing, otherwise she wouldn't put her all into changing the cards, and as such, they wouldn't change at all. During the test, she had to see me as an antagonist, again, because otherwise she wouldn't be able to put her whole self into the cards. I suppose my ploy wasn't enough, and when it comes to the cards, someone more than worthy needs to be found, or disaster will ultimately and inevitably befall the world. Their power is something few people can weild. They had to be kept under utter control, and if not, then the world had to be kept from their power. This is the best way to do that.'

'Is that so?' Spinel asked with some degree of scrutiny.

'Trust me. I know the cards, and this is the only way to keep their power from the world.'

'What about the Book? They couldn't be sealed in there again? Perhaps to wai for another worthy cardcaptor?'

'They are only partly changed. The entire deck has to be the same, or no one else, other than the power of their creator, can use them, or change them in any way. There is no possibility, now, of Sakura changing the Light and Dark into Sakura cards.'

'I see.'

Eriol was quite silent after that again, staring off at the distant horison.

'No one will ever be able to understand you, Master.'

Eriol only shook his head, and Spinel sighed, and strode off, not wanting to be in the presence of his master any longer, but knowing that he shouldn't stray too far.