Syaoran opened his eyes and found himself staring upwards at a high ceiling with shifting shadows. His mind was cloudy, feeling like it was filled with cotton, which worried him. He had been trained to the high standards of his family to maintain a clear mind, to not let exhaustion or any bodily need affect his thinking, for a magic user who couldn't control their mind was bound to have trouble eventually. He looked around, already beginning the simple mental exercises to help clear his thoughts.
He saw a fireplace nearby, the flames warm and inviting, and he stepped closer to the mantle, some instinct calling to him. The first thing he saw was two bears, sitting arm in arm, and he smiled, a warm feeling in his heart. There were pictures too, of Sakura and himself. There they were on their first real date, both blushing red and facing opposite directions. He smiled, and the warm feeling in his heart grew, and there was something else, a strange sensation like a silk cord leading towards…
There was a knock and then the door was thrown open, and Sakura ran through, shouting "Your awake thank goodness, I was worried! You looked like you were having a nightmare."
As she strode towards him she tripped over a curl in the carpet and landed next to the couch with a thump, she got up muttering to herself and sat down on the couch, motioning for him to join her. As he sat down next to her, as his hands found hers, he could feel nothing but acceptance of the fact that her accident had been a dream. He didn't want to believe that it was anything but a dream.
He held her close and his heart wanted to break at the thought of anything happening to her. He felt that strange sensation again but he ignored it, nothing was important next the fact that she was safe. Remembering the past, he smiled thinking of how they had met and all his confusion over his feelings for her. In fact, their feelings where what had enable Sakura to create her very own card, that had no name until it had fused with the Void and become…Hope, the very hope that she had given his life, for he had no future, his family had no future, outside of the Clow magic. But she, she had given him that future, and now he would be content to lay here in her arms forever.
As he began to fade out, only concerned with the smell and feel of Sakura, there was the sound of breaking glass, he felt Sakura gasp and they turned to look. A floor length mirror on the wall had slid down and cracked. As he stared, Mirror appeared, shaking her head sadly, a tear sliding down her cheek. He stared, wondering what was going on, the mirror cracked further, and then seemed to explode. He saw his reflection in a thousand shards of flying glass, but just his, nothing else. No fireplace, no Sakura, the fog in his head lifted as the sounds of falling glass echoed inside, dispelling the illusion this place was wrapping around him, the illusion he was creating himself.
He tried to clear his mind, tried to banish this false reality. He held himself stiff, tried to ignore it as Sakura started crying, tugging at him, begging him to talk to her, asking what she did wrong, wondering why he didn't love her anymore. Tears ran freely down his face as the room started to fade, as she started to fade, still sobbing. He felt like his heart was being ripped out, doing that even to her image, but he knew that she would never forgive him if he let one of her cards harm the world.
He opened his eyes to a black space filled with fog, rolling around on winds that could not be felt. He was careful to keep his mind blank, as if he were actively performing magic, because here, thought and action were one and reality was never constant. The sheer power of the Hope card boggled the mind, that she could create so many different realities and hold them truly was nothing short of a miracle. Yet, her awesome power could not give her the one thing she wanted, the one thing he wanted as well, a whole Sakura. Her life was running out, and not even the greatest magics could truly create life, could not give her that which she truly needed, a replenishment of that unnamable force which gave humans life.
He knew she knew that, and that was why she had gone wild with grief. There was nothing more painful, more heartbreaking, than watching someone die and knowing you could do nothing to stop it. That, he knew better than anyone. That, he felt echoing painfully in his own chest every minute since the accident. That and something else, a part of him realized, but he couldn't pin it down right away. There was something there, a bond, deep in his heart. It felt like Sakura, but there was something…else…there as well. He touched it mentally, and as he did so an image appeared in his mind, a red string going from his heart, to Sakura's, but in the middle…
Of course, he thought, the Hope was created when the Void merged with the card created by Sakura, the card that was the embodiment of their feelings for each other, the promise of their future. That connection was one that could never be severed, and it bound all three of them together. He closed his eyes, concentrating on what he wanted, and when he opened them, that bond was real, visible, a thread stretching off into the darkness. Where it passed, the fog parted as if blown away by a strange force.
He followed the line, trying to keep his concentration strong. Images appeared to either side, Sakura, a thousand different versions of her. Every possibly memory or dream he had ever had of her was here, trying to lure him off of the line. He kept walking tears streaming down his face silently. If only…
He found himself standing on a playground, facing Sakura, but it wasn't the same Sakura, it was younger, from back to that first year. He looked down at his body, discovering that he too looked like he belonged here. This time, he decided he couldn't let things get started or it would be that much harder to leave again. He immediately brought his concentration to bear and wiped away the illusion, returning to the world of dark mist.
He knew he was getting closer, knew that Hope was getting desperate now, throwing illusions in his way to try and stop him from intruding on her sorrow. He saw many things on that path, images of his mother, his family, Clow Reed, Sakura, even Yue. Each time, he managed to regain his concentration and resume his course, knowing only that he had to stop Hope, stop her for Sakura's sake, because it was what she would want him to do.
He reached a door, just hanging there in the mist, the thread, a deep crimson in color by now, passed through the center. He put his hand on the knob and turned, stepping inside. He didn't know what he had suspected, but it wasn't this. Around him spun bubbles containing the people and beings that had already succumbed to Hope's power. There, towards the center, was Tomoyo, and in a moment Yue and Touya spun into view. They formed a giant spinning diagram around a central figure. As he approached, he realized it was a bed.
It wasn't just any bed, he realized with a heartbreaking feeling, it was the hospital bed which Sakura would probably never leave. She was there, and in this world her skin pulsed with light, light which was steadily fading from her. Once Syaoran managed to take his eyes off of Sakura, he noticed Hope floating overhead, sobbing and holding her knees tightly.
"Never again! I don't ever want to be alone again. Why cant I save her! I can grant the desires off all these people, but not mine! I'm going to be alone again!" Her tears ran downwards into the infinite space below. He knew exactly what that felt like, his heart, his very soul, was an empty void without Sakura.
It was then that the idea that had been floating at the back of his mind exploded full force into his awareness. He looked at Hope, his eyes clear and pain free for the first time since this mess began. He looked around at the floating figures, remembered the things he had learned from many of them, and then back to the sobbing Hope.
"I have an idea…" he said, causing her to pause and look at him with a strange expression.
Sakura blinked and opened her eyes, her entire body was sore, but she couldn't think of why. Looking around, she noticed she was in a strange room. She tried to sit up, but a hand at her sleeve stopped her. She looked over, smiling. Of course it was Syaoran, sleeping against the side of the bed and hanging on to her sleeve. He was always there for her, no matter what happened. She leaned closer to him and poked him in the shoulder.
"Syaoran?"
His hand fell off the bed, and somewhere far away, a stuffed bear slid off of a mantle and into the fire.