Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. It!

Kero: hiccup

Spinel Sun: ...

Kero: hiccup hiccup

Spinel Sun: ...?

Cheery: Neigh! holds a sign that says 'ate everything in the fridge last night'

C.W.: sounding VERY angry in the kitchen KERO!

Spinel Sun: oh...

Kero: hiccup burp

Amazed

By Cheery Wolf (a.k.a. C.W.)

Chapter 5: Ruby

The effects of The Dream Card took Sakura by surprise. Pulling her subconscious from her to Syaoran's comatose mind left her dizzy as she felt the almost non-existent wind come to a stop. As her dizziness diminished, Sakura slowly opened her emerald eyes. She looked around and saw that she was standing in the middle of a park. Loads of trees surrounding beautiful a crystalline lake. Couples sitting in benches. Swans swimming in the lake. Parents watching their children play around with their respective pets.

Sakura continue to admire the scenery when all of a sudden she felt a shiver across her body. A teenage boy playing Frisbee with a brown dog ran right through her, as if she was a ghost.

"Where am I?" She asked out loud.

Then as if answering her question, Sakura saw with wide eyes a little chestnut-haired 4 year-old boy being chased by a group of 13 year-olds. At first she thought he was some little kid getting in trouble, but when she saw the piercing amber eyes filled with extreme fear instead of their usual cold glance, she knew who she was looking at.

"I'm watching his memories..." The auburn-haired girl realized.

She continued to watch horrified as the toddler was pushed into the lake and almost drowned by the bigger boys. Sakura was about to call her key, even if she couldn't touch anything. She could at least try. But several familiar voices startled her,

"Mommy! Make it stop!"

"Mommy! Why are you doing this!"

"Mommy! Stop it!"

"Mom!"

Sakura whirled around to find Syaoran's mother, but much younger. She recognized several Li Clan guards wielding lances, swords, etc. standing around the woman. Sakura looked down and saw three nearly identical 10 year-old girls and a fourth 15 year-old girl. They had tears in their eyes and watched as their little brother was being abused in the lake. Sakura thought that the Li Clan leader was going to send one of her guards to scare the 13 year-old, but what came out of her mouth took Sakura by complete surprise,

"I will do no such thing."

The little girls cried even more. The tallest of the four shouted, "But why!"

Her mother glances at her with stern look, "Fenmei, for disrespecting me you are close in getting punishment. As for your question, Xiao-Lang is in training, he will receive any preparation necessary to see that he is worthy to be the leader of the Clan. You cannot intervene with the laws of the Council, is that clear?"

Fenmei looked at her mother with murderous glare, "Dad wouldn't do this, even because of those stupid laws he wouldn't do this!"

The girl received a hard slap. Her sisters backed away from the two watching their mother slap their oldest sister.

"Fenmei, never mention your father in my presence, he was a fool! Going against the Clan, going against my beliefs, he deserve to die because of it! One more outburst from you and I will be force to disown you from the Clan!"

The 15 year-old girl glance at her mother for a moment when she said, "Fine! Disown me! I don't care! From this day forward you are not my mother! And for your information, if the crackpots of that Clan hadn't killed Dad, he would have made a better parent than you! I'm leaving forever the Clan, but you will see again in the future, I swear!"

With that the former Li girl walked away from them, but not before glancing at her brother, who was struggling to stand up in the shallow part of the lake.

"Don't worry brother, even if it takes me a lifetime I'll fight for you..." Fenmei whimpered softly, but Sakura heard the words, then she left the park.

Sakura stood there with tears streaming down her cheeks; several questions ran across her mind.

'This is the Li Clan? People who kill opposing parents and let the children go through torture?'

'This is Syaoran's childhood?'

'Is this the reason why he's was so cold?'

None of this made sense to her. She thought Syaoran's mother was so kind ever since she meet her in the trip to Hong Kong several years ago. No wonder Syaoran was so scared of her. His so-called mother drove away his most caring sister and made the Council kill his father. But she had no time to think about, when the scenery changed from the park to what it looked like a torture chamber straight out of the horror movies. The girl gazed around for a while, when she heard pain-filled screams. She followed the sounds through the dark hallways. When she found the source, the scene before her almost made her fall to her knees in shock and horror.

A big muscled man had a 9 year-old amber-eye, chestnut-haired boy being grabbed from the neck against the wall. A slightly older Yelan Li watching with an indifferent gaze.

"Mommy! Help!" The little boy cried, looking helplessly at his mother.

"Xiao-Lang! As the leader of the Clan and with the approval of the Council you will be stripped from your emotions and memories. These 'emotions' have been a distraction to your training. Nothing will stop the Clan from getting what is rightfully ours."

She signaled the muscled man to let him go. The man acknowledged and let the child fall. The boy crashed with the floor, breaking a leg. The woman took out a strip of paper and threw it, hitting the boy on the forehead. Moments passed and then the paper disappeared. The boy had a blank look on his face.

Yelan smiled, "The Council will be satisfied."

She signaled the man to grab the boy to start the training and he followed the leader out the chamber.

Sakura was now on her knees, crying her heart out. She couldn't believe how Syaoran had to live his childhood like that, with a Council and a mother who didn't care, that only cared that Syaoran is trained to be a cold and brutal leader. Sakura shakily stood up, wiped her eyes. She was filled with fury now. How dare they treat him like a puppet!

But then, she was brought out of her thoughts by loud roar. The chamber disappeared and was replaced by a floating platform surrounded by floating rocks. Sakura heard a growl and found a creature that looked like The Thunder Card but instead of being yellow and blue, it was pure black. It was prowling around a small wolf cub. The cub was obviously scared, Sakura realized, seeing how it trembled violently. It glanced for way out, trying to get away from the dark creature. Its eyes then locked with Sakura's. It took her a moment to know who the cub was; she knew those amber eyes anywhere.

"Syaoran!"

She started towards him, but unfortunately the dark creature stepped between them.

"You will not intrude in this, Card Mistress!" A voice said inside her mind.

Sakura jump away and brought out her key,

"O Key Of Stars,

Power Of Magic,

Power Of Light,

Reveal Your True Form To Me,

I, The Clow Mistress,

Command You Under Contract

RELEASE!"

As Sakura finished she asked the creature, "Who are you?"

It laughed out loud, "Really Card Mistress, you should know by now..."

Sakura gasped, "You're the Dream's Void!"

In the silence the wolf cub whimpered.

TBC

C.W.: Another chapter down! The next one is coming soon!

Kero: hiccup

Spinel Sun: ARGH!

C.W.: ...?

Cheery: Neigh!

C.W.: He still has the hiccups!

Cheery: nods Neigh!

C.W.: Please Review!