Hello! Left off with a cliffie, so here's the next chapter! (Gomen for a week's wait '') Esmerelda is showing a deep interest in Syaoran… perhaps for him to be her prince. What will Syaoran and Sakura do? Get ready for chapter three! Where more twists will happen!
Note: I do not own any of the characters! They are copyright of CLAMP and I do not take credit for any EXISTING characters, though I will create a few of my own for the purpose of this story. My fic is basically a new world that Syaoran and the gang go to next. Note that it takes place after they leave the Oûto world (where they were actually inside a game). Enjoy!
What happened last time:
Just as she rounded the bend and peered around the hedge she saw Princess Esmerelda holding Syaoran's hand, his back to Sakura.
"Is that so?" She said, staring into his brown eyes. Sakura's legs felt numb and she wanted to run away, but her muscles refused to obey. The princess and Syaoran did not seem to notice her presence yet.
"Well then," Esmerelda continued. She let go of Syaoran's hand, but instead hooked both arms around his neck and twirled her fingers through his chocolate brown hair. Pulling him towards her, Esmerelda whispered into his ear, just loud enough for Sakura to hear by the hedge…
"Syaoran, I want YOU."
Chapter 3: The Wooden Box
At that moment, Sakura's legs gave way, and she dashed from the scene without a second thought. Her white slippers gave small thumps as her soles hit the soft grass. So Syaoran…does have an interest in the Princess…she began to feel tears well up in her eyes, threatening to streak down her cheeks.
Mokona hugged Sakura, grabbing her soft hair, and rubbing his cheek against her hairpin. As if reading her mind, Mokona reassured, "Awww… Sakura-chan, it's ok! You know Syaoran wouldn't do such a thing…"
Sakura gave a slight nod. He wouldn't… would he?
Back in the hedge, Esmerelda was leaning in to kiss Syaoran after her sudden confession.
No… he thought over and over. This can't be happening. Only Sakura…I will only ever let Sakura—
A blood-piercing scream stabbed through the night air, stopping Syaoran before he could stop Esmerelda himself. The music from the ballroom suddenly stopped, only to be replaced with the sounds of panic from within the castle.
"Oh no!" Esmerelda bolted towards the castle doors."
"Hime wait! It might not be safe!" Syaoran called after her, but she did not seem to hear. He ran after, but soon lost sight of her in the mazes of hedges in the castle grounds. Running towards the echoing chaos from the castle, Syaoran sprinted straight into someone, and he fell over, the other falling onto his armour on top.
He opened his eyes to see Sakura and Mokona, lying on top of him in shock.
"Sakura-hime!" He panicked. What was she doing wandering outside in the gardens by herself? A flood of relief that she was unharmed suppressed his fear.
"G-gomenasai, Syaoran-kun." She quickly got up off of him, and stared towards the castle in concern. "Do you think everything is alright?"
"I don't know." Syaoran stared into the darkness of the trees behind them, suddenly aware of the dangers they were in. Anyone could be lurking in those shadows, and it was best to be among a large crowd at a time like this. He gently took Sakura's arm and said "Come on, it would be safer inside for you than out here. I need to find Esmerelda-hime too… she bolted at the sound of the scream." Syaoran motioned to move towards the castle, but Sakura pulled her arm away.
"I-it's ok. You go ahead and look for Princess Esmerelda." She turned away, and a fleeting glimpse of hurt flashed from her eyes. Mokona sat silent on her shoulder still, an expression of concern across his face.
"Sakura-hime?" Syaoran asked. He looked down at the ground. Had she seen what happened just before?
Another scream echoed through the night. His gaze snapped back to the castle, but something seemed wrong. A sudden movement behind him confirmed it.
But as he turned to face Sakura, Mokona screamed, "Kya!" as he flew off Sakura's shoulder and landed at Syaoran's feet.
A towering figure, looming a darkening shadow over him, stood in front of Syaoran. The figure clutched Sakura's mouth in his enormous gloved hand, muffling her screams of protest.
"Sakura-hime!" Syaoran shouted in alarm, rushing forward, and pulling his sword out of its sheath. The cloaked shadow pressed one finger behind Sakura's head, and pushed down on a pressure point. Her struggles automatically subsided, and Sakura fell limply in the giant's clutches and did not move again.
"SAKURA!" Syaoran raised his sword and made to attack. But he was stopped in his tracks when a strong blow crashed into his head, and he fell to the ground, his vision spinning in angst. "Sa-kura…"
As he frantically fought the wave of unconsciousness engulfing him, he watched, powerless, as the cloaked shadow flung Sakura gently onto his shoulder and stalked away. The last he saw was her face, pale in the bathing moonlight. The King's voice loomed in his head; murders and kidnappings…
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Voices murmured in the distance, seemingly distant from his ears. Syaoran felt the clammy coldness of the clay pathway on his back, or perhaps that was his armour.
"Then boom! Someone snuck up on Syaoran-kun and whacked him across the head with a club. Mokona was still sitting on the ground with a dizzy head when Syaoran went unconscious."
The voice was growing clearer, and Syaoran made an effort to sit up, but his head instantly began to throb painfully in protest. His vision slipped in and out of focus, and a sore spot seemed to have developed on the back of his head.
"Ah, Syaoran-kun, you're awake." The fuzzy image of Fye's soft blond hair slowly came into focus. For a moment, he could not remember where he was. Pressing the palm of his hand to his temple, Syaoran waited for his head to clear. Then it all rushed back to him like a stroke of lightning.
"Sakura-hime!" He jumped to his feet, frantically searching for a sign of her. But her sweet smile of relief to see Syaoran alright, and to have been safely rescued from the cloaked kidnapper wasn't there… only a cold empty darkness awaited his gaze, swallowing the colours of the garden. He stood rooted to the ground, fighting the dizzying haze affecting his vision again. Syaoran stepped off the path, and tried to begin searching, denying his half-unconscious mind.
"There's no use searching for her now." A rough voice came from behind. Kurogane was leaning against the hedge, staring up at the sky.
"Now, Kuro-rin. There's no need to give up now, especially not with Syaoran-kun." Fye stated, turning towards him as Mokona hopped over to Syaoran and jumped up to give him a special Mokona hug.
"Don't listen to the mean Mr. Black, Syaoran! We'll find her very soon." He reassured and stuck out his tongue at Kurogane. Syaoran was staring down at the grass in silence.
A vein twitched on Kurogane's temple. "That's not what I meant." He closed his eyes and explained, still tilting his head to the skies. "Those attacks, those kidnappings, all done in the past 13 days, were definitely done by some well-trained people. They act just like the black ninjas in my world. If they act the same, they'll think the same. You must've been out at least 10 minutes, and that's more than plenty of time for skilled kidnappers like them to get quite far away and hidden. If we searched now, it would be a waste of energy and time. They'd have had everything planned out."A short silence dawned on the group, still under the waning moon high above. The chirping of the cicadas had disappeared, as if a giant hand clasped over them, muting their sound completely.
"Hoo-whee." Fye faked a whistle again. "You've got a good point, Kuro-rin, but what can we do at this point?"
"Kurogane was silent for a moment, then opened his eyes to look up at the heavens again. "Wait till dawn. Wait until the letter from the sorceress comes, then perhaps we will receive a clue about where the hime is, and what our next move shall be." He stood up straight and walked towards Syaoran, clasping his hand on his shoulder. The contact of the metal clanged in the anomalous silence. "Don't give up hope yet, kid. Bear with the time for now. She will come back." And with that, Kurogane began heading towards the castle door, his silver armour listening in the fading moonlight.
After a long silence, Fye sighed and looked at Syaoran, smiling. "Kuro-puppy may be quiet, but he knows what to do. So don't you worry Syaoran-kun. We'll find Sakura and bring her back safe and sound. We've been in worse… we'll get her back for sure."
"I know." Syaoran lifted his head, glancing into Fye's bright blue eyes. What Fye his eyes, was exactly what he had expected to be there: a familiar fire of optimism and determination fuelled by the will to get back what is most important to him.
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The final hours of the night were passing by like a warped time frame… where a minute seemed like years, and an hour was unimaginable. Sitting in the light of the few dozen candles of the throne room, the travellers and the King waited for the sun to rise. King Ethan said many other residents of the Silan have fled to a nearby kingdom, including Princess Esmerelda and her mother, fleeing for their lives. They should be safe there for now, since the evil had not spread that far yet.The group continued to wait in noxious silence, each wordlessly begging for the hours of darkness to end. Mokona was sleeping in Syaoran's lap, using his black cape as a blanket. Kurogane was pacing the room, as if it would waste the time away a little faster. Fye gazed out the window of the throne room staring out to the east, awaiting the coming dawn.
Then, after a seemingly eternal wait, the whisper of a blood red sunrise crept across the horizon, bursting from a single point of light. The beams of soft light stretched further and with each step, the colours of the sky lightened, a mirage of a ghostly reflection of an orange sunrise, splattering the land with eminent rays.
Syaoran watched the light spread across the throne room floor, scattering the darkness back into its corners. The room remained silent with anticipation.
A sudden spark from the nearby fireplace jolted Syaoran's gaze towards it. He stared into the ambers. The light seemed to dim as the spreading beams of dawn crawled in from the windows. Sakura... he thought.
But the more Syaoran gazed into the fireplace, the more he felt that instead of diminishing, the fireplace was getting brighter. He carefully lifted Mokona off his lap and placed him on his chair, the cape still draped across the white bun. Moving towards the fire, Syaoran saw that his suspicions were correct.
"King Ethan?" Syaoran called over his shoulder. They all turned their heads towards him and Mokona sat up, rubbing his sleepy eyes with a white paw.
Fye turned his back on the window and strode towards Syaoran. He squatted down beside him and stared at the burning ambers.
They were glowing an irregular hot white. Suddenly, the orange fire roared and jumped higher, the flames licking the sides of the fireplace. Then, after turning from an orange to a bright red, the fire burned green. King Ethan leapt back, letting out a horrified gasp.
"Sorcery! Evil! The evil has arrived! Dear heavens have mercy on our souls!" The King tumbled to the floor, bowing his head and praying to the heavens.
The green flame burned continuously. Then, a shape seemed to appear in the midst of the fire. Without warning, the flames leapt towards them and everyone shielded their eyes. Just as sudden as it had come, the flames disappeared entirely, leaving nothing in the extinguished fireplace except a black metal box.
Mokona peaked from behind Syaoran's cloak. "Fye-san, is that the letter the sorceress sent?""I think so." Fye reached into the fireplace and carefully picked up the box. The metal was surprisingly cold, even though it had just come through a raging fire. He carried it to the table where they had, less than a day ago, thrown cake at each other. Fye set it down and everyone, including the trembling King, gathered around it. Mokona abandoned Syaoran's cape on the cobbled floor.
"Syaoran-kun, why don't you open it?" Fye suggested and pushed the black box towards him with a sincere smile.
Syaoran took it and unlatched the peg at its front. Swinging the metal lid open, the group gazed into the depths at the contents.
A rolled up parchment sat neatly on top, and a hint of the surface of wood protruded from beneath. Syaoran pulled out the yellow parchment and handed it to Fye.
The light emitting from the now higher sun lit the room slowly, but not enough to be able to read. The King hurriedly brought over a few candles and set them on the table. The group was silent as Fye unrolled the letter and spread it on the table. He began to read under the soft glow of the candlelight.
"For 100 years you have kept my uprising from playing its fate, and now my revenge shall begin. For 13 days my men have murdered and kidnapped your people, warning you of our still strong lingering presence. Tonight, after so many years, I will take what I cam for one century ago and seize my rightful throne of Silan. Nothing, my king, shall stop me this time from conquering. Not even your newfound heroes that arrived last morning. They shall meet a suffering defeat. I will arrive at midnight to take what's rightfully mine."
A lone lark began to sing outside, its soft voice drifting into the throne room. It came like an alienating sound, unfit for the atmosphere around the table.
The group turned to the wooden box. What more could Sephiria want to say? Syaoran hesitantly reached into the black metal box again and extracted the wooden one, its texture smooth to his touch. Lighter than expected, Syaoran laid it down on the table and brushed some odd black dust off its flat wooden top.
Syaoran looked up from the box at the group's already ashened faces. What could possible be worse than the sorceress's threat letter? Mokona looked nervous and worried, sitting across from the wooden box. "Mmmmm…" he whined. "Mokona doesn't have a good feeling about this…"Syaoran reached for the lid and unlatched a peg similar to that on the black box. A cold wind began to eerily blow in the room, catching onto the hems of cloaks. It snuffed out the candles on the table, and the group was left standing in semi-darkness. The sunrise continued to creep slowly. Syaoran flipped the lid open and was about to drop it down when he noticed something odd about it. Tilting the angle of the lid, he let a faint bit of light catch the surface, and a searing message blared out.
On the lid, written in what looked like fresh blood, were the words, "A crueler fate awaits the heroes who resist." Unwillingly, Syaoran looked down into the contents of the box. The light crept on, trying to reach the table.
But even in the dull light, Syaoran could recognize the contents. A pile of ashes, created from human remains filled the box, bulging to a round top. A sudden draft blew again, pushing bits of ash off the top of the lump, just as a ray of sunshine finally broke through the window and landed on the table, lighting up the box. Protruding from the middle of the ashes was a white beaded hair ornament, charred black almost beyond recognition. But Syaoran still knew what it was… it had sat mere hours ago in Sakura's soft brown hair.
Author's Notes:
Teehee '' Gomenasai! hides I hope that was an unexpected end to the chapter! So the wooden box contained ashes, and Sakura's charred hair ornament is in it. And what about that letter Sephiria sent, threatening the travellers and the kingdom? Stay tuned!