A collaboration of Kha the Cleric, Sela-sela and Ken of Food
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Trinity Star: The Awakening
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Prologue: A Debt Paid
As Li Sakura stepped out of the sunlight, she had only a few things on her mind: her immaculate dress by Kanazaki Tomoyo was ruined, she could still sense Syaoran somewhere out on the street, and that there must be people still inside the burning hole she had just walked into.
It started out as a trip to Queenway for that bargain handbag Zhen Meiling had been advertising loudly to her in-laws ever since they arrived on vacation from Japan. Tomoyo had agreed to come along, but intended to make a stop by Tang Ren Street to look at the boutiques there. Zhen Yang, affectionately known as Ryuuoh to his friends, and Kanazaki Kurogane let their wives go on ahead and decided to settle for some coffee by the bay while catching up on time's bygone. Sakura dragged Syaoran along, as inseparable as they always are, and it bothered Meiling who had intended the trip to be a all-girls outing. A few quick words from Tomoyo soothed the tempest. But the last thing anyone, magicuser or mundane, expected was the Tat Lee Trading Center to blow its guts into the asphalt.
Sakura was swept off her feet when it happened. But she quickly got back on her feet and without a second thought made her way towards the hollowed out building. The smouldering rubble stung her nose with the nauseous scent of sulfur and vaporized wallpaper. Its glass facade that once held a clock face and several stained murals lay strewn all over the road, some even sticking out of the shattered displays of shops across the street. A couple of cars had been parked in front of that structure and now their burnt out remains were piled into other unfortunate vehicles on the opposite side; the blast had clearly come from inside the Trading Center. The sorceress peered over the small flight of steps leading to the former entrance and shivered at the sight of the burning debris-filled cavern. There was a torrent of moans and weeping that floated over the chaotic chorus of screams and shouts of survivors scrambling away from the kill zone. Sakura was afraid and she inwardly wished Syaoran was with her instead of somewhere down the block. But the sorceress knew there was no time to get him. A loud snap from somewhere near the roof reminded Sakura that she had to get these people out before the once-magnificent archways of Hong Kong's business center gave.
Meanwhile, the Lee clan leader was battling the sudden outgoing tide of frantic perdestrians and passers-bys, his intention to buy some humjimpeng and chyrsanthenum tea long forgotten. Everyone was eager to get away from Ground Zero, and Syaoran had to almost swim upstream. Progress was painstakingly slow, and all he could do at the moment was to cling to that distant pink aura he saw in his mind's eye. Please be okay...
A wall of flame blocked Sakura's path as she got deeper. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was looking, then willed a silent command at the fire. It promptly parted and died. She issued a few more and the smog-filled air cleared just as several smaller fires went out, giving her a clear view of the rocky and upheaved terrain. Even though they had sealed their magic away a long time ago, Syaoran had taught her how to channel her Ki to perform some small spells. But she never expected to be using them in an instant like this! Sakura moved towards the first sense of life she felt and, as she channeled more ki into her arms to boost her strength, began working at the rubble.
Syaoran bumped into Tomoyo as she floated by in the raging human current. The girl was not used to the morning rush of Hong Kong, and the disaster had just made matters far worst. The clan leader pulled her out before it carried her further.
"Have you seen Sakura?" The man yelled.
"I think she went towards the blast!" Tomoyo yelled back. "I was too far away to stop her!"
"Shimata!" The man disappeared back into the fray as Tomoyo watched on in worry, his heart pounding harder than ever. Sakura, why are you so selfless...
Sakura hefted yet another survivor out of the ruins and onto the sidewalk. Four were already sitting there when she arrived and the ones who were better off got up and heaved the wounded office lady off the sorceress shoulders. One of the men struggled briefly under her weight and glanced at Sakura, wondering how did such a small-framed stranger manage to move such masses. But he didn't get a chance to follow up on his thoughts as Sakura had directed them to place the victim on the pavement.
"Thank you..." panted in Cantonese the just-rescued woman as Sakura tore a bit of her skirt for a bandage to tie up the lady's bleeding leg.
"Don't mention it," Sakura replied likewise, having learned the tongue in her years spent in Hong Kong. Once she finished her handiwork the sorceress gave the survivors a reassuring smile and a brief "I'll be back" before getting up. Her chestnut brown bangs were plastered to her face with sweat, and she felt flithy all over from all the exertion and dirt. But still she ignored it all and carried on into the ruins, reassured a little by Syaoran's approaching presence.
She passed a lifeless body on the way in for the umpteenth time. He was half buried by a crushed wall, half dusted over by powdered concrete. From his uniform, Sakura could tell that he was the security guard on duty and shuddered at the memories it brought up. She recalled the time when a curse stole her beloved's shadow and with it his ability to stay alive as an independent being. She had volunteered to be his surrogate life force until they recovered his shadow, but that came at a price; for a month of Syaoran's life Sakura had to exchange half of hers. She agreed without hesitation. But now, with the dead and dying all around her, that wish she made seemed rather vivid. Sakura wondered if her time was really about to be up.
She suddenly sensed a faint blip of life from behind a pillar up ahead and brushed aside her doubts, choosing to stay focused on the task at hand.
Ryuuoh slapped a tip onto the table as Kurogane swung his wrapped-up Ginryu katana over his shoulder. The man wished he had not left his Zanbaken at home; its massive size and weight would have been very comforting given the current circumstances. Both made a break for Ryuuoh's Chevy, bounding over the topless doors with an agility that said nothing about their age. A quick turn of the key and the black convertible roared to life, thundering out of its lot in a cloud of exhaust and burnt rubber. Ryuuoh put the vehicle into a drift around an empty corner and floored the pedal, forcing the machine uphill and in the direction of the distant plume of smoke. Before long the driver spotted his wife waving at them from a shop ahead and screeched the Chevolet into the parking space in front of it.
Meiling flew down the stairwell and got in. "What just happened?"
"How the hell would we know?" Kurogane souted over the wind, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword.
"That's why we're going to find out," Ryuuoh said as he spun the wheel to the right and kicked in the gears full throttle. "Anybody sensed that pulse? It was Sakura's wasn't it?"
No one replied.
The life pulse that Sakura was tracing grew weaker with every passing second and the lady knew she had to hurry. Another plank came free and a bloodied arm still in its torn sleeve came into view. The sorceress gasped and stumbled backward in shock, eyes wide and on the verge of bursting. It took a while for her to bite back the urge to scream and press on, working on the cracked plaster that blanketed the rest of the body. A couple of good shoves flipped the collapsed false ceiling away from the victim, revealing a battered male in the ripped and sooty remains of his Monday's best. Blood ran like rivers from huge gash at the side of his head, while smaller cuts and blue-black swells covered his face. His eyelids were still twitching from trauma.
"Hello? Are you alright?" Sakura cried as she gave the limp form a good shake. The man's head just lolled about silently. His arm slipped off his chest, lifting up a side of his jacket as it did. And the last thing Sakura saw was several paper packages taped to some kind of vest with wires coming out along the seams.
Suddenly, she felt sorry for Syaoran, and missed her daughter and son.
The clan leader was a hundred meters from the Trading Center when it hit, a flash of pain followed by a bonechilling voidness in his heart. Then there was a monstrous bang of dark fire that blew him onto his back and another fresh plume of smoke reached over the tortured skyline of Hong Kong. Syaoran froze.
"SAKURA!"
Author's Note
Trinity Star was born when Sela and Ken got about to read the original manuscript of Enchanted Runes which I had scrapped. I initially did NOT intend to have a sequel cos I'm busy with revised Enchanted Runes and Mobile Angel Reiya, an Angelic Layer fic. But my best buddies loved that old fic (Cardcaptors Neo!) I wrote focusing on Arewa, Sakura's tomboyish daughter and felt that Enchanted Runes was crying out for a sequel. But I was having a writer's block so with nothing better to do we sat down and discussed the details, when all hell broke loose.
One of the most controversal key points of Trinity Star was Sakura's passing. I may be one of those believers that Sakura must die before the next generation can be born, in the same way a flower bears fruit, but I simply couldn't bear writing such a fic! Both Ken and Sela were for the idea so we compromised; Sakura'll remain a key part of the story in essence most of the time and in spirit if possible. SxS takes a back seat in order to focus on the relationship development of the other characters, as well as the next generation's, but there will be SxS. I mean, whats a Sakura fic without SxS? As much as Sela and Ken are wrestling my arm and yelling "Let her rest in peace!", whether she'll return or not, only time will tell... -winks-
Tomoyo's marriage to Kurogane was another point of contention. It has always been Sela's pet idea, and I'm perfectly fine with that when it's in TRC, but in CCS its a little hard to reconcile KxT with the fact that she's in a platonic relationship with Sakura. She had managed to put up a good case and we're going along with it.
In the end, this was their ultimate selling point: we would do Trinity Star as a twin story of Mobile Angel Reiya (Like xxxholic and TRC) and it would fit right into the CLAMP Universe Project (My bio has more info on that). It would be a nice contrast, especially with regards to the common events because, of the different perspectives, the interpretation would turn out woefully different. So we agreed, put our heads together once more and banged out the Prologue.
This story was meant to be rather dark and it won't get much better until much later. I hope you'll like it! Please read and review! As usual every and any comments, be it praise or flames or something in between, are welcome because it all goes into making Trinity Star and the entire CLAMP Universe Project better! See you next episode!
Release the power within, Arewa!