Chapter 4.- Magic Devourers

"You just can't go back to England."

"I can and I will. Otou-san gave me permission if you're wondering."

"That's because he doesn't know the dangers you're facing."

"I'll face the same dangers there or here."

"Then why don't you stay here? Why don't you fight them here?…Where I can be nearby to help and protect you…"

They had been discussing the topic for about an hour now. While Sakura was busy getting a couple of suitcases ready with her important things. All the while Touya had been insisting her the million reasons why she shouldn't go; but he had just being saying foolish things… until now.

"Oni-chan…" Sakura murmured.

She left the clothes on the bed and went to where he was standing, next to her desk.

"You've got to understand. I have to do this." Sakura said sweetly.

"Again, why?" Touya asked.

"It's my responsibility. As the Card Mistress, as a Sorceress, and a woman who knows that she has the power to make a difference." Sakura said seriously. "You can't expect me to know what's happening out there, know I could be doing something, and still stay inside here."

Touya sighed. Why did his sister have to mature so much?

"And about fighting in England instead of here." Sakura continued. "I'm just trying to protect you. All of you. Just to think what would have happened if those reward hunters had gotten Rika-chan…or if they had attacked us when the guests were still at the party."

"Everyone would have discovered you." Touya finished.

"That's not what worries me." Sakura said. "What worries me is that then there would have been too much people for us to be able to protect them all."

Yup, that was his sister, always worrying about anyone and everyone instead of about herself.

"Don't worry so much about me Touya-kun." Sakura said with a smile, returning to her suitcases. "I'll be with Tomoyo-chan, Eriol-kun, Naoko-chan, Shaoran-kun, and other friends from London."

"So Naoko-chan is going with you too." Touya said, it was more a question tan a statement.

"Hai." Sakura nodded. "As it's possible that someone else might try to steal that urn she carries, we consider that may represent a danger, to her and to everyone around; so she's coming with us. Eriol-kun is making arrangements for her to be accepted in Hogwarts. There she will be able to continue her magical training, and if anyone tries to attack her, we'll be with her."

Touya nodded. Even when the majority of Naoko's training until then had been supervised by him and Kaho, it would be good for her to get it from other magical people.

"Sakura-chan!" a voice called her from downstairs.

"Going!" Sakura called back.

Just then she closed both suitcases, and using a bit of her magic she got them to float behind her and downstairs.

.---.

In the living room were Tomoyo, Naoko and Shaoran waiting for her, with their things too. The Li's had left to China hours before.

"Eriol-kun said he would be waiting for us in his mansion." Tomoyo said standing up. "You know how to get there, right?"

Sakura just nodded. She and Eriol had talked about it before he left, and helped her pinpoint the exact location of Clow's mansion in the outskirts of London.

"Then we're ready." Shaoran said standing up.

Naoko too got to her feet, trembling slightly.

"Daijoubu Naoko-chan?" Sakura asked, concerned.

"Hai." Naoko answered. "I'm just a bit nervous."

"Don't be." Tomoyo said with a smile. "You'll se everything will be alright."

Naoko nodded, calming down with Tomoyo's reassuring smile.

"Ok." Sakura said. "Then it's time to go."

They all got together, with their things.

"You better take care of Sakura-chan, gaki." Touya suddenly said to Shaoran.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. Why did his brother always seemed to have the need of bothering Shaoran?

But Shaoran didn't take it as an insult, and he answered:

"I'll protect her with my life if need be."

Sakura blushed at the comment, taking a quick look at her engagement ring, she never took it off, it was too special for her.

"We're ready Sakura-chan." Tomoyo's voice brought her out of her memories.

"Hai." Sakura nodded.

She took out the Star Key and transformed it into the staff. Then chose a card.

"Take us from this place, and transport us to the one I've chosen: Clow's Mansion in London, England." Sakura chanted. "Move!"

"Sayonara!" they all called.

They all made sure to be inside the magical circle, and then closed their eyes. There was a brilliant haze of golden and pink light and then…they were gone.

.---.

In the blink of an eye they were standing in the lobby of a very big mansion. Naoko couldn't help but gasp at the sight. While Tomoyo noticed something.

"It looks very much like you're house back in Hong Kong, ne Shaoran-kun?" Tomoyo asked.

"In fact they're both identical." Shaoran said as a matter of fact. "Because…"

"They both belonged to Clow Reed, and he liked to have both of his homes being exactly the same." Eriol finished as she walked down the stairs.

"And why is that?" Naoko asked.

"Well, that is because…" Eriol stood silent.

"Eriol-kun at a loss of words, I just can't believe this." Sakura mocked him.

"He's not at a loss of words, he's ashamed." Shaoran corrected.

They all turned to look at him puzzled.

"Clow Reed-san, even being the great Sorcerer he was, had a terrible memory, to the point were he forgot anything unless he had memorized it a long time before." Shaoran explained. "So he had both houses the same so he didn't get lost when traveling from one to the other."

"Is that true Eriol-kun?" Tomoyo almost couldn't believe it.

"Well… "Eriol began, then lowered his head. "Hai."

At this, everyone else cracked into laughter.

"It's good to see you're all my friends." Eriol said sarcastically raising a brow.

This just made the rest laugh even harder.

"Well, in fact…" Shaoran began, but stopped when he noticed Eriol was ignoring him completely.

The girls noticed in that moment Eriol seemed to be concentrating really hard on something. Then Sakura and Tomoyo could feel it, a telepathic bond; and a second later they could hear it too.

…problems, I don't know exactly what it is. But I need you to come here. Soon!

Understood. I'll be there asap. Eriol replied.

"What was that?" Tomoyo asked once the contact was over.

"That was Hermione-san." Eriol told them. "As I told you before there have been a few problems in the last month. Apparently some Death Eaters refuse to accept their time is over and that their lord is dead. They have been creating problems. The Aurors fight them, but in the last weeks they've been using more power than common wizards, I believe there are other forces involved in this."

"Maybe the same one who sent the mercenaries." Sakura suggested.

"The one who wants to steal my urn." Naoko said protectively.

"Maybe." Eriol nodded. "The thing is that Hermione-san has been the one helping me with those. And right now she told me that she feels the same power again, there might be some problems in a short while. That's why she wanted me to get there soon."

"And what are we waiting for?" Shaoran asked.

Taking this as a cue Sakura raised her staff again. Searched for Hermione's presence and then ordered the Move Card to take them there.

.---.

Meanwhile Hermione was kneeling behind some bushes. In a park, she had felt some suspicious energy, and when arriving to the place she had discovered some people setting what seemed to be strange things that couldn't be seen by the common eye.

'If it weren't for my magical senses I would have fallen on one of those.' She thought. 'But exactly what are those?' an idea got into her mind. 'Traps…But if it so, for whom?'

There was something in that situation she didn't like a single bit. She took a look at her watch.

'Eriol is taking too long.' She thought. 'If he isn't here soon I'll have to get in this alone.'

"Excuse me…" someone called her just them.

Hermione turned to see one of those men, who by the way wore some kind of strange robes that had holes everywhere, she had been caught.

"S--t!" she cursed.

.---.

Sakura, Shaoran, Tomoyo, Eriol and Naoko appeared behind a bunch of trees in what seemed to be a park.

"Something's wrong here." Tomoyo said immediately. "I can feel it, the evil energy in all this place."

Suddenly Naoko gasped. They all turned to look at her, with a hand on a tree, her eyes wide opened, she seemed to be having problems to breathe.

"Dead scene." She said.

"What?" Sakura was confused at this.

"Dead scene." Shaoran repeated. "She means this place is dead. Everything in it, the land, the trees, everything."

"But the trees are green." Sakura said, still not understanding.

"The tree may look alive, but its empty inside." Eriol explained. "It has no vital energy left, its cold. The Dead Scene is a special high-leveled dark magic some people use to absorb the energy of any living thing around them. It's as if they had stopped life; thousands of yeas may pass, and this place will remain the same."

"This is no place for a Sprite like Naoko-chan." Tomoyo said understanding. "She gets her energy from the land, and if the land is dead, she's practically defenseless."

"That's right." Shaoran nodded. "According to some books, an old tribe that could manage this magic, used it to set traps for sprites, nymphs, and other magical creatures, to steal their magic."

"You mean…" Sakura suddenly understood it all.

"This is a trap." Naoko finished for her.

"We must get out of here, now." Tomoyo said seriously.

"But we can't leave without Hermy-chan." Sakura shook her head.

"She's clever enough, she'll understand the same we did, and leave this place." Shaoran assured her.

"I think she won't be able to do that." Naoko suddenly said.

They noticed a strange-looking man holding Hermione, pulling her to what seemed to be an ancient-looking cage.

"Those are them!" Shaoran suddenly said. "The people the book talked about. The tribe of Magic Devourers."

"We must help her." Sakura said.

Tomoyo nodded, and then turned to Naoko. Even if they had to save Hermione, they couldn't leave Naoko unprotected.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Naoko assured them. "Just be quick."

The rest nodded and left their hiding spots.

"Guys!" Hermione cried out the moment she saw them.

"Hermy-chan!" Sakura cried out immediately raising her staff. "Let her go!"

"Make us." One of the Magic Devourers challenged her.

"If that's what you want." Shaoran immediately took up on the challenge, and made his sword appear.

The fight was hard, there were a lot of MD in the zone. And when the Sorcerers attacked, most of the time they could absorb the attack.

"There must be a way, there must…" Eriol said, he was tired, the magic was leaving them fast in that battle.

Suddenly one of them took Shaoran by the arm.

"Argg!" he couldn't help but fry out.

"Shaoran-kun!" Sakura cried out in panic. "Let him go! Windy!"

Even if Windy was a passive card, because of Sakura's emotions it turned into a huge attack that sent the MD flying back.

"Daijoubu Shaoran-kun?" Sakura asked worriedly, kneeling next to him.

"Hai." Shaoran nodded.

"Honto(Really)?" Sakura wasn't at all convinced, she could feel her beloved's aura weak.

"Honto ne(Really)." Shaoran insisted. "I'm just a bit tired. I could feel as they absorbed my energy, my magic."

"These is really dangerous…" Sakura murmured. "We're practically helpless this way."

"We can't give up." Eriol insisted. "Sakura-chan, remember your invincible spell."

"Kimi wa Daijoubu dakara (Everything will be alright)." Sakura declared seriously.

Just then Tomoyo had managed to get Hermione away from those MD and they were both running to escape their grasp. When Tomoyo slipped and was about to fall down.

"Tomoyo!" Hermione cried out in panic.

One of the MD was about to get her.

"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura cried out hysterically. "Abunai!"

In the last moment Tomoyo turned around, facing her enemy.

"Your energy shall be mine." The MD said evilly.

"No it won't." Tomoyo said.

And at the same time the MD reached with her hand to hold her, she raised her own hand, both grasping each other hands by accident.

"Tomoyo-hime!" Eriol was in panic, not knowing what to do.

The rest of the MD suddenly became silent, not moving. Everyone's eyes had turned over Tomoyo and the MD who was trying to get her magical energy.

And suddenly, the MD that had attacked Tomoyo fell to his knees, totally drained.

"Nani?" Shaoran was puzzled.

What had Tomoyo done?

"You can't get me, nor my magic." Tomoyo said self-confidentially. "No matter how hard you try."

"What makes you so sure?" one of the MD asked her, approaching her menacingly.

"Because I'm like you." Tomoyo replied, and to prove her point, she immediately took the man by his head, and began absorbing his magical energies, the very same he had stolen from Shaoran.

"Impossible." The enemies couldn't believe it.

"Sakura-chan, their weakness is their desire for power." Tomoyo said out loud. "Use that and defeat them now."

"Desire for power?" Sakura repeated, and suddenly she understood, and attacked with a card. "Power!"

The card released a great deal of energy, too much for the MD to use it. Almost half of them fell dead, and the rest managed to escape badly injured.

.---.

Back In the Hiiragizawa Mansion Tomoyo was explaining the rest what she had meant about being like their enemies.

"I had a very long time to talk with my mother in the past month." Tomoyo explained. "And she told me that one of my father's ancestors had been a Magic Devourer, supposedly for this generation that power would be extinct, but being I a sorceress I activated it. That's how I can borrow magic or energy of someone else and use it. The difference is that while most MD just steal magic to feed themselves I don't need it to survive, and usually I give it back."

It was true, and she had given Shaoran back the energy.

"So that's settled then." Eriol said.

"I doubt anything will be settled until we find out who's causing all this." Naoko said in a dark tone.

"He's right." Hermione nodded. "For what I've read those MD live in Africa, and they never come to big cities because they don't like them. Then, why come here to London?"

"Besides the fact that it's one of the two biggest magical places in the world?" Shaoran asked sarcastically.

"But even then, they don't have the ability to teleport, and travel such a long distance." Tomoyo murmured. "Something doesn't fit here."

"Nothing fits here." Eriol replied.

"We've got to investigate more." Hermione said.

The rest immediately nodded.

.---.

Through dark streets a mother and a daughter were walking, they were wearing dark cloaks and hooded, and turned every two minutes to look over the shoulder, as if fearing someone might be following them.

"How do you know he'll help us?" the daughter asked.

"He's got to help us." The mother said apprehensively. "It's the only chance."

"We should have remained home." The daughter said, not too sure they were doing the right thing.

"He would have find us and…" the mother began.

When suddenly a cold air could be felt.

"They're here…" the mother murmured giving a step back.

"What?" the daughter asked unsure of what to do now.

"Run!" the mother yelled.

"What?"

"You get away from here now! He won't harm me, not if you make it to a safe place."

"But mom…"

"You know where to go. Go now."

The daughter nodded.

To call the opponents attention the mother took out a wand and made a few spells with it, giving her daughter time to run away. When enemies tried to get her she got rid of them with a swift kick and a couple of punches.

"You'll never get me." The young woman said as she ran away from the enemies even faster. "I swear mom, I'll rescue you. I swear."

And she continue running into the night.


Ok, so here's the next chapter. Hope you liked it, I believed this was the opportunity to explain why Tomoyo besides being a Sorceress had the ability to copy others' powers.

I just finished reading "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince", I know that book has details that change drastically the way I narrated the sixth year. But still I hope you people will continue reading my fic, if not say so and I won't continue it.

Matta ne.