Disclaimer:
I have no affiliation with Cardcaptor Sakura or any other of CLAMP's works. Also any similarities to real life events or people are unintentional unless explicitly stated.
Tomoyo was awoken from her slumber by deafening noise. She braced her palms against her ears in an attempt to block out the sounds. Sakura and Kobato were also covering their ears.
"Be careful," Sakura warned loudly, indicating to the chronophone shrilly ringing and vibrating violently by Tomoyo's head.
"What happened?" Tomoyo stood up and edged away from her chronophone. The air around them seemed to wrinkle and pull apart. Fine jagged lines appeared in the air radiating from the device. These lines stretched and threw out a spectrum of coloured light.
"I don't know. It just happened."
As she walked around, Tomoyo noticed that the cracks were only visible from certain angles. When viewed from the other side there was nothing to imply that there was something there beside the spectrum projecting onto one wall. Cautiously, she took a closer look at the rip. Through it, she saw a mysterious garden filled with myriad of flowers and trees. She recognized tulips, gardenias, oak trees, jacarandas however there were many more curious floras that she never encountered before. There was also a river that reflecting golden light on which floated a rainbow bridge. There were figures on the bridge whose argument drifted into her mind and the ringing disappeared.
"If he will not give me Suisho, I implore you to have an audience with Him," said one of them dressed in dark clothing. Something in the way he said the pronoun made Tomoyo think that it was a title instead.
"That is not permitted," said one of the figures wearing a white cloak. To Tomoyo's surprise, the white cloak unfurled to be awesome dove like wings. "Those who do not submit to the Lord Almighty cannot enter Heaven."
"Do you know who I am?" asked the first speaker. He beat his chest. "I am Iorogi, the prince of the Spirit World."
It dawned upon Tomoyo that there were countlessly more spiritual beings in the garden. They took on various forms. Some took the shape of animals and trees. There were many that looked like ordinary people. There was even one that looked like a spoked wheel and another that resembled like a toy rabbit holding a flower.
"No exception shall be made," said the angel.
"Surely, love is the exception?"
"The Father will not willingly give up his child to one that does not love and follow Him."
Spirits cried out demanding him not to accept the demands. The edges of the portal cracked.
The prince of the Spirit World did not yield. "I cannot submit for the sake of my own followers."
His subjects cheered.
The messenger's voice cut above the clamour, "You still have the choice to go in peace. It is not yet the Time. However, if you choose not to go return from whenst you came, remember that you brought this upon yourselves."
In reply the subjects of the Spirit World and Hell roared and charged. Waves of energy burst through the hole.
The eyes continued to stare.
"O-ou-uch!" Toya heard the eldest Li Sister yell above all the ringing. The hands over his ears did nothing to muffle the piercing sounds.
He forced himself to look away from the eyes and saw her fling her vibrating chronophone to the ground. She shook her hand to remove the pain caused by the malfunctioning equipment. Others were still struggling to remove their chronophone from their pocket.
"What's going on?" he shouted.
"No idea." With a swift motion she erected a barrier around them, which muffled the sound better. More followed.
A middle aged woman inspected the vibrating chronophones. "I feel a lot of flowing energy. If I had to say so, I would say that these tears are portals caused by the chronophones. We will need to close it."
"Can someone contact headquarters?" asked the eldest Li Sister.
Toya shook his head, but an older man held out a chronophone in his hand. It was an old model but it appeared to be fully functional.
"I'll try."
She nodded. "I'm going to remove the barriers and close the cracks."
Something didn't feel right to Toya. Why was the the older chronophone able to contact headquarters without trouble while all these new Daidouji models-
"WAIT!"
It was too late. His warning was drowned out by the ringing as she dissolved a barrier. As soon as he made the trace, the man dropped his chronophone, cursing. Toya threw up the barriers again.
"It's the Ariadne Thread in the devices. There must be something affecting that network's frequencies and if you try to connect something on that network-"
"The disruptions will spread and resonate," she finished.
"Correct."
Several people swore, then, there was a distinct cracking sound. Toya and the others turned to the chronophones. The barriers surrounding them shattered and thin tears became a gaping hole. He jumped out of the way to avoid the brawling spirits. Masses of them seemed to flow out. At least he assumed that they were spirits. He spotted one that looked like the brat but with one blue eye.
Toya's heart plunged. In the crowd he caught a glimpse of snow white hair. Disregarding orders, he jumped into the fray and followed him through the portal into the unknown.
"Cousin Mei, let's play!" said one of Meiling's younger cousin holding a string figure wrapped around her fingers.
"Not now," she dismissed, irritably. Her cousin sulked away. Meiling didn't bother feeling guilty. She was busy listening to the radio that was given to them by Miss Daidouji's mother for any updates. She would've had been in her room where it had better lighting but this was only one radio they had that worked within the barrier and it was in the Li compound's main hall where everyone else could listen to it. Syaoran preferred to be on the chronophone with Miss Kinomoto. She rolled her eyes at the thought.
Suddenly, the radio gave out static noises and began to shake.
"What the?" she asked.
Her chronophone next to her also began to vibrate. She turned back to the radio. There was a bulge in the space surrounding it growing. Then, two great figures ruptured the space, one in black and the other in white. The white being dissolved into dust. More figures and creatures spilled out from the halls.
The victor dusted his suit off and gazed around the hall. Most were screaming and escaping. She heard distant sounds of exploding-bamboo and flower-fire going off but Meiling stood her ground. She was Meiling, a proud daughter of the Li Clan.
"Who are you and are you doing here?" she demanded.
"What?" he said, focusing his attention to her. He shrunk in size and reached over to stroke her face. She couldn't move. His touch was freezing cold. It made her skin crawl. "Depends. I can be your sweet dream or a beautiful nightmare."
"Hey!" It was Syaoran.
A trail of lightning streaked across the air bringing with it smell of metal and burning wood. The man, no, Meiling was sure he was a demon, barely moved. He clicked his fingers and identical girls, his familiars, appeared with a puff of smoke and redirected the lightning to the sides.
"I don't have time to play with you. I'm talking to this pretty young thing here," the demon said. He ran his fingers through her hair. "Your hair is beautiful, like midnight silk. I want to cut a couple of locks to commemorate."
Out of nowhere, Doumeki, Fye and Kurogane dropped on the demon and his familiars.
While the familiars and the demon were occupied by Kurogane, Doumeki and Flowright landing on them, Syaoran ran towards Meiling dodging all the spells and energy arrows. Around them, spiritual beings were engaged in combat with each other or with Li Clansmen. She shivered momentarily but seemed to be fine.
"Whoops," said Flowright when he and the other two were knocked off.
"We'll take the head," ordered Kurogane. "You two take the twins."
"Understood," Syaoran and Meiling said in unison. For there to be a real chance of the familiars of disappearing, they needed to be defeated simultaneously.
He got in to position. He remembered these particular familiars from Pok Liu Isle. "Let's go!"
She copied his position. "Gotcha!"
They charged forward yelling. Their first two punches of the pattern landed but their head kick missed. They blocked but they needed to gain the upper hand again. He caught Meiling's eye and they silently agreed to change to the next set. It worked. They had the twin trapped. Syaoran and Meiling pinned them down by marching on the familiar's shoulders. All they needed was someone to finish them off but Syaoran's sense of sight and sound faded and he fell off. He was not as recovered as he hoped. It was only for a moment but that was enough for the demon's familiars to get the upper hand. He heard the last echo of Meiling's scream. He braced himself for their attack, but it didn't come. Sakura did.
Sakura and here cousins were pulled from the room by Tomoyo's bodyguards soon after the portals cracked, but it didn't look as if anywhere was safe. It was pure chaos. She saw spiritual beings even without her sight band. There were more windows suspended in air. Through one she saw Syaoran and Meiling through the portal under attack and without a second thought, clicked her heels and jumped through. She used her activating staff to sweep both familiars forcefully away into a pillar. They glared at Sakura with concentrated malice.
Meiling was quick to get up again but she stopped her cousin. "Stay down. You're still recovering."
"But-,"
She ignored him and moved into a familiar stance. "Miss Kinomoto, do you still remember this pattern?"
"How can I after practising it together so many times for the competition?" Sakura smiled at the memory. When she stilled lived in Lecourt, Meiling made them practise the Bartitsu set until they could perform it in synch, blindfolded.
"Which we won."
Sakura and Meiling's and together they charged in. She hadn't gone through the pattern in months, but her muscle memory didn't let her down. Her attacks and blocks were as fluid and in time with Meiling's as if they practised the movements that evening. A final open palm strike reinforced with a loud shout pushed the two familiars through the main hall's doors and down the steps into the courtyard.
"Now!" someone yelled.
Energy arrows struck them and protruded from their chests. They dissolved.
Sakura knew that all spiritual beings didn't really die, they would eventually resurrect into being again, it was still disturbing to see that happen before her eyes.
She put those thoughts to the back of her mind and ran back to Syaoran. She arms on his shoulders and He clasped them. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," he answered. His eyes went wide and he pulled her down. "Watch out."
A tear had appeared behind her and Yukito glided upwards from the hole. A second later, her brother stumbled through less gracefully. He nearly fell in backwards but used wind to push himself upright.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I can ask you the same," countered Sakura.
"There isn't time," said Syaoran.
He pulled her back outside to the courtyard. Sakura looked behind her. Her heart was pounding in her ears. Her brother ran after them. Yukito swooped over their heads. Syaoran stopped. Her brother stood between Yukito and them.
"Stay behind me," said her brother.
Syaoran shifted in front of her and shuffled backwards. She wanted to protest, but the memories of that night were still too fresh. Sakura took a step backwards, lost her balance and fell into nothing and kept falling.
"No!" screamed Syaoran into darkness.
Yukito held up his hand. Toya, knowing what was going to happen, dragged the brat forcefully away from where Sakura disappeared. The pillar they hid behind thudded with Yukito's crystals. He managed to stop him from
"We need to save her!" The brat struggled to get free.
"You don't think I don't know that?" Toya shot back. "But you can't help her if you're dead."
He could still hear her screams. A tear opened near them and Sakura fell through fast but slipped away before he could do anything. Toya attempted to run to the portal. His path was blocked by more crystals. He looked around for her, half expecting another portal. But their best bet was through that one.
Toya turned to Syaoran and said, "Brat, go. I'll cover you."
The kid nodded and ran for it. Toya raised a concentrated barrier to follow him. Syaoran dove through the hole and he was gone.
Now he had to deal with Yukito. He was standing on a tree. A blood red moon stood behind him. He was surrounded by God's messengers. Toya managed to stop him from reaching the Gate and fulfilling the dreams, at least so far.
"It doesn't have to be this way," Toya shouted from his position behind the pillar.
"So give up," answered Yukito.
"Never." Toya closed his eyes and put his palms on the ground. He felt for the roots underneath. He found them and redirected the energy flows to help them rapidly grow.
"That's useless."
He flew down and Toya jumped up narrowly dodging the flailing roots. Projectiles were flung towards Yukito. Toya sent a gust of wind at him. It enclosed him, but he didn't look concerned at all.
"I said that that's useless."
Suddenly Yukito stopped and crumpled. Restraints materialized around him.
Toya approached. Yukito looked up. He was crying tears of blood. He held his arms outstretched towards him.
"Toya. Please, Kill me," he begged. "I can't control my other self for much longer."
He bit his lip. He had to do his job. He concentrated all the energy to the tips of the fingers. But Yukito was his friend.
"Don't hesitate," said Yukito.
"But-"
An energy arrow protruded from Yukito's chest. His body began to dissolve into glittering dust.
Toya took a step forward and everything shattered into light.
Sakura kept falling ahead of Syaoran, spinning wildly out of control. The wind stung his eyes and his ears were filled with the rushing air. He couldn't hear himself call her name. He pointed his body downwards and commanded the wind to propel him to her. Syaoran reached for Sakura's hand and managed grasp it. Everything shattered. They were plunged into darkness.
Author's Notes:
Phew. This was a monster to write out. I hope it came out all right. I try to keep the plot tight, but sometimes that means I gloss over things. It doesn't hope that at this point I'm rushing the editing process. I'll look at it again later. It's still too fresh for me to notice the mistakes.
In the original draft, the characters were much more involved in the international politics of their world, which got unbelievably messy. Political marriages, audiences with the country's leaders, ancient family feuds, treaty delegates... The last thing this story needed was more complications. Lol.
Also, a lot of the recurring characters were originally supposed to have POV's, at least one per episode. Once I started removing that, that also removed some of the political problems. In case you're interested, the ones mostly involved in the political plots were Tomoyo and Syaoran's friends.
On another note, the string game is known as "Cat's Cradle" in English, but it appears in countries all around the world. I loved playing it as a kid.
And this whole celestial war thing is something that was mentioned in one of CLAMP's other works... But I'll write more about it next time to avoid spoilers.
Sorry for rambling on for a bit... I think there might be one more chapter in this story. Thank you for all your support (^.^)/
