Next week is the final chapter. It's a long one, but I couldn't bear to break it up. In the meantime, some things are starting to come together for Sakura...though maybe not in the way she imagined.
Thank you all so much for your wonderful interest and support!
Enjoy!
Cakey woke with such violent suddenness he launched himself into the air like a bird startled from its tree. "Something's coming!"
His voice was low enough that it did not wake Sakura, but the other six of his small family blinked their eyes open at him.
"What do you mean?" Cat asked quietly, watching Sakura's face for any sign of distress.
"I can sense it. There is magic nearby!"
Alligator's long snout curled with anger. "Is it that evil queen?"
Cakey crossed his little arms and tried to put words to the feeling inside. "I don't...I don't know. I can't really tell."
Goose's head came up and tipped sideways. "You've never sensed magic before."
"Sure I have. I just didn't know that's what I was doing. You're all magical, just like this tree and Sakura. That's how I found everyone."
"We are?" Rabbit might have bounced except for the certainty that even Sakura might not sleep through it.
Cakey sighed. "You still don't remember? This is going to make everything a lot harder."
"What do we do?" Bear asked. "Should we go out and see what the magic is? Or should we hide here?"
At that, Cakey sighed again. "I don't really know. If it's Sakura's friend, we should find him. But if it's that queen…"
"We have to protect Sakura," Penguin's usually laughing expression was somber. "That's the most important thing. We have to be ready to fight."
"I can't believe I agree with you," Alligator grumbled.
Cat held up a paw. "Is the magic getting closer?"
Cakey considered. "No. I thought it was, but now it's going in another direction."
"Then I suggest we wait until it does get closer. The tree might very well hide us all from whatever is out there, but maybe when it is nearby you'll be able to tell if it's the queen. And if it doesn't get closer at all, we can always follow it later to see if it's Sakura's friend."
The others all nodded at Cat's idea.
Cakey settled on a thick root that made up one of the sides of Sakura's little nest, facing the others. "There's something you need to know about the spell on Sakura. Something important."
"What is it?" Goose asked.
"It's tied into her feelings. Every time Sakura is scared, it gets stronger. So if it is the queen out there, we have to help Sakura be brave. We've got to do anything we can to help her break the spell."
"What if she can't?" Rabbit asked.
Cakey closed his eyes. "It will be very dangerous for her. And all of us, too."
"Can we tell her that she's under a spell?" Penguin wanted to know.
"I'm not sure. It might make it easier for her, but it might make it harder, too."
"Then we shouldn't unless we can't help it," Bear said with a nod. "We just have to believe she can figure it out on her own."
"She can. I'm sure she can." Cat nuzzled the girl fondly.
"Me too," Cakey said. "I know we're all worried about what's out there, but I think we should stay put for now. We need to stay close to Sakura to protect her, and I don't want her to wake up by herself, either."
The seven settled down, but none slept. Their thoughts were all on whatever stranger might be out in their forest nearby – and what that might mean for the girl they had come to love.
-==OOO==-
Syaoran woke with a gasp, sitting up in surprise. For a moment, he wasn't sure what had roused him. Out of habit, he looked upwards. The sun was well up, but it was not yet close to midday. Relief washed through him – he felt much better, and he was ready to continue his journey to find Sakura.
And then a touch of magic in the air reached him. He could feel it – it could not be too far away. He could not read the magic well enough to know if it was Sakura or her Key or something else entirely, but it was worth investigating!
Syaoran set off at a run, letting his senses guide him and paying little attention to his surroundings as he went.
He never noticed what he left behind in the little hollow, nor the figure that had been watching.
-==OOO==-
A wrinkled, withered hand lifted the slip of power that had fallen from the boy's pocket. "Take it. Use it. She will have no choice. And she will be mine."
-==OOO==-
Her friends did not have the heart to wake Sakura, rightly thinking she needed all the rest she could get after her harrowing ordeal the day before. Still, when her eyes blinked open in the late morning, they were relieved to see her smile first.
"Good morning," she said. "Thank you for keeping me company. Did you all watch over me all night?"
"Of course we did!" Cakey fluttered close to her. "We're friends, aren't we?"
"We know you would take care of us if we needed you," Cat said.
"Yes, I would." She sat up, petting each of her friends in turn as they shifted around to keep from pinning her to the bed.
"Do you feel all right?" Goose wanted to know.
Sakura nodded. "Yes. I feel fine. Almost...better than usual, but that doesn't make sense."
"It might," Cakey said slowly. "We asked the tree to heal you. Maybe it did something."
Sakura patted the nearest root, too. "Thank you, tree."
She had just climbed out of her little bed and was straightening her dress when she froze. Cakey, hanging in the air beside her, also froze – and his eyes widened in fear.
"What...is that?" Sakura asked after a moment. "That feeling…?"
Cakey landed on her shoulder. "You can sense it?"
"I guess so. I feel something...that way? Like cold or a shadow somehow?"
Cakey nodded. "So do I."
"What is it?" Rabbit asked.
Cakey glanced at Sakura. "I think...it's the same birds I saw yesterday."
"Birds?" Sakura frowned. When she spoke, her words came slowly as though through the haze of memory. "I think...I remember birds. They were white...with red eyes. They were...strange."
Cakey nodded. "They're magical. They come from that evil queen." Then, more to himself, "And it's not the first time either of us have seen them."
"What does this mean?" Alligator stamped a foot. "The queen is here?"
"No," Cakey shook his head. "But she's close by."
"And she knows we're here," Bear added.
"Maybe."
Sakura turned to the opening through which sunlight drifted brightly. "Then we have to go."
"No!" That was Penguin, interposing itself. "You can't fight them!"
"I know," Sakura looked at her feet. "But I don't want them to hurt the tree, either…"
Goose leaned against Sakura's leg. "You have to trust yourself, Sakura. There might not be anything you can do about them, but maybe there is something you haven't thought of yet."
"And we're with you," Cat said. "Don't forget that. You're not alone."
"Sakura." Cakey's voice was low and serious. "You have to decide. Whatever you choose, we will be with you. If you want to go out there, we'll go with you. We'll help you as much as we can. But if you want to stay here, we'll stay with you and protect you from here, too."
Sakura drew in a deep, shaky breath. "Why is it up to me?"
Cakey pointed. "Because you have the Key, Sakura. Clow's Key. You're the one who has to decide how to protect it."
Sakura closed her eyes and held the Key tightly in her hands. It felt warm under her touch – just a little, but enough that she noticed. "I'm scared," she whispered. "But I have to try."
"Okay," Cakey said. "Then we'll go with you."
And the seven little creatures led Sakura from their retreat. They formed up around her like a little plush brigade, Cakey hovering in the air at her side. Sakura kept the Key clasped between her hands, taking small steps forward, her eyes fixed on the pair of white birds that fluttered at the edge of the clearing.
When she was close to them, she called, "What do you want?"
In response, the birds plucked something from the nearest branch and dropped it.
Sakura was darting forward before even Cakey could stop her, her hands opening to catch it before it reached the ground.
"What is it?" Cakey asked, stopping in mid-air between Sakura and the birds and never taking his eyes off them.
Sakura gulped against a sudden urge to cry and answered in a shaky whisper, "It's Syaoran's. It's one of his magic spells." She ran her fingers over the ofuda, imagined Syaoran's hand holding it, his neat writing covering the spell.
"Why do they have something like that?" Rabbit asked.
Sakura looked up at the birds, and she tried to keep her voice even. "Take me to him."
"No, Sakura!" Cakey spun to her. "It's a trap! It has to be!"
She nodded. "I know. But if they have this, then they have Syaoran. And I can't leave him alone with the queen. I can't."
"But Sakura…" Goose ruffled its feathers and shifted its wings.
She closed her eyes and held the ofuda to her heart. "Syaoran has always protected me. He's always been with me when I was in trouble. Even if I can't do anything, even if I don't have any way to help, I can't leave him there. He's...important. He's really important to me."
Cat looked up at Cakey. "I think we have to try."
Cakey considered Cat for a moment, then Sakura. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Okay. I understand."
Sakura looked up and took a step towards the birds. "I'm ready. Please lead me to him."
The birds turned in the air and began to move into the forest. They flew high and swiftly, but not so quickly that Sakura lost sight of them as she raced along behind them. Cakey flew ahead of her, still maintaining his place between the person he had promised to protect and the birds who clearly meant her harm. The others kept up well; their time in the forest had made them nimble and they had good reason to push themselves to new speeds.
Several minutes after they had vanished from the clearing, Syaoran stumbled into the sunlight, drawn by the power of the cherry tree.
-==OOO==-
Touya and Yukito were alone – Yue having retreated to let his human half eat the food provided after the Prince had quit the room following his pronouncement, and Touya had not spoken a word since that instant – but they looked up when Prince Hiiragizawa reentered the room some minutes later. He wore a traveling cloak over his robes now, and beside him, Mizuki Kaho looked grave.
"It is time. We must go at once."
-==OOO==-
Sakura followed the birds through the forest, focused on keeping from tripping on the roots and undergrowth – which also prevented her from thinking too much about what might be waiting for her. Any thoughts she spared in the process of watching the birds and her feet were of Syaoran.
Please wait for me, Syaoran. I'm coming. I'll help you, I promise.
As she ran, however, she also became increasingly aware of a growing unease that clung to her heart, like a cold breeze out of nowhere on the warm spring morning. Sakura could not guess how she could be so certain, but she knew she was getting closer to Madoushi.
The birds swooped under a branch and Sakura burst into the sunlight.
"You have come."
Sakura was brought to a sudden halt by Cakey who had caught her arm and kept her from crashing forward. The others gathered around her feet, putting themselves between Sakura and the old woman who waited for her on a broad, rocky outcropping overlooking the river below.
Sakura frowned. "Who are you?"
The birds landed one on each bony shoulder, and the hunched woman's eyes burned with hate. Her face was twisted in a sinister scowl and her arms extended in her tattered cape.
"I am she who should have received that which was Clow's. I am she that will have everything of his. Everything!"
"Sakura," Cakey whispered. "Is it the queen?"
"Yes…" Sakura said, but she hesitated a moment. "But she doesn't seem the same."
"It was that priestess!" Madoushi shouted. "She cursed me!"
Cakey's eyes widened. "Some of her power is gone. She isn't as dangerous, but she's still dangerous enough. You have to be careful, Sakura."
"I will." Sakura took a step forward. "Where is Syaoran?"
The withered Madoushi smiled. "Do you care for the boy?"
"Where is he? Is he hurt?" Sakura took another step, fear clutching at her.
"Give me the Key that was Clow's. And give me your powers. Only then will I tell you."
"Sakura," Cakey said warningly.
Sakura held the Key before her. "I can't give you this. I promised."
"Even for the boy? Would you see him die to protect something that you do not even deserve?"
The words struck Sakura with a new sort of pain. She looked at the Key in her hands.
Madoushi pressed on. "You have some small power, child, but you cannot be worthy of that Key. The more you try to protect it, the more harm you will bring to someone precious to you. Give it to me and you may leave with the person who risked his life to save you."
Sakura fought the lump that tried to crawl up her throat. "I...I promised…"
"You cannot be expected to handle a power of that magnitude. Surrender it and you may keep something far more important to you."
The Key had grown cold in Sakura's grip. "I'm...I'm not worthy to protect the Key?"
It was Cat who ducked to Sakura's foot and actually nipped at her ankle. "Don't you believe it, Sakura!"
Sakura was so surprised, she dropped both the Key and the ofuda – Cakey swept to grab the ofuda from the air, and the Key bounced against her chest at the end of its cord.
"Cat's right!" Goose nudged her. "You've protected the Key so well! We all believe in you! Don't let her confuse you, Sakura!"
Sakura shook her head to clear it. "Where is Syaoran?" she called again, though her voice had lost some strength.
Madoushi scowled. "I will give you nothing unless you give me that Key!"
Sakura glanced at her friends. "What should I do? I have to protect the Key, but…"
"You have to trust your heart," Cakey said. "We trust you. Whatever you choose, if it comes from you, it'll be okay, Sakura."
Sakura closed her eyes. When she opened them, her tears were standing in her eyes but her voice did not shake. "I don't think Clow Reed would want anyone to get hurt even to protect something he loved. If you let Syaoran go, I'll give you the Key."
Madoushi smiled and held out her hands. "Give me the Key first and you may have him."
Sakura began to move towards her.
"Don't!"
She froze only a few paces from Madoushi and turned.
From the forest nearby, Syaoran emerged running furiously. "Sakura! Get away!"
"Syaoran!" Sakura tore her eyes from him to turn back to Madoushi. "You lied!"
"Give me the Key!" Madoushi lunged for Sakura.
Syaoran cried out, but he was too far away to reach her in time.
Cakey, however, was not. "I won't let you!"
The little creature darted through the air between them. He threw the ofuda he had been holding into Madoushi's clawing hands and it burst into flame.
"Come on!" Cakey grabbed Sakura's wrist and pulled her back towards the woods.
"Sakura! Are you hurt?" Syaoran skidded to her side, latching onto her other hand and squeezing it tightly.
"No, I'm all right." She blinked, still trying to grasp all that had happened in only a few seconds. "Syaoran! You're here!"
"And we need to be somewhere else, fast!" Cakey shouted. "Come on! That fire won't hold for long!"
"The tree!" Cat was already herding the others back into the forest. "We need to get to the tree!"
Sakura held Syaoran's hand as they ran, her heart pounding in her chest. But after only a few running strides into the trees, Madoushi shrieking behind them, she turned to where Cakey had not left her side.
"How did you do that? How did you make it catch fire?" she asked.
It was Syaoran who answered. "Because he's the Sun Guardian, Keroberos."
-==OOO==-
Prince Hiiragizawa led Touya and Yukito along with Kaho to a small door that let out into the gardens behind the manor house. Once there, he directed them to stand precisely in the center of a stone patio.
"I suggest you remain in your current form," he said to Yukito. "This will be more distressing for Yue if he perceives it without the distance of your disguise."
Yukito nodded, swallowing a little in trepidation.
Beside him, Touya linked an arm with his and leaned close. "Make sure you both stay alert."
Yukito could only blink at him, while inside his mind, Yue was sighing. Of course we shall.
When Touya did not release Yukito's arm, Yukito made to pull away, only for Touya to hold him even more tightly, though he did not take his eyes from the Prince.
Yukito's confusion reached Yue, who made the mental equivalent of a snort. If we survive this, my own, I'm going to tell you what you have failed to realize and enjoy it.
"The Key which hides the power of the Dark."
Prince Hiiragizawa held one hand outstretched, a small Key spinning above it. Kaho stood just behind his left shoulder, and Yukito and Touya were arranged to one side of him.
Yukito felt the sharp awareness and pain that went through Yue at the familiar incantation, and offered him what silent solace he could.
"Reveal your true form before me. I, Eriol, command you under our contract. Release."
The Key expanded and grew into a long wand much taller than the Prince himself, crowned by the same Sun and Moon crest so familiar to those from the Kingdom of Clow, though it was slightly offset from the one that had been Clow Reed's – more like a mirror image than an exact duplicate.
Prince Hiiragizawa lifted the staff as a magic circle very like Clow Reed's own – and yet slightly different, too – spread beneath their feet. When the circle began to levitate the group into the air, the stone falling away and yet the magic itself as strong and solid as the patio had been, the only indication of anyone's discomfort was the slight tightening of Touya's grip on Yukito.
"I realize this is a disconcerting way to travel," the Prince said, "but please endure it. Any other method would not be fast enough to reach our destination in time."
The magic circle hovered just at the edge of what they recognized as the border between the Prince's lands and the Kingdom of Clow. The Prince swung his staff so that it pointed directly at the barrier and it glowed a dark red color. The very air seemed to ripple and another passageway appeared.
Though it took only moments for the magic circle to carry them through it, even Touya, stripped of magic by his sacrifice to Yue, could feel a painful tearing as the protective spells tried to prevent them. But the Prince was unruffled and did not flinch at the sensation, guiding them through his own creation with unflappable calm.
When they had penetrated the barrier, the Prince shifted his staff to point in a new direction. "We will go that way. We cannot go as fast as I could travel alone or I may lose one of you along the way, but it will be much more efficient than walking or riding."
A few minutes later, as the trees passed below at an alarming rate, the Prince spoke again. "You have a question for me, Kinomoto Touya."
Beside Yukito, Touya stiffened. "It's about Sakura."
"Yes."
"I didn't hurt her. I didn't curse her."
"Didn't you?" The Prince raised an eyebrow. "No, you did not do to her what Madoushi did to your people, but the result of your actions is quite similar, isn't it?"
Yukito was getting tired of not understanding the Prince dire hints, so he asked, rather more politely than Yue would have, "What about Sakura, Touya? What does he mean?"
Touya closed his eyes and his voice went low and uncertain. "Do you remember the first time Mother tested Sakura when she was just a baby?"
Yukito nodded. He had been there, actually, as himself alongside Keroberos in his own disguise form. "She said Sakura had some magic, but that it was not as powerful as yours."
Touya nodded too. "I...I was only seven years old. I made a mistake. I saw how you and Keroberos were watching me, waiting to see if I would become your new master. And...I didn't want anyone to look at Sakura like that. I didn't want anyone to think she was anything but just little Sakura. I wanted her to be safe."
"An error made in love is still an error," the Prince said. "It is forgivable, but it can still create great evil."
"What happened?" Yukito asked as quietly as he could.
"I...I made a wish. I wished that no one would ever see her potential as any more than it was right then when she was a baby. Not that she wouldn't have any magic of her own, but that...no one would recognize it. And it worked. Even you never thought she had much power."
"Unfortunately," Prince Hiiragizawa's voice was even, but cold, "this had two different unintended consequences. The first was that those who could have helped her overcome your curse were bound by it as well. Your mother was eventually able to guess at what must have happened when she compared what her senses told her with what her gift of foresight said was to come. But by then, it was too late for her to undo what you had done.
"Similarly, Yue and Keroberos should have been aware of her as a possible candidate for the Key of Clow, but because of your selfishness, they never suspected her at all.
"And the second," his voice went icier, "was that your curse acted upon Sakura herself, and far more insidiously. For not only did it mean that Sakura was unaware of her own magical potential, but she failed to recognize any potential of her own. The person who both Clow and I believed would release the Seal on his Key has lived a lifetime believing she has nothing to offer, not only magically, but overall. She lived under Madoushi's rule, but far more harmful was living under a belief that the only thing of value she could offer anyone was a false attempt to remain cheerful."
Touya hung his head.
"But...she…" Yukito began. But he did not know how to finish, and Yue was stunned to silence within.
The Prince continued, "If it were not for the son of the Li Clan who has come here, all might have been lost. But no curse and no Seal can truly defeat the simple power of love, and he is rather a good sorcerer in his own right as well. He does not know exactly what Sakura harbors inside, but he knows there must be something – his own heart tells him such. And his faith in her has helped her find some courage of her own. However."
The Prince let out a breath. "If Sakura cannot find the will to believe in herself, she will not be able to break either Seal, that laid on her unwittingly or the one on the Key. And if she cannot break the Seals, then she will be easy prey for Madoushi – and with her, so too will be destroyed the last hope for all of Clow's creations."
"Then...it all comes down to Sakura's courage?" Yukito asked.
"No." Kaho spoke for the first time. "I do not believe so. I believe it comes down to Sakura's love."
-==OOO==-
Sakura could only run between Syaoran and Cakey with wide eyes and too many questions to ask. At her feet, the other six little creatures were similarly shocked into silence. But once they reached the cherry tree and dove down into the protective embrace of its roots, then Sakura spun to Cakey.
"Is it true? Are you really Keroberos?"
Her winged friend actually blushed. "Yes. Or, I was a long time ago."
Sakura frowned. "I don't remember you. I know I met Keroberos. I lived with him. But you…"
"You remember Yue, right?" Keroberos asked. At Sakura's nod, he added, "But do you remember what he really looks like?"
Sakura started to nod, then paused. "Not...exactly."
Keroberos crossed his little arms. "Your brother protected you from Madoushi's curse, but it wasn't perfect. You knew we existed and you remembered things about us, but forgot some of the details. Just like I forgot everything about myself and all of them, but I remembered you when I saw you."
"But you remember now?" Sakura asked.
Keroberos nodded. "The Key helped me. And you, Sakura. The more I've been with you, the more I've remembered. But that's all. I don't have most of my true powers back yet."
"You would, though," Syaoran spoke slowly, "if the Seal on the Key could be broken."
"And not just me," Keroberos said. "We would all have our powers back." He looked to the six little creatures with whom he had spent so much time wondering. "Do you still not know who and what you truly are?"
Cat and Goose exchanged glances. "We are starting to have some idea."
Keroberos smiled. "I'm glad."
Sakura held the Key in her hands and felt a tear slipping down her cheek. But a second had not even emerged before Syaoran was at her side, gripping her shoulders.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt after all?"
"No." She shook her head. "No...but...it's all my fault. I couldn't do anything!" She began to cry and, as Syaoran opened his arms to her, she rested her head on his shoulder. "You had to protect me and I was so scared...and now Madoushi is here and I still can't do anything! And if this is Keroberos, if Madoushi realizes it, he'll get hurt. Everyone is in danger – even the cherry tree! And I have the Key, but…"
"Don't cry," Syaoran said – and he did not say it gently, but bracingly. It reached through the haze of Sakura's confused feelings and she brought her head up in surprise. "Sakura. I...I think I am starting to understand what is going on here. There was something your mother said to me once…"
"My Mother did?"
"Yes. And I think...I think there is something you can do about the Key. I think there is something you can do about Madoushi, something you can do to protect everyone. But…" He trailed off and looked up at where Keroberos floated near Sakura's shoulder.
"I know." The disguised Sun Guardian nodded. "I see it, too. I told the others that Sakura is under a spell. And we have to break it. But...I haven't figured out how yet."
Sakura blinked. "I'm...under a spell?"
"Yes. And I think it makes all the difference." Syaoran took a half-step back so he could look into her eyes. "But...and I don't know if it will make it easier on you, but...I…"
He felt his face heat and knew he was turning rather red, but there was no help for it. Sakura had not embarrassed him by pointing out his ready use of her name, for which he was grateful, but he needed her to understand what it meant. What he meant.
To understand how much he loved her.
"Syaoran?"
"Sakura...I want to tell you that...I…"
That moment of hesitation cost him dearly, for before he could finish his words, the cherry tree above them rocked with a violent explosion. Syaoran curled his arms around Sakura and ducked as some roots came loose and fell around them.
"Come out!" roared Madoushi. "Come out and face me!"
Keroberos darted to touch the cherry tree and pulled back as though burned. "She's sucking energy out of the forest! It's making her a lot stronger again! If she starts pulling magic out of this tree, she'll be almost as bad as she was before!"
Sakura clung to Syaoran's arms around her. "What should we do?"
Syaoran glanced to her, then to Keroberos, and made a decision. "I'm going to try to fight her."
"You can't!" Sakura tightened her grip. "She'll…"
"She's weak right now," Syaoran replied. "Weaker than she'll ever be again. I have to try."
"But…"
Syaoran waited until Sakura's face was upturned and he met her eyes. "Whatever happens, Sakura. I'm glad I came here. I'm glad I got to meet you. In spite of everything that's happened, I would not wish for anything else. I would rather have known you and be here today, no matter how it ends."
"Syaoran…"
Syaoran leaned close and whispered in Sakura's ear, "I believe in you. I'm sure that if you can face the fears in your heart, you will find a way to save us all. I believe in you more than anyone."
And before Sakura could say another word, he released her and sped out of the tree. The instant his feet hit the grass, Syaoran pressed the palms of his hands together and reached for the magic he had newly made. It came to him easily, as effortlessly as it ever had from the pendant, and he drew his jian from the center of his left hand.
"You are not the one with the power of Clow," Madoushi was halfway into the clearing, and the grass beneath her and the trees and plants in her wake were all turning brown and dying while her body began to grow young again and the wind began to sing around her. "Stand aside and your death will be quick."
"I won't," Syaoran said, setting his feet and brandishing the sword. "I'll fight you with everything I have."
Behind him, Sakura crouched in the cradling roots of the tree, still sheltered but perched partway up the passageway so she could see outside.
"Stay down, Sakura!" Keroberos said, flying to her side and sitting on her head. "You'll be safer if you are completely under the tree."
"I know that," she said, "but I can't leave Syaoran."
Keroberos thought about that for a moment. Then he dropped to stand on a root across from Sakura's face. "Maybe you don't have to."
"You said before that I'm under a spell. And Syaoran said he thought I could help. But I don't know how. Please." She turned her big eyes on him. "Please tell me how!"
Keroberos closed his eyes. "We've only been together for a few days, but between the Key and you, Sakura, I remember more than I ever did. And I don't have my powers back, but there are some things that have returned to me, like how I used fire and how I can sense things."
He opened his eyes and met her gaze. "What the Key has been telling me all this time, and what my heart has been telling me, is that you do have magic, Sakura. A lot of it, more than you realize. But you don't seem aware of it."
"But...I don't! It's my brother who has all the power, not me."
Keroberos shook his head. "No, you do have magic. But it's locked away somehow. If you can figure out how to unlock it, I think you would have enough magic of your own to release the Seal on the Key and then we would all have the power to stop Madoushi before it's too late."
"Tell me how to unlock it, then!" Sakura cried. If asked, she would have admitted that she did not truly believe the little Guardian that she could possibly have such power, but seeing Syaoran facing down Madoushi alone again made her desperate enough to try anything.
"I don't know how the spell works. I can't tell very much about it in this form," Keroberos said. "But I do know it's worse when you're afraid. I know it gets stronger when your heart is sad."
Suddenly Goose was at her side. "Remember what I said? About love and magic?"
Sakura frowned. "That...love is magic?"
"Right!" Cat was on her other side. "And you have a heart full of love. If you believe the power of that feeling, there's no reason you can't find magic inside yourself too."
"You say that so easily, but…"
"It's not easy," Keroberos said. "Finding the magic inside yourself and figuring out how to use it and then also breaking the Seal – none of it will be easy. But that doesn't mean you can't do it." He touched her cheek. "Because it's you, I think you can do it."
Sakura's heart gave a weird thump. "Why do you believe in me so much?"
Keroberos shifted until he could reach to the cord around Sakura's neck. He tugged on it until the Key rested on a root between them. "Because of this. You have this because your mother believed in you, and she wouldn't have given it to you if she wasn't absolutely sure. And...when I touched it, I could hear Clow's voice, too."
"Clow Reed?" Sakura was surprised.
"He's always been around if you knew how to listen," Keroberos said. "And if Clow believes in you, that's something, too. But even without that, I'd still believe in you!"
"Why?"
Keroberos smiled suddenly. "Because I can tell about you. You're not like Clow, and you're not like your mother or your brother. You're you. But I can still tell."
Sakura closed her eyes. It was so difficult to believe his words. It would have been easier for Sakura to believe the curse Madoushi had cast over the land, to believe that Clow Reed had never been and her mother and father were mere figments of her imagination. It would have been easier to forget that Touya had ever had magic at all than to believe that she might carry some as well.
Even now, even though she trusted Keroberos, even though she believed Syaoran had reason to trust in her, even though she loved her little friends – something in her denied it all.
But her inner struggle was forgotten at a cry of pain from Syaoran.
Sakura's eyes flew open to see Syaoran's feet lose their purchase on the ground as a torrent of water crashed into him. His sword was still up before him, and his magic protected him from the worst of the blow, but he still tumbled over and over to land to one side of the tree.
"Syaoran!" Sakura called out.
"Don't move!" he shouted back, his breathing coming in ragged gasps. He reached into his robes and drew an ofuda. "Raitei Shourai!"
A blast of lightning erupted from Syaoran's sword and slammed into Madoushi, who screeched in pain. But just as it appeared his powers would overwhelm her, a pair of white shapes dropped down from the sky and absorbed his attack instead. When the lightning stopped, the pair of birds turned slowly to water, which dripped away as they were undone.
Behind them, Madoushi's eyes glowed with rage and her form was becoming indistinct in a swirl of wind and water. "You are nothing!" she cried. "Only Clow Reed can defeat me!"
The column of water that rose with her fury crashed against Syaoran, lifting him up in a cruel prison. Within the torrent, Syaoran struggled to slash against the water with his sword, but his movements were sluggish and weak.
"Your power will become my own!" Madoushi drew near. She raised her arms.
To Sakura's horror, Syaoran's body grew still. A pale light began to drift and stretch like a shadow, drawn from him and caught up in Madoushi's influence. As the light grew brighter, Madoushi began to grow as well, becoming less human once more. And at the same time, Syaoran's body started to fade.
"Come on!" Keroberos shouted, springing from his place at Sakura's side. "We have to do something!"
The other six creatures bounded out of the tree after him around where Sakura crouched, frozen. It took her a moment to manage to shout after them, "But what can you do?"
"Anything is better than nothing!" Rabbit yelled back.
"We have to try to protect you!" Penguin added.
"She'll be sorry she hurt our friends and our forest," Alligator was grumbling more to itself.
Bear was running between Cat and Goose. "Can we really fight?"
"We have to try," Goose told it.
"It may be more help than you realize," Cat said.
And the seven of them reached Madoushi's feet.
Keroberos dove straight at the evil queen, belling a challenge. He was able to evade her watery protections and shoved against the most solid part of her body that he could find. The blow lacked power, but even so, it knocked her off balance. As she took a step back, her feet emerging from the coils of wind and water around her, the six little creatures who could not fly dove together to try to knock her down.
The distraction did little harm to Madoushi, but it likely saved Syaoran's life. Madoushi cried out in anger and redirected her focus to the seven nuisances around her; when her focus broke from the young man she was draining of power, he was able to regain a bit of his own energy once more. Syaoran lifted his sword and drew an ofuda to cast fire, liberating him from the watery prison.
However, though he had escaped her, Syaoran was also nearly spent, most of his magical energy absorbed by Madoushi. He crashed to the ground with a terrible thump and did not rise.
"Syaoran!" Sakura cried, rising out of the roots of the tree.
"Stay back!" Keroberos yelled to her. "We don't want you to be hurt, Sakura!"
And when the six little creatures and one little Guardian turned to Sakura, they took their eyes off Madoushi.
"Insolent bugs!" She raised a hand and viciously sliced at all seven with water as sharp as ice. The power blasted all seven of her opponents to the ground with brutal force.
Sakura stared and felt tears on her face. Syaoran's eyes were closed and he was breathing, but he was pale and unmoving. Keroberos had landed in a tumbled heap of golden fur and wings, and even from here she could see that one of his wings was bent unnaturally. Cat was shivering on the grass and whimpering in pain. Goose's wings were tangled in its feet and many of its feathers had been torn out. Bear had an eye swelling shut. Penguin had a flipper pierced by a lance of ice. Alligator's whole body was horribly twisted and its tail twitched in pain. Rabbit seemed unable to move its hind legs.
"Everyone." Sakura looked at her friends and at the swirling menace that had brought them to such suffering. "Everyone...it's my fault. You all believed in me, and...I still can't do anything."
Sakura's feet had carried her clear of the cherry tree, but now she fell to her knees.
"I'm so sorry."
-==OOO==-
"What is that?" Touya asked. He pointed in the direction they were heading at a strange darkness that seemed to be overtaking the very air.
Prince Hiiragizawa ducked his head ever so slightly. "It appears your curse has been successful, son of Kinomoto Nadeshiko. That is Sakura's failure, and the end of all hope."
-==OOO==-
Syaoran was somewhere dark.
"I have to wake up! I have to go help Sakura!" He fought the numbing void that held him.
Then he felt a strange burning from his left eye. "What…?"
The time has come, a voice whispered in his mind. I return to you the rest of your memory per our contract long ago.
Syaoran found himself watching his younger self in the tower with High Priestess Nadeshiko as he had in the dream only a matter of hours before. But this time, the conversation was different.
Young Syaoran stared at the High Priestess for a moment before asking, "What is the promise?"
"You must swear to protect and watch over the first person to touch you from the moment you leave this tower with me."
"For how long?" Syaoran wanted to know.
"Until Clow Reed's true inheritor is revealed."
Young Syaoran considered carefully before nodding. "All right. I promise in the name of my honor and magic to protect the first person to touch me outside the tower until Clow Reed's inheritor is revealed."
"Then in exchange for this promise," the High Priestess said, "I will give you a gift."
She held her hands out before her and in them floated a tiny sphere marked with the symbol of balance Syaoran knew well from the Li Clan's magic circle.
"What will it do?" Young Syaoran asked.
"For now, nothing. However, someday the person you have sworn to protect will be in danger of giving up. That person will be defeated and heartbroken, and it will seem that all hope is lost. When that moment comes, this will break open. It will give you both one last chance before the end."
Young Syaoran nodded. "I will accept this."
The High Priestess spread her hands and the little sphere floated forward. "I will hide this within your eye. It will not harm you nor impair your vision, but it will therefore be protected from anyone until the time comes. You will forget that it is there as soon as it takes root within you, which will guard it even more closely from evil. But it will always be inside you."
Young Syaoran did not flinch even when the sphere touched him.
But the Syaoran who now remembered the agreement understood what he could not have perceived before. The High Priestess had given him a way out of his own weakness, a way to protect Sakura when all was lost.
"I won't let her give up!"
-==OOO==-
Sakura looked up from her knees to see Madoushi hovering over her.
"Give me the Key, child, or they will all die here and now."
Sakura's fingers trembled as she reached for the cord around her neck. "It's...the only way I can help, isn't it?"
A cold smile touched Madoushi's somewhat human face. "Yes, foolish child. It is."
"No. No, it isn't. Sakura."
Sakura turned to see Syaoran rolling his head in her direction. For all that his skin was pale and his body was bruised, his eyes were clear and calm and bright.
"Syaoran?"
"Sakura. The reason I believe in you isn't only because I know you have power inside you."
"Silence!" Madoushi shouted, turning to strike at him. But her blow was reflected by a momentary shield that rose and gleamed for an instant – long enough to protect him and to knock her sideways away from Sakura.
Syaoran looked to Sakura and understood that what she needed wasn't courage. It wasn't even hope. It was something far more powerful and far more important.
"Sakura. I love you."
Syaoran felt the last gift of Kinomoto Nadeshiko leave him, but he smiled. It had given him the time to say what he had wanted to tell Sakura for so long. It felt so right to say it that he said it again.
"I love you, Sakura. More than anything in the world. And I always will."
Syaoran's words, his expression, his sincerity – none of them reached Sakura the way the truth of his feelings did in that moment. She could feel it, could feel it stirring within her like a human sort of magic. And yet it wasn't fragile or uncertain.
Syaoran loved her.
And she…
Sakura closed her hands over her heart, reaching not for the Key but for her own feelings.
Something in her rose bright and strong and impossibly happy.
I'm not sure what this feeling is, but I want to find out, Sakura's heart whispered. I want to feel this about Syaoran.
I can't give up. I can't ever give up. I won't give up.
This feeling is more important than being afraid or unsure. It's worth everything.
Sakura didn't hear Keroberos shifting his position so he could look at her with eyes wide but not from pain. "She's doing it! She's breaking it!"
"You can do it, Sakura!" Cat whispered.
"We believe in you," Goose said.
The others added their hope. But it was Syaoran's heart that lifted the most. For he could see the strange quieting force that had kept Sakura from seeming to be magical beginning to fade. And as it went, he grew steadily more aware of tremendous magical powers within her. Of all his faith in her proved true a thousand times over.
The warmth within Sakura's heart grew and grew.
I feel...I feel...I do have something inside me! And...these feelings can change everything!
I believe in...whatever this is. I believe in my feelings.
I'm sure.
I'm sure I have something inside that can can make a difference!
And the Seal that had bound Sakura's heart shattered.
-==OOO==-
Touya would have fallen if not for Yukito's grip on him. "Touya!"
Touya shook his head and pointed. "Look!"
The strange dark miasma that had been crawling into the sky from their destination suddenly winked out – only to be replaced by a warm, bright glow.
The Prince smiled a real smile that made him look rather like a boy. "She's done it. I should have expected as much from her."
"Sakura broke the wish you made?" Yukito looked to Touya.
Touya nodded. "She did. And she's more powerful than I ever could have guessed."
Eriol moved his staff and their speed increased a bit. "Nothing less from Sakura. Now has come our time to join her."
-==OOO==-
However, while Sakura was overcoming her fears, Madoushi had been rebuilding her strength.
"You vile thing! You have hidden such power from me? I will destroy you for this!"
She gathered her winds and waters for a strike.
But Sakura stepped away from the cherry tree and faced her evenly, a bright, luminous smile on her face.
"If I do my best, I know...I know I...I can do something about this. I'm sure I can." And then, with a new sort of wondrous joy, Sakura looked at her hands.
"I thought I was alone. I was always afraid. But now I'm not. I've stopped being afraid and I'll never be alone again. Everyone believes in me, but I believe in myself, too."
She looked to her friends, to Keroberos, to Syaoran. And then she turned back to Madoushi with pure courage blazing through her.
"I will definitely be all right."
Light burst from Sakura in a riotous, jubilant explosion. Even Madoushi fell back a few paces at the warmth and magic and power that spilled, poured, gleamed from her. But Keroberos and the six brave little creatures and Syaoran, all of whom found their strength restored by Sakura's triumph, looked past the light to the one who was now holding the Key of Clow before her with confidence.
"The Key which hides the power of the Dark. Reveal your true form before me. I hereby release the Seal of Clow!"
And radiance ignited everywhere.
