"Kero-kun!" a brunette screamed, throwing a pillow at a golden, lion like creature, her face an angry red. "Why did you shut my alarm off?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" a whiny voice retorted.
Before either could continue, the door opened, a tall teenager standing there, bags under his eyes, face flushed.
"Will you two idiots pipe down? You want to wake Otōsan up and explain to him how we have a talking stuffed animal living here?" the teen asked between coughs and snorting a little to keep his nose from running more than it already was.
"What'd you say?" the lion like creature snapped before the girl grabbed him, shoving him into her backpack.
"Tori-O nīchan! You're supposed to stay in bed!"
"Hard to stay in bed when I can't get sleep with all that yelling," the other grumbled as he shuffled back to his bedroom, stumbling into the wall, clearly out of it.
"Dammit, Nīsan!" the girl cursed softly.
She rushed to his side, activating Power, using the card's magic to help her hold her sibling up long enough to help him back to his room and into bed safely.
"Arigatō…" he wheezed softly as he was settled in comfortably.
"Want me to give Julian-san a call to keep you company?" the girl asked with more sympathy when looking at how bad off her brother was.
Her concern only grew further after feeling his forehead.
"That'd be great," he chuckled lightly as he watched her get up, heading back to her room to change and get her phone.
Despite feeling like shit, he was already starting to somewhat feel better knowing she was calling his best friend. All he hoped for was that he didn't give the other his flu if he does come over.
Heaving a heavy sigh, the brunette threw what she wore off, getting her school clothes on in a slower pace than normal.
She knew she should move faster, but looking at the time, she was going to be late for regardless.
Looking closer at her alarm clock, she suddenly felt guilt hit her hard, having her glance at her backpack.
"Kero-kun…" she called out softly, the small guardian popping his head out, expecting another pillow or something thrown at him. "Gomen'nasai…"
"Hmm?"
"You know, for yelling at you… There must've been a power outage sometime last night. It messed with the clock."
As she explained it, she pointed to the clock, showing what was wrong, revealing the cause of why it didn't go off like it should have.
"Told you I didn't do it!" the other retorted before noticing how tired his magical friend looked. "Hey, you sure you should even go to school? You look like crap."
"Great way to make a girl feel good about herself," the other joked before looking outside. "I know I probably should stay home, but its Friday, I'll be home all day tomorrow. This test is supposed to be big; I don't want to risk pushing it off."
"And if you fell asleep during the test?"
"Well good excuse I guess, but I'm fine really. I feel exhausted, but I don't feel tired for some reason. I'm probably catching whatever Tori-O nīchan has."
"Just don't give it to me then!"
"Yeah, yeah," she sighed as she finished getting dressed.
Turning to grab her bag, she hurried downstairs, grabbing something quick to eat on the way to school.
Tagging along was Kero, who hid himself inside her bag again when sure things were clear.
He didn't know why, but something in his gut telling him to stick close than staying home as he had been doing the last couple months.
Before she had left, she grabbed her cellphone, dialing and held it to her ear.
After it rang a couple times, she heard it being picked up, glad that it wasn't voicemail or simply ignored.
'Sakura-chan?' a voice spoke up sleepily on the other end, making the girl wonder if he was okay.
"Hey Julian-san, I'm about to head out for class, Tori-O nīchan's home sick, think you could swing by? He really misses you," the girl teased mischievously.
She soon broke into a fit of laughter when hearing her friend sputter, clearly embarrassed by how she said it.
'S-sure, I'll come over, have fun at school,' the silver haired teen responded nervously before hanging up, the girl doing the same.
"Yeesh, you seem to love teasing them now?"
"Don't tell me you haven't seen it? They practically drool over one another whenever they're together. I just can't believe that I didn't see it until now," the girl laughed causing her guardian to start chuckling a little.
"Wonder how Yue-kun's gonna react if he knew his human host was in love with your brother," he teased.
"He'll figure something out I'm sure. And if he hasn't, well, I've actually been looking up spells with Li-kun and Eli-kun's help to actually split Julian-san and Yue-san into separate beings."
"What?"
"Well, they're so different from one another; they deserve to have separate lives than forced together."
"I still don't really get it."
"What I mean is, what if I start college abroad, or those two wanted to elope or something like it? And even if they didn't stay together, Julian-san may end up wanting to go to college off in America, Germany, anywhere really. It'll be hard to do it if an angel wants to stick by me like glue."
"Gotta point, when did you get so smart?" the lion teased, causing a piece of toast to get shoved into his mouth.
"I'm not that dumb," she growled as she skated down the sidewalk.
Looking at the sky, she felt a slight shiver, recalling the news stating that it was going to rain pretty hard today.
Then again, it's been raining almost nonstop for the past couple weeks flood warnings going up in a lot of parts of the city and surrounding towns.
It was really weird, last time it rained this hard…
"Sakura-chan!" Kero screamed just as another let out a scream.
"Ow," she groaned as she looked up to see what she skated into, blushing when she found herself on top of her boyfriend, his face just as red. "G-gomen'nasai!" she cried out in embarrassment.
As she sat up, she was already fixing her skirt to look more decent, seeing the other blushing like crazy as well.
"You really need to watch where you're going or you'll skate into a semi-truck next time," the boy scolded, though did help her to her feet.
"Gomen…guess you overslept too?"
"Hai… Was up most of the night studying, then that stupid storm knocked out the power so my alarm didn't go off."
"Same with me, but more with the alarm," the girl chuckled. "Who knows, maybe everyone will be running late too? Be nice if we got some extra time with the tests?" she joked as they made their way to the school building.
"Doubt it," the brunette grumbled as he threw his arms behind his head, staring blankly at the sky.
Before he knew it, he found himself shoving Sakura to the ground just as a bolt of lightning struck where she stood.
"Li-kun!" she cried out, staring in shock at the black mark on the ground, realizing he saved her life.
"We need to get inside! The school isn't too far ahead," the sorcerer growled as he looked to the sky with distaste.
Grabbing her hand, he began dragging her; grateful she was on skates to make pulling easier.
"Look out!" Kero shouted, changing into his secondary form, throwing his friends onto his back, flying at a faster speed as more bolts came crashing down. "This isn't a normal storm!"
"No shit!" the boy shouted over the crashing bolts, letting out a scream when a bolt came to close, nearly hitting them.
Feeling Sakura wrap her arms tightly around him, he looked back, seeing her tremble, understanding her fear.
The lightning bolts were moving too fast, there wasn't enough time for her to use Time or Thunder to intercept them.
That's if the cards had an effect…
Whatever was going on, it was definitely not normal. But how could he not sense it, not even Kero sense it beforehand?
It didn't make sense; it had to be done by magic, how else would it be possible?
No normal storm would just start attacking people…
Focusing more, he felt his whole body shake, sensing the strange magic, unable to focus, fear penetrating his form instantly.
Before he knew it, a sharp pain started in his chest, particularly his heart.
It felt like something was stabbing him there, forcing him to clutch the area, screaming in pain.
"Li-kun!" Sakura screamed, hearing her boyfriend's cries, fearing the worst as he clutched his heart. "He couldn't be having a heart attack! He's too young, to fit to have that happen!"
Just as her worry grew, the boy suddenly stopped crying out in pain, instead panted hard, clutching the fur on Kero's back.
The guardian ignored the pain, his mind more focused on getting them all to safety, getting them out of this insane storm.
Before she could ask what was wrong, the school building came into view, forcing her to cling to the boy and lion, as they crashed through the doors.
The sound of glass shattering rang through their ears, Kero since returning to his small form, his strength drained heavily.
Looking behind her, she saw the lightning bolts no longer were actively striking the ground, instead kept to the sky.
Sighing in relief, she turned her attention to Li, seeing him unconscious, fear beginning to consume her.
Scrambling over, semi-mindful of the glass, she managed to shove the shards away from the other, using her backpack to act as a pillow for him.
"Li-kun, wake up, please," the brunette begged, feeling tears form in her eyes.
"Sakura-chan! Li-kun!" a female voice cried out, causing the other to spin around, spotting two people she couldn't be happier to see.
"Madison-chan? Eli-kun?" she hiccupped slightly, relieved to see them, only now realizing how empty the school felt.
"What happened?" the reincarnation asked, looking at the shattered glass and bent metal, causing him to turn to the guardian. "What did you do, Kero-kun?"
"Only save our asses! Something's messed up!"
"But breaking…" the boy started before the younger girl interrupted him.
"He's right, the lightning suddenly attacked us. Kero-kun had me and Li-kun on his back and got us here as fast as he could. There was no time for us to stop and open the doors. We weren't given a choice," Sakura explained solemnly as she petted her boyfriend's hair. "I don't know what's wrong with him. We didn't get hit, and I don't see blood… Oh gods, what if he doesn't wake up?"
"Calm down, let's get him to the nurse's station, we can't stay here," Eli stated as he looked the other over. "Madison-chan, run to the nurse's station, there should be a gurney there, get it and at least a couple of thick blankets. If there is a chance that he hit his head or worse, injured his back, we can't risk carrying him all the way."
Nodding, she hurried off, not much time passing for her to retrieve it.
Pushing it back to the others, she readied herself in case she's needed for more help regarding their unconscious friend.
"Take the blankets and get it underneath him, we'll use it to hoist him onto the gurney," the boy directed, the girls obeying as they swept the glass away quickly.
Once they got the unconscious boy onto the gurney, they pushed him safely to the nurse's station, finding the place empty of all life.
Seeing how empty the school looked, it sent chills through the young sorcerous, making her worry of what was happening.
"Should we call a doctor?" Madison asked before the other shook his head. "But if he's hurt badly!" she started before the other spoke up.
"While you were gone, Sakura-chan and I examined him further. Remember, I'm a reincarnation of Clow Reed, I'm about as old as her father, so I know a lot more than you think," he spoke, causing the other to pout. "Gomen'nasai, but he isn't hurt. But I think I have an idea with what's wrong though."
"What is it?" the girl asked, forgetting the boy's comment immediately.
"From what Sakura told me, it seems like he tried to focus in on what's causing the abnormal weather, but it retaliated. Because of that, I'm afraid it'd be risky for Sakura-chan and I to do the same without the same thing befalling us as well."
"But how do we wake him?" the brunette asked pitifully, tears forming in her eyes before she clutched her head in pain.
"Sakura-chan!" the others cried out as she collapsed, feeling as if a drill had been bored into her skull.
Soon after, the pain Li felt in his chest tore through her as well, forcing an agonized scream out of her throat.
She clutched her chest, her mind going blank of all thoughts.
Struggling to focus, refusing to fall like Li had, needing to be strong for him when he wakes up, for Madison and Eli.
Whatever is attacking them or trying to, if she goes down, Eli and Kero will be overwhelmed trying to protect them if a full out attack is made.
Even if she can't actually fight, she can at least use her magic to create shields or transport people to safety if it's necessary.
"You are strong, just like her," a voice resonated through her skull.
The young girl's eyes widened as she looked about, finding she was in a black void, dread filling her small frame.
"Who are you?" the brunette called out, realizing she must've blacked out despite her fights against it.
"You need not to worry yourself, little sorcerous.I will be sure to make your death quick and painless as I will with the boy," the voice echoed, causing the girl's blood to run cold.
"You're…you're going to kill us?" she stuttered, feeling her whole body tremble, feeling her body break out into a cold sweat.
"Of course, how elsewill I take your powers?"
"I won't let you take the cards!" she barked, feeling rage bubble inside her.
So that's what he's after, her Star Cards!
That means, after he kills her and Li, he'll kill Eli and Julian, possibly the rest of her family too…
"Why would I want such pathetic magic? Compared to what I want, what you and the others have, they are mere parlor tricks. That pathetic human should be ashamed of himself making such trash."
"What?" she gasped, shocked over what she heard before crying out as her body was enveloped in electricity, the pain great, feeling her skin slowly burn from the heat.
"Just accept death and surrender," the voice taunted, the girl feeling tears course down her face.
She wanted the pain to end, yet knew she couldn't let this monster win, steal whatever power he's talking about.
"Li-kun…Tori-O nīchan…someone…anyone…" she sobbed lightly, wishing for help before the attack ended abruptly.
Eyes shooting open, she found herself in a brightly lit room, recognizing it as the nurse's station.
"Sakura-chan!" Madison cried out, hugging her friend tightly.
"What…what happened?" she groaned as she tried sitting up, finding Li was also waking up, Eli tending to him.
"You suddenly blacked out, and before we could think of anything, you both woke up," the girl sobbed as her face remained buried into the other's chest.
"Something's out to kill me and Li-kun!" the brunette cried out, recalling the black void and the voice from it.
"What do you mean?" Eli asked tentatively.
Concern filled his eyes as he held a hand behind the boy's back, supporting his weight as best he could.
"I don't know, he, it, I don't know, wanted some kind of power from Li-kun and I, others too it seems. But it doesn't want the cards."
"What?"
"I'm telling the truth, that thing even insulted the cards, insulted Clow Reed himself! Whatever we have is something even greater."
"A power greater than Clow Reed's?" Madison gasped as she looked towards Eli, seeing the boy look completely horrified at what he heard.
"Eli-kun? When did you get here?" Li groaned, clearly still out of it from before, possibly not remembering what happened.
"Last night," he answered flatly before continuing. "I had some reasons for coming before discovering this strange weather phenomenon," the other retorted, having snapped out of his earlier stupor, turning his head away.
"Really?" he asked, giving the boy a hard look.
"Whatever is after you two, it's stronger than we first thought. That means this entire city, possibly even the planet's safety depends solely on us."
"What do you mean?" a voice asked nervously.
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