Chapter 5 - Obscured
Madison Moore Town was once again visited by Syaoran, and brought Watanuki along with Black Mokona. It was rather impossible to see the very same being together in two separate bodies, one the son of his own copy, and the other born out of an irreversible distortion. The weight brought upon by the disaster has matured both of them in ways that they've become stronger, and both became such irreplaceable beings.
"Here," Syaoran stopped at a store's display where they found a replica of Sakura's feather in a glass encase. The feather still floated with it's pink color markings glowing.
"Wow, the exact same copy of it, huh?"
Syaoran nodded.
"Hmm," Watanuki stared at the feather for a long time, studying each line and marking. There was something odd about this feather that Watanuki couldn't put. A sharp ringing on his ears suddenly woke his every senses as he stared at the feather, until he stood frozen, his eyes glassed.
...
Drops of blood kept trickling a woman's face, distorting her beautiful face with something dark and malicious. Her bright red eyes shone even brighter when she shoved her sword straight through a beast's torso. The beast's body, now lifeless, fell limply on the floor at the woman's feet.
She stood there as rain pittered pattered on her fair skinned body, her black dress that had a cut from the base of her hips to the base of her feet, was soaked with a mixture of rain and blood. Her deep black knee length hair was a mess.
Maybe it was due to her killing spree, or maybe because of a problem that started every worst thing that happened in her kingdom, that she lost control of her knees, collapsing on the rough soil. Her blank eyes was unmoving, it's bright red color now dimmed into a dull red that looked almost grey. The pain was too much to bear that for a second she didn't understand how life works at all.
But of course, she knew it was going to happen. She knew that nothing good will last forever, not with her. She let go of her sword and it disappeared.
A flash of bright light and the scene changes.
It was dark, struggling to open her eyes. All she could feel was the slight tremor of her body, her face wet due to sad drops of tears from her closed eyes, seeping, as if the pain was begging to be released.
She struggled to breathe, moaning in torment, the turmoil of her nightmare had her on the brink of insanity, her heart beating erratically due to the agony.
Fear. Helplessness. Desperation. Loneliness.
Suddenly, her eyes opened and her sweating body sat upright. It appeared she was on a bed in her personal bedroom. She ran her fingers on her short brown hair and sighed. She got out of her bed and turned on the lights, then walked to her computer table, angling her mirror on the table towards her. The woman in the mirror had huge dark brown eyes, its pupils dilated. Her tanned skin covered with beads of sweat, her messy short hair sat on her head like a bird's nest.
She closed her eyes and breathe deeply. It's okay.
She opened her eyes, and a shrilling cry came from her mouth.
...
"Kimihiro! Are you okay?!"
Watanuki blinked, and saw the floating feather, still glowing.
He turned his head quickly at Syaoran, his face painted with terror. He was sweating as well as breathing rapidly. He stared at Syaoran's face for a long time until he calmed down, leaning on the cool glass that separates them from the glass case that held the feather.
Syaoran worriedly looked at his dear friend, his hand comfortingly on Watanuki's shoulder. When Watanuki just stood motionless, staring at the feather, he knew something was wrong. His eyes were glassed, as if seeing something else in that feather. No matter how many times he called Watanuki, his friend wouldn't budge nor blink at all.
He saw something. It was obvious.
"Are you alright now? What happened?"
Watanuki glanced up at Syaoran and pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Tell me everything you know of Dark Queen right now."
They discussed once again what happened yesterday in the very same city. They did acquire information, but if anything, it made even more unanswered questions. They didn't even get any information on Dark Queen.
"Why? What did you see?" Syaoran looked anxious at Watanuki.
"Well—"
Something caught Watanuki's eye from a distance. A tall woman in deep red kimono.
That had Watanuki running.
"Kimihiro! Wait!"
Watanuki chased after the woman, and found her in one of the market stalls.
It somehow disappointed him.
It was the Dark Queen grabbing an apple from the stalls, and took a bite from it. She paused and glanced behind her, her eyes making contact with Watanuki's.
Syaoran kept up with them and stopped beside Watanuki, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
The lady turned around at them, looking at them expectantly while munching on her apple.
"Sorry, I thought.."
"It's okay." Was her immediate reply. It's as if she knew that Watanuki mistook her for someone else.
They stood there staring at each other until she turned her head to the left so fast it looked like she snapped it. Puzzled, Watanuki and Syaoran did the same and felt a chill run through their backs.
"Stay here," her smooth velvet voice spoke.
Watanuki and Syaoran stared at her walking briskly towards whatever she saw. They both looked at each other and nodded, then followed the queen.
After running a few miles, they already lost sight of the queen. But evil presence could be felt, towards the end of the town, where a forest could be seen.
The two men went to the forest, thinking the queen went there. After running for quite awhile, the Dark Queen came into their view. By the way she held a staff in her hand and her stance and the gust of the wind, the fight was over.
"Hey, what happened?" Syaoran asked.
The lady closed her eyes in an indifferent manner.
"Don't worry about it."