Chapter 18

Assumptions

The fall was slow-motion from Syaoran's perspective. He twisted about with a sort of agonizingly molasses-like lethargy, and stared up into the sky. There was that white tiger, falcon... thing, turning about and heading back toward the tower- it was going to attack Kurogane and Meilin without even checking to make sure he was dead. Somewhere, he was aware of people screaming for him. Meilin's voice carried the best, he noted, even with the wind howling in his ears from his incredibly slow descent, though as he approached the ground, he could hear Sakura's better. Kurogane's came a close third, but only because of how deep his voice was, and he could barely hear Fai over Mokona.

Something in the back of his mind wondered why they were so worried.

He held his sword out, yelling an incantation that was lost to the wind screaming past him, and he suddenly felt the air below him get thicker, could feel it shoving against his back and slowing his descent until he righted himself and touched solid earth. His gaze traveled to where Fai, Mokona, and Sakura all stood, pallid and shocked, until they realized he was alright and all slumped in relief. The moment was short-lived, however, as Meilin's scream pierced the night sky, forcing everyone's gaze upward as the winged tiger chased her and the ninja around the metallic skeleton of the tower, firing beams of energy from its mouth which hit the tower hard enough to damage the beams it hit.

Syaoran narrowed his eyes, bringing his sword out before him, watching the movements of the winged creature carefully, testing it for a pattern, watching for a chance to strike.

There...

He unleashed another lightning spell, and it caught the tiger dead-on. The beast roared, and its flight faltered, before righting itself easily and turning its attention to the one who had attacked it. Power erupted from its mouth, forcing the young man into a sideways roll as it hit the ground where he previously stood, blowing a crater large as his arm span into the concrete of the sidewalk.

He righted himself to find the tiger diving after him, claws outstretched and at the ready. He rolled backward this time, thrusting his sword up as the creature narrowly missed colliding full on with him. The sword sunk deep into the tiger's belly, spilling white-hot magical ichor all over his arms, while the tiger's claws sunk into his chest and shoulders. The two separated, the tiger to the air, Syaoran knocked backward into the street. He recovered first, kicking himself up onto his feet in one motion, before holding his sword, readying his magic for another attack, ignoring the burning of the creature's blood on his arms.

"Wait! Syaoran-kun!" Fai called, stepping toward him. "From what I got with that last attack, it absorbs your lightning spells. Didn't you notice it got stronger after you hit it?"

Syaoran watched the beast carefully, as it flew in a slow circle back around to meet him, gaging its magical presence. He nodded; it had indeed grown more powerful, which meant hitting it with lightning was no longer an option. Unfortunately, lightning was his most powerful element, he knew, so he was at a bit of a disadvantage trying to hit the creature with anything else. Wind was out, it was mostly for defensive purposes. That left water- his weakest element, and fire.

He decided to go with the latter, waiting for the beast to turn back toward him and begin another attack dive. Sword steady, level, eye contact, he gathered his power and-

Some other source of magic flared, and a fire that wasn't his own impacted the side of the tiger, knocking it off balance and sending it on a crash course straight for the ground. It hit the ground with a loud thud, but it caught itself on its feet. It didn't get a chance to recover as a golden brown lion crashed into its back, sending them both tumbling over each other. They ended in a snarling, writhing mass of claws and teeth, fur and feathers. Finally, they tumbled away from each other, the lion rolling to the side and staying on the ground while the tiger took off into the air.

Syaoran jogged up to the lion's side. "I knew you'd come along."

"You attract trouble like a magnet, kid," The lion retorted, watching as the tiger shook off its injuries, recovering for another attack on them. "Besides, you think I was just going to stay at home when you all were heading for Tokyo? Don't think so."

The young man shook his head, and the two leapt away from each other as another magical attack crashed into the space between them. Kero took to the air and the two winged cats launched their ranged attacks at each other. They met, both equal in power, and the two were forced to disengage a moment later. They turned back, and rushed again, this time another physical confrontation, tooth and claw, and they tumbled toward the ground, separating just before impact.

Syaoran looked about, making sure everyone was alright. Meilin had collapsed against one of the girders about halfway down the tower, and Kurogane was standing next to her, his sword drawn, watching the fight between the two beasts. Fai and Sakura had moved farther away, staying a comfortable distance from the exchange of wild magic attacks. He looked back to Kurogane, and the ninja motioned something, a something that took Syaoran a moment to figure out, but when he did, he felt a smile tug up the corners of his mouth.

"Kero!" He cried out, and the cat yelled a response. "Draw the tiger closer to the tower, below Kurogane."

Kero nodded, and turned back to the other cat as the two continued their exchange, edging closer and closer to the tower. They wouldn't quite make it, however, as Kero was caught off-guard by one of the other cat's beams of magic, slamming into his side and sending him screaming into the fence below him. The metal screeched against itself as it was forced to buckle and cave under his weight, but it broke his fall, allowing him to tumble off, still conscious, but unable or unwilling to move due to his injuries.

Syaoran turned back to the tiger as it faced him, its wing beats slow and erratic, as though struggling to hold itself up- they were wearing it down, and he was sure the injury on its stomach was also slowly draining it of its life. Time slowed again, as Syaoran tried to figure out how to get the cat in a position for Kurogane to jump on it from above.

His mind traveled back to a time, shortly after the Nothing card had been captured, when Tomoyo had asked if Sakura could use the Create card to conjure enemies for her and Syaoran to fight so the other girl could video tape it. He remembered Sakura writing a large, sinister looking dragon for the two of them to fight, and remembered how she'd tried to use Firey against it, to no avail. She'd then turned to Windy after he'd stunned it in the air with a thunder spell, but instead of Windy binding the dragon, the intense gusts caught the dragon's wings like a pair of giant sails and sent it flying backward, off into the distance. Sakura had panicked, and had Windy catch the dragon before it landed in a residential area and caused a stir.

His concentration narrowed down to just the cat, and both corners of his mouth tugged up into a smile. If he could get the angle just right with a wind spell... he might just be able to blow it back into the tower, or at least at the right angle for Kurogane to get a good attack in, but he'd have to focus hard. They'd only get the one chance.

Sword held at the ready, magic swirling through his body from the symbol that appeared at his feet, he readied himself, waiting for the exact moment, when he could unleash his full power.

"FUUKA!"

The beast's throat began to glow, as it gathered its own energy.

"SHOURAI!"

The wind hit the tiger hard enough its wings snapped out and wrenched backward quickly and at a sickening angle, its head snapping backward as well as it was sent sailing under the tower. It fought its head back down just as Kurogane leapt, and unleashed its attack, powerful enough that it ripped through the vortex Syaoran had created and caught him square in his already wounded chest. He was sent tumbling limply backward, coming to rest in the middle of the street behind him. Sakura took off running before Fai could even grab her to make her stop.

The tip of Kurogane's sword pierced the back of the tiger's neck before he collided with it, and the beast let a strangled scream and began tumbling out of the sky, trailing feathers and the glowing ichor that was its blood.

The ninja leapt off the beast's back just before it impacted, hitting the ground himself and running toward his fallen comrade, ignoring the creature as it began to dissolve into light the same color as its blood, before splitting apart and converging into a small shape on the ground.

Syaoran stirred, slowly pulling himself to his feet, ignoring everyone that had rushed over to help him as he trudged lethargically toward the small shape on the ground. He reached down to pick it up off the ground, lost his balance, and would've fallen had a certain golden lion not grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back to his feet.

"Thanks, Kero," He muttered, staring at the card in his hand. It was the same size and shape as a regular Clow Card, but something was different- not only did it lack a name, the magic that came from it was different. Syaoran frowned. "Eriol made this..." He straightened and looked around, trying to sense if the reincarnated sorcerer was watching them, but either Eriol was concealing himself extremely well, or he wasn't there at all. He looked at the group that had followed him over, trying not to collapse again, and sheathed his sword.. "Does anyone have a pen?"

All but Kero blinked, and looked among themselves.

"I do!" Meilin called, finally finished with her descent from the tower. She fished around in one of her pockets as she jogged over, and presented him with the writing instrument as she caught up. He took it and pressed it to the paper, but paused before writing anything, squeezing his eyes shut.

"That thing had one nasty attack," Kero noted, pressing his head against the young man to keep him steady. "And since it was lightning-based, it'll disorient you for a little bit."

Finally, Syaoran opened his eyes, and quickly scribbled a trio of characters on the card. "Just to make sure it doesn't try to escape again..."

"Do you think it'll work on a card like that?" the guardian beast asked, eyeing it. "That's not a Clow Card."

The teenager managed a stiff shrug, and winced as it forced him to stretch his injuries. "I hope so. You do know who made this, right?"

Kero nodded. "Clow only made fifty three cards- fifty two for personal use, and the Nothing as a counterbalance. That this one has his magical signature means that it must've been..."

"Mekyo!" Mokona said suddenly, eyes opening wide, the jewel on its forehead glowing as it suddenly projected a circle in mid-air.

"I see you've found the hidden creature," Yuuko stated, sounding amused as she always did. "You're right; Clow died before he got the chance to create that card, and so he left instructions for his reincarnation to do so for him."

"So what does this card do?" Syaoran asked, holding it up so the picture was visible to the witch.

"It's a transporting card- it'll take you to a very specific world. But be warned, what you will find there will shake your beliefs, test your patience and your resolve. It will push you to your physical and magical limits and beyond," The witch answered simply. "I don't believe anyof you will return the same as you left."

"What's the price we have to pay to use it?" Fai asked, knowing that this gift couldn't be for free.

Yuuko shook her head. "The toll has already been made; this card meddles to the highest degree, and so the greatest price was paid by Clow Reed. By the time all is over, anything additional you owe me should be paid off."

"So this was the cause of his death?" Kero growled. "I knew he wasn't old enough to die! I knew it!"

"He sacrificed himself to send us to a certain world?" Syaoran muttered. "People he didn't even know... only saw in dreams and prophecies?"

Yuuko nodded. "That is correct. Syaoran, you know how to use that card- it works just like a regular Clow Card. Mokona, when the card has finished activating, I want you to go through all of the processes of transporting them to another world, except I want you to fly into the portal it creates rather than your own magical symbol."

Mokona nodded. "Mokona understands."

"Whether you choose to leave now or rest and recuperate is your decision, there is no time limit for this," Yuuko said as a farewell, and the image disappeared.

Everyone looked at Syaoran, who continued to stare at the card in his hand, wavering slightly in place. "I don't want to stay here for any longer than I have to-"

"But you're in no condition to do anything for long periods of time," Fai stated with finality. Everyone agreed. "And you're in no condition to fight anyone or anything else, either."

"You should rest," Sakura said to him, and he turned to look at her. "At least for a couple days."

Syaoran looked to the card one last time, let a low sigh, and nodded. "Alright."

-

A/N: And see now as they receive their final gift, though not without blood payment.