Chapter 19
Oblivion
Dreams...
A dream of days long since passed- roaming through the sands with a friend whose face and name were indiscernible.
A dream of the present- of a heart torn in two, broken, trapped in the gray between light and dark.
A dream of the future- Ruin and anguish. Nothing pierced the oblivion. No brightness at its edges.
Dreams...
The past- a picnic in the park with friends. Arguments and laughs, tears and joy.
The present- Lost and alone in a hellish abyss, surrounded by a crowd of paper masks.
The future- Eyes which stare across the void, boring into the soul. Powers which clashed. Powers which meshed.
The meaning...
Elusive.
-
Amber eyes slowly opened, lazily focusing on the patterns of a ceiling, blurring and clearing until finally settling. The young man sat up stiffly, muscles protesting his moving, still not fully healed.
A flutter at the edge of his vision caught his attention and he looked to the sliding glass door of his room. The drapes were not closed all the way, a handsbreadth still open to the outside world, and in that tiny space white cloth fluttered, glowing in the light of the moon.
He stood though his body protested, stepped to the door leading outside, and pulled back the heavy drapes.
She stood at the balcony railing, fingers wrapped around the metal loosely. Her entire posture was relaxed, though her eyes seemed focused on something far off in the distance.
Syaoran sighed, pressing his hand against the glass, over her image, and leaned his forehead against it. "I can't..." He tilted his face back, peering between his splayed fingers. "I can't give in. For her sake. For mine... and... for them."
As though hearing his words, Sakura turned back toward the door, bringing her hand up to her hair to keep the wind from blowing it into her eyes. Their eyes touched upon each other briefly, before Syaoran squeezed his shut.
The after-image remained, ghostly, white, ethereal. And... it wasn't the princess he saw. It was his Sakura. He knew it.
He opened his eyes again to find the princess had turned mostly toward him, looking surprised and a bit saddened.
"Don't..." He whispered, knowing his mouth was hidden by his hand.
She turned further toward him.
"Please..."
He clenched his fingers, bringing his head back into contact with the back of his hand as he looked to the ground. "I'm not the one you want."
A pair of bare feet appeared in his line of vision, swathed occasionally by white cloth as it blew around in the breeze outside. He forced his eyes shut, clenching his jaw as he resisted the temptation to look up, but his resolve wavered and he did so anyway.
They stared at each other for a moment, amber brown against emerald green, and Syaoran's hand moved out of the way, splaying against the glass but not obscuring his view of the girl before him. She raised her own hand and pressed it against the window in the same place and manner as he did, and repeated the action as his other hand came to rest on the glass as well.
Dreams...
He leaned down and forward slightly, pressing his forehead against the glass as she rocked up onto her toes and mirrored his action, eyes kept locked on each other the entire time. This close, he could easily see everything in her eyes; from the fierce determination that helped bring them all to this point, to the cold, empty loneliness he knew was echoed in his own gaze. He watched as her eyelids slid down half way, and felt his heart leap, pounding once, twice in his chest, throbbing in nervous anticipation. He felt like a young child again, anxious as he copied her motion, allowing his eyes to fall shut, tipping his head back slightly and pushing forward.
His lips brushing against the cold glass was a harsh reminder of the hopeless nature of the situation, and of how dangerously close he'd come to losing his resolve, giving in to a temptation he should never give in to; it would betray too many people. He moved back, opening his eyes to watch as Sakura did the same, gradually looking at him. He watched as her viridian irises were obscured by tears, watched the saline streak down her face and fall from her chin, only to be caught by the wind and blown away.
She sank to her knees, and he heard the glass squeak as her hands slid down it, and could only watch as she curled over herself, shaking with sobs. He didn't follow her down for once- merely pressed his forehead against the door and closed his eyes against the tears that threatened to fall from them.
-
The apartment was too crowded, so the group decided to exit in the same place they had arrived- out of the way in Penguin Park. Meilin, Kero, Yue and Eriol stood to one side while the travelers gathered together, preparing to leave.
"You really have to leave? I mean... you really have to go?!" Meilin asked, voice shaking and on the verge of crying.
Syaoran just gave her a sympathetic look. "Unfortunately, I do."
"You be careful, kid," Kero stated. "I'm getting a final boss vibe from this whole thing."
The teenager's look turned into a bitter smile. "I can only hope so. I want this whole thing over." He looked to Yue. "And you, take Yukito back to Toya. I think he misses him as much as his sister."
Yue looked away from him, staring off into nothing.
"My apologies," Eriol said finally, stepping forward and looking to the princess. "For raising your suspicions about me. You were right to suspect me, I do believe, seeing as how I sent you all off to fight a dangerous opponent. But... as before, it was necessary."
"Before..." the princess whispered, less a question and more as though she understood.
"Hey, you're gonna come back, right?" Meilin asked, desperate.
Syaoran looked a little uncertain, and said nothing, avoiding eye contact with everyone.
"That's not the attitude you gotta have going into a final boss fight!" Kero scolded, glaring right at the young man. "You gotta be confident, and well-prepared- mentally as well as physically. C'mon kid! What's the invincible spell?"
Syaoran looked down. "That... wasn't my-"
"I don't care if it wasn't something you originally said," the creature interrupted, voice condescending. "It doesn't matter who it came from, the only thing that matters is you believe what it says. So, what's the invincible spell?"
The teenager sighed. "... Everything will definitely be all right..."
"That's not good enough!" Kero yelled, and his glare deepened. "You don't sound like you believe it! You have to believe in what it says!"
Syaoran looked at the tiny creature, his face tired and defeated. "Everything will definitely be alright..."
"Bzzt, wrong. Try again. It's not 'I think everything will be alright' and it's not 'I hope everything'll be alright', it's one hundred percent certain, you will come out of it alright. There is no doubting this. Let's hear it, kid!" The teenager said nothing, and Kero looked at everyone else. "Come on guys, you've all gotta get in on this, help him a bit. This motto's saved the world three times! It's good luck!"
Mokona bounced and giggled. "Mokona will definitely be alright!"
Fai laughed, and pumped his fist in the air. "Everything will definitely be alright!"
Kurogane grinned, folding his arms over his chest. "I know I'm definitely going to be alright."
"Everything..."
And Syaoran stiffened at the princess' voice.
"Everything will definitely be alright!"
He felt his hands clench at his sides.
"See, everyone else is in on it!" Kero cheered. "So let's hear it, kid!"
A deep breath in, slowly released, and Syaoran's head snapped up. His chocolate eyes were set, fierce determination burning brightly behind them, and he met Kero's glare with a calm look.
"Everything will definitely be alright."
Kero jumped in midair. "Yat-ta! That's it kid! No go get that final boss and come home victorious, again! We're all gonna be rooting for you!"
Syaoran gave a curt nod, and looked back at his companions. "Alright. Let's go."
They all looked back, serious and determined, and nodded. Mokona leapt from Fai's shoulder as Syaoran pulled out his sword and the card they'd defeated before.
"Activate and take us to the world you were meant to, Card!" He called, tossing it in the air and bringing the point of his sword down until it touched the card. The card glowed, and manifested into the winged tiger it had been before. It stared at them for a moment, as the air behind it began to swirl and twist, until it spiraled into itself like a vortex, colors blurring together to make a grayish white. The air around the card sparked, and it shot into the center of the vortex with a crack of thunder, stretching the vortex backward, twisting and bending space itself.
Mokona finished absorbing them all, and flew into the portal.
"Not all will return to their homes," Yue noted cryptically, and Kero nodded.
"It's up to fate to decide who, though."
-
Through the vortex they went, the world around them much different than it usually was traveling between worlds; the space around them spun with varying shades of gray, and the occasional streak of black or white, until finally all color bled into white and they touched onto solid ground.
The magic faded, and they all stood slightly disoriented as the blinding white turned to darkness and dim lighting.
They found themselves in a forest very much unlike the one they had just left. Gnarled and twisted trees writhed their way toward the midnight sky, only a few bearing scraggly leaves. Around them, the forest floor stretched, black and charred, thin blankets of leaves covered the ground in patches. No wind rustled through this forest, and the night life was silent, not a single thing moved or made a noise. Not only that, the whole forest reeked of death and neglect.
Syaoran turned toward lights in the distance, apparently a city was trying to exist in this barren, forsaken land. He nodded his head, neglecting to speak for fear of breaking the tense silence, and slowly strode forward, keeping on his toes and making as little noise as was possible. It seemed almost a sin to cause a racket.
They found a road after a short while, a path kept relatively clear of leaves and other clutter, and it allowed them to journey on in relative silence.
Just as they approached the edge of the city, a sound from somewhere nearby caught all of their attentions, and from around a tree a lone wolf strode, coat gleaming dark chestnut in the full moon's light. Its ear twitched toward them, and it turned to look at them. Slowly its gaze traveled around to all of them, but paused when it met Syaoran's eyes. It stared calmly at him, he stared calmly back at it, and the rest of the troupe tensed for a moment, until the wolf turned and trotted away into the forest.
"Is that an omen of good or bad fortune?" Fai whispered.
Syaoran watched the spot where the wolf had melted into darkness carefully, and said nothing in response.
They began again, silently striding into the town.
No one was out at the late hour, though lights were on behind drape-covered windows. Somewhere, a dog bayed at the moon, and from farther out, the infinitely more beautiful voice of a wolf answered it.
"This place gives me the creeps," Kurogane muttered, glancing from side to side.
"There is a lot of powerful magic in the air," Fai noted. "Powerful, but malicious magic. It's slowly killing this world."
"Can you tell where it's originating from?" Syaoran asked, looking around suspiciously. "I can't seem to sense anything."
Fai shook his head as answer. "Nothing. I believe it's because the magic is all around us, and it's thick enough to choke on."
Syaoran nodded, continuing to glance from side to side, senses on high alert. The lack of life in the small town was incredibly disconcerting, and the group pulled closer together instinctively.
"I know this magic," the youngest male said suddenly, causing everyone to jump, and Kurogane to nearly draw his sword.
As the adrenaline faded, Fai sighed. "Where have you felt it before?"
"I felt it constantly," Syaoran growled, voice edging in a type of anger none of them had heard from him. "For seven long years. I was bound by it. I was contained by it..." His hands clenched, and he stared toward the far edge of town, where the buildings began to grown, turning from simple houses to apartment buildings, to office buildings of rusting and twisted steel. From a natural wasteland to an industrial wasteland. "We need to go to the other side of the city."
"You know where it is for sure?" Fai asked, and the teenager shook his head by way of an answer.
"No. But I have a hunch," Syaoran answered, staring pointedly at something in the distance.
They walked and searched until dawn and even beyond it, until they decided they needed to eat something before continuing on.
The people of the city were gruff and unfriendly to them, though their clothing somehow mostly blended in with the populace so they didn't have to worry about sticking out. Breakfast over, they spent another several hours searching before collapsing on park benches, exhausted. The park they were in was well kept, but even so, everything looked kind of sickly and tired.
"The magic's faded," Fai noted, resting his elbows on his knees. Kurogane, stretched backward over the bench, grunted.
"So we have to wait for nightfall again to track this guy down?" the ninja grumbled. "Do we even know who it is we're looking for? What he looks like?"
"Yuuko didn't tell you anything more, did she?" Syaoran asked, blinking at the dark-haired man.
Kurogane waved his hand. "Not a damn thing."
"Fei Wong Reed," the teenager stated, and everyone jumped. "This is his world..."
"Wait," Kurogane stopped him. "He's the one after the princess, right? And so now we're here, in his world,with her... so we're practically sitting on his doorstep with the one thing he's ever wanted?"
Syaoran sighed, and nodded, sitting back against the bench, avoiding eye contact with anyone. "But it's necessary..."
"Why?"
The teenager looked about the city. "Mokona. Do you sense a feather here?"
Mokona didn't even need to think. "I sense a lot of them!"
"He's been here. And he has been gathering feathers, bringing them back to Fei Wong Reed. We probably won't need to do any more traveling. I'm willing to bet the rest of them are already here, waiting for us," Syaoran stated.
Fai and Kurogane fell into a contemplative silence.
"So... we'll be meeting him here, again, won't we?" Sakura whispered.
Syaoran nodded, trying not to look her way. "I believe so." He stood up and offered his hand to the princess. "It may be your last chance. Are you going to tell him?"
She looked from his hand to his eyes, confused. "Tell... him...?"
He kept their gazes locked, and his expression remained serious. When he spoke, no hint of pain touched his voice, a fact which surprised Kurogane and Fai. "Tell him that you love him."
The princess gasped, eyes widening as she backed away from him, and looked down, clenching a hand to her chest. "I..."
"When the moment comes, don't hesitate. Don't pause. Don't even think. Just do it," he stated. "Anything else, and you might miss your chance. Even if it doesn't seem like he'll reciprocate, or even understand, do it. If he ever valued the time you two spent together, even without a heart, the message will get through to him."
The princess hesitated again, then nodded, reaching out and taking Syaoran's hand, allowing him to assist her to her feet.
"How long do you think it'll take for us to find this place?" Kurogane grumbled. "We can't keep searching forever, if it isn't going to be soon, we need to find a place to rest."
Fai nodded in agreement. "You're right. We should probably find a place to rest for the rest of the day. We'll start searching again after sundown."
The two teens and Mokona added their agreement.
-
A/N: Now watch as they battle through the pain in their own hearts, drawing from it a strength and resolve they will need to face their greatest challenge. He's ready. Are they?
For the record, Parma-Violets, when I first wrote this story for NaNo, every time I took a break I'd watch CCS - I made it through all 70 episodes of it in the month I wrote this, so it was fresh in my mind. XD