Epilogue I --- Waning Moon

Clow peered into the world of the living again to see if his last-ditch adjustment to his master plan would work as he intended. Oddly enough, grey areas of uncertainty swirled about his plan more than ever before, but the black despair of certain, utter defeat and the grinding agony of sorrow appeared to have dissipated.

"This should work -- Yukito should fall in love with Sakura, and show Yue that he, too, can love someone other than me. If Yukito does love her, his existence will continue because she can sustain him with her love, and, once she is old enough, he can wed Sakura and stay by her side throughout her life. Why is my plan not unfolding the way I expect?"

"The one force magic can't measure, the one force against which magic cannot contend -- love -- deems otherwise."

"Who...?! What...?!"

Clow watched in amazement, something he had all but forgotten he could feel, as a being materialized before him. Great power seemed to emanate from this being, a man dressed in ornate, vaguely oriental robes and wearing a pair of giant red feathered wings -- wings that, except for their color, reminded Clow of Yue's wings.

"Who are you?"

"Surely you recognize me, Clow Reed. Your magic combines elements of my tradition of magic with that of your western heritage."

Clow blinked in dumbfounded uncertainty, another nearly-forgotten feeling. Heritage? He had grown up in England, and learned the western magic of his father, ultimately combining it in a new and remarkable way with the eastern magic of his mother's people...

He looked at the 'man' again. Red wings, bottomless power, a calm nature overlaying a wildness Clow could sense deep within...

"Su-Suzaku?"

Suzaku, the phoenix, god of the South in the eastern heritage he'd received from his mother, inclined his head politely.

"The same. I've been watching you, Clow Reed. Many of us have. Some were not certain what you would do, when you were confronted with the dilemma. Would you abuse the power you have and force your will in the world you left behind? Would you abandon those whose fates you altered once your plan went awry? Or would you somehow reach back, try to adapt your plan to this changed situation and try to encourage it to work out right?"

"Did I? Is that what I did? I tried... I tried to make it work out well for everyone -- in the end. Even though I..."

Suzaku pinned him with the unnerving, unblinking gaze of a bird of prey. "You?"

"If I had not acted once I realized that Sakura would be in grave danger, and everyone would suffer from my oversight, as Kerberos will not be powerful enough to protect her until near the very end, my soul, this -- awareness, this --" Clow spread his hands out in a helpless, encompassing gesture. "-- existence would have dissipated, wouldn't it?"

Suzaku inclined his head in a gesture that could be agreement, or could be taken as a prod to go on.

"That is all I wanted -- to not be the most powerful magician in the world any longer. I thought to split my soul, encourage Sakura to claim my magic, and surpass it, and thus enable her to become powerful enough to split my power as my soul had already been split. I thought that I, this awareness that I have here beyond the world, would reassure itself that all was working out well, and simply -- disappear." Clow's shoulders slumped. "But I can tell, by entering the world again to act as I did, I can no longer simply disappear."

Suzaku stepped closer and placed a hand upon Clow's cheek. Only at that gentle touch did Clow realize tears had spilled from his eyes. "Your power has been a burden to you. A blessing, at first; finally a curse -- an enemy for you to vie against. But just as your moon child doesn't realize his own heart and his own nature, which you see clearly enough, so too you don't realize the ultimate nature of your own heart, and your own power. You're an idiot."

The insult was issued with the same light, friendly tone as the rest of Suzaku's explanation, so it took a moment to register.

"What?"

"Yes, an idiot. But, a delightfully well-meaning one, so I'll help you."

"What?" Clow repeated again.

"Think." Suzaku tapped Clow's forehead with his index finger twice. "You combined two dissimilar magic traditions in a way they'd never been combined before, and somehow made it work. With that magic you honed your gift of future-sight, you coaxed elemental spirits to do the bidding of anyone strong enough to use the Lasen Board you created. Your greatest work is the Clow and the Guardians whose existence is tied to the Cards. Now, my gifted fool, what is the common thread running through all of these?"

Common thread? What tied everything he did togeth...

"Crafting. Making. Creation." Clow realized.

"Exactly. Creation. I'm not going to say it would have been impossible for you to destroy yourself through your magic, but you went about it all wrong. Body and soul combined, then split asunder with the over-abundance of power you possessed. What you did was an act of creation, not destruction. It it how you passed through to here intact, and not as a mindless spirit of pure good or pure evil. Despite your best intentions, you didn't die, Clow Reed. You transcended."

"Oh, damn." Clow blinked up at the god in dismay and wondered what elaborate steps he was going to have to take to unmake his existence, now. He felt like cursing more when the familiar sense of creative curiosity that had been his greatest delight, and ultimately the instrument of his downfall, flowed over his soul.