Cross Chapter XIX: Pathways

Hikaru had all but caught her dear friends up on everything; the origins of Sakuya, her vision of another Hikaru and an older Clef somewhere in their world, the blow out with Lantis and her family... The only thing she had omitted was the strangeness that happened when she had attempted to cast magic.

She hadn't felt Nova's presence but when she'd looked down at her casting hand she'd seen the skin tight black material crawling up her arm trying to consume her with darkness. She knew then her shadow self had intervened with her warning shot. She'd thought that she'd won against their power struggle years ago, now it was seeming like that wasn't the case. With time to think clearly she reprimanded herself. I have to be strong. She'd allowed her self to be weak; weak and scared from the vision, then with her family and the old memories, and then again with Sakuya. Nova was strong when she wasn't she reminded herself. That's why... I have to be strong. I can't lose heart again. Not even for a second or she'll come out. And who knew what would happen then?

Hikaru took a deep breath and looked to Umi and Fuu. Her hand was on the shoji door readying to head back to the living room where Lantis and her brothers awaited. "Let's go."

Using the shadow paths of Earth Sakuya was able to get back to his apartment fairly quickly. He staggered through the door feeling sore all over. He removed his top and made his way to the bathroom for inspection. His side was purple from deep bruising. This world's Umi had nicked him with her water attack when his barrier broke. The spell had barely touched him yet the damage had been so severe. Had he taken the attack full on, would there have even been anything left of him? A shiver ran through him. Just like the Umi he knew, she was terrifying.

He turned his back to the mirror and examined the damage caused by the would-be-Pillar's exploding attack. The magic imbued in his clothing had done little to protect him from the heat and force of her attack. His upper back was red, his should blades already blistering.

He treated his wounds to the best of his abilities and hobbled his way over to his couch, sitting albeit uncomfortably. He was at a loss for what next to do. He needed to heal but then what? He knew where the would-be-Pillar was but how was he to get to her with all of those guardians surrounding her? Begrudgingly he had to admit that there were too many of them for him to take on himself. Even the Fire Witch was stronger than he'd anticipated. Her abandonment of her Pillarhood and her own guilt over the demise of his mother and father should have put her in a weak enough state for him to easily kill her. At least that was what his Umi and the Sorcerer Eagle had theorized. His training had been catered in the shadows around those factors.

Then there was the man in black armor. He possessed a high level of swordsmanship and enough Magic to rival his late father's. He had Magic strong enough to rival a High Priest. There were less than a hand full of people left in Cephiro to posses that kind of power. He could sense that much and Lord Eagle had told him much the same when he'd been training under Cephiro's shadow. His Lord had said that the brother of High Priest Zagato would have possessed as much power. Only to then relent that he could not sense the man's existence in the world. Lantis. He stroked the scar on his cheek. Lantis had marked him on their first encounter in Cephiro, at that time Sakuya hadn't even sensed his presence until he was practically behind him. Could it be that he was strong enough to mask himself even from his Lord? That man's aura had felt familiar. Their spells were even similar. No doubt this Lantis was his Uncle. It was all too clear to him now.

So then why? Why was he here on Earth defending the Fire Witch? How was he here on Earth defending the Fire Witch? Sakuya had closed the portal he'd made as soon as he'd passed through it. He could make portals because of his connection to the previous Pillar. Lantis could not possibly possess that ability. He may be strong but he was still a mortal man. Was it possible the Fire Witch knew he was coming for her? Had she summoned his Uncle to be her protector? If so then how could he side with his own brother's murderer? Did she enchant him?

No. His Uncle was loyal to her. Their most recent encounter, he had been different then he had been in Cephiro. In Cephiro Lantis had been skillful, precise. He hadn't offered any enmity. His attacks, though deadly had been mechanical in a way that performing a choir was. This time Sakuya had felt his rage. The man had pulsed killing intent.

"Oh..." Sakuya uttered to himself. Realization hit him hard, "Oh Uncle how can you stand her, let alone love her?"

The Shidou men had been civil with Lantis gathering as much information from him as they could until Hikaru had walked back into the room. They saw how he looked at her. How he'd offered a relieved smile now that she'd been cleaned and cared for, and how she'd returned the look. Their older brother instincts kicked in and to Kakeru and Masaru particularly Lantis was back to being the enemy. Satoru was more on the fence.

He was visibly uncomfortable with this more adult element of his dear little sister. He still remembered the little girl who was carefree, innocent, pure, if a little naïve. In light of everything, he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that she hadn't been those things since eighth grade. She'd gone and grown up without them and she'd been hiding her true self ever since.

Now there was a man in her life that held that secret part of her. This man could literally whisk Hikaru away to where they could possibly never see her again.

It was hard on Satoru in a different way than it was on Kakeru or Masaru. Yes they wanted to protect their little sister but for him she was almost like a daughter too. Their father had left when she was only four. He had been on the verge of adulthood himself. He had had plans to go to medical school after high school and become a Doctor but when their father left for training it had changed their entire family dynamic. Suddenly he was the man of the house and it was his responsibility to run the family business, provide for his siblings and raise them in their parents stead. Their mother had become reserved and uninterested with her children. They must have been a constant reminder as to why her husband walked out and she hadn't had the capacity to get passed it. By the time Hikaru was in junior high, mother had gone back to Hokkaido under the guise that she needed to take care of their ailing grandfather...

Satoru's reverie ground to a halt when Hikaru cleared her throat looking entirely unlike the girl that less than an hour ago had crumbled in Lantis arms. "I know Lantis has told you as much as he can about what's going on." She glanced back at Fuu and Umi who both nodded. "Lantis has put up a barrier around our home. I talked about this while Umi and Fuu were patching me up. We can't expect that the barrier can protect us from Sakuya forever. We need to decide what the next move is."

"Next move?" Satoru repeated.

"I am the the target," Hikaru sighed, and looked squarely at her brothers "I brought this danger into our home and I can't trust that Sakuya won't go after you-" again she looked at Umi and Fuu and then her eyes settled on Lantis. "Any of you to get to me."

Fuu picked up where Hikaru left off. "We need to go where we can protect you. We can not depend on the use of our Magic here on Earth. It's too unpredictable."

"Sorry," Kakeru interjected. "But didn't you just fly halfway around the world? I think you've got a handle on it."

"Fuu also made a crater half the size of your yard in your yard. What if she'd missed and hit the house?" Umi shot back. "When I left my house, I froze my front door just from touching it. When we went after Hikaru I cast a water spell and nearly blew off my own arm. The only ones who seem to have a reasonable amount of control over their Magic are Hikaru and Lantis." Hikaru made a noise and slowly shook her head. "So just Lantis then."

"My power is not infinite," Lantis began. "Maintaining the barrier requires much of my energy." He had been eying Hikaru. If it was possible the brothers thought, it felt like the two were talking to each other without talking to each other. The two shared side glances and the body language between them spoke volumes. Ignoring their sour looks Lantis continued, "Hikaru wants to take everyone to Cephiro. You will be safe there."

Kakeru rolled his eyes.

Masaru looked on stubbornly.

Unsure of how to react to this information, Satoru stood stoic.

"If I can get everyone there." Hikaru added. "We've only ever summoned ourselves to Cephiro and we haven't gone back since the quest for the Pillar."

Satoru stepped in front of Hikaru, "but you're determined to do this aren't you?"

"Yes."

The eldest of the Shidou looked to Umi and Fuu. "and what about you two? What about your families?"

As if on cue, Umi's cel began to ring.

Kuu Hououji was a busy girl. She was a student at Tokyo University and one of diligent study. So when her head hit the pillow at night she generally was dead to the world until her morning alarm went off. Tonight was the exception.

She awoke with a start. There was something off with her family home. Call her crazy but the air didn't feel quite right. Someone was inside the house. Instinctively she got out of bed and headed for her bedroom door. She passed into the dark hallway, wondering at her own actions. A little voice in her head was berating her for investigating on her own. She should have headed straight to her parents' room and wake her father or better yet she should have used her bedroom phone to call the police. Instead she was gravitating to her little sister's room. The strange feeling was intensifying and she knew that who ever was intruding on their property was in this room. She braced herself and pushed through the door.

There sat a woman silhouetted by the light of the computer screen typing away at Fuu's desk. Calmly the woman turned in the chair to face her and though hidden in shadow this woman bore a striking resemblance to her dear little sister. Same short hair and style. Same large rimless glasses but she looked older, more haggard. Barely Kuu could make out the scars on her face; one ran across the bridge of her nose and two that crossed each other over her left cheek.

What was possibly most jarring was that the woman's voice sounded exactly like Fuu's when she spoke. "I should have known you'd feel my presence. You always could pick out when I was trying to hide things..."

Kuu opened her mouth to scream but felt the air pull right out of her silencing her.

The woman held her index finger to her lips, "Shhh. We don't want to startle mother and father."

The dark robbed Sorcerer stood on the roof of an apartment complex looking over this world's Tokyo. His companion whom had once controlled the deity of Earth and Fire, Lexus sat distressed with Mokona in her lap. They'd been up on the roof since she had felt this world's Hikaru in her head, their former comrade's body temporarily forgotten. It had taken some coaxing but once Hikaru had gotten outside and smoked a few cigarettes to calm her nerves she confessed to him how she'd felt her other self poking around in her mind and how the other Hikaru had spoken to her right before the connection between them had been severed.

Neither of them had expected that. Neither of them had ever encountered another Hikaru either though. Most times they were in worlds that had already undergone the merging. Not many people survived the ordeal. In fact, they hadn't found any other incarnations of the people they knew; not Ascot, not Ferio, not Lantis nor other Clefs, not Fuu... nor Umi... His heart pulled at the mere thought of the water sorceress he'd known so long ago.

"We've been compromised." He began trying to focus on the now.

Hikaru raised her head in response.

"If the other Hikaru was able to detect you, it's possible Eagle and that Organization of his is now aware of us." Clef reasoned. Already the man downstairs a member of their group had been sniffed out and killed.

Hikaru shot up. Mokona puu'd in response to the sudden jostling and bounced out of her arms. "So?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "We need to relay all that has happened to the CLAMP director. For the sake of the mission we may have to abandon this world." It was a harsh truth and one he didn't at all like the prospect of but it was better to let one more world fall than to risk their resistance group being decimated because of carelessness on their part. He and Hikaru were in too deep. They knew too much about CLAMP; their plans, other resistance fighters, how many had infiltrated the Organization and even who some of them were by face.

"No!"

"Hikaru-"

"No way. It's confirmed that Eagle is operating on this Earth. After all the Earth jumping we've done we've finally caught up to that monster. There's no way I'm leaving this place without Umi!"

"And if we succeed in getting her away from Eagle only to then be destroyed along with everyone else here," He spat. "how does that save her?"

Her eyes were locked with his, angry. Resisting his reasoning. After a moment she looked away defeated. He was right. She rubbed the ruby gem embedded in her left hand. It had lost its luster the day she lost her friends. Umi to Eagle and Fuu to... Damn it all if she had only been stronger back then when Eagle had invaded a second time none of this ever would have happened. Her Earth would still exist Fuu would still be with them and Umi would have never.

Clef covered his hand over hers and lightly squeezed. "You think this isn't killing me? Knowing she's so close? Every moment that she serves at Eagle's side turns my stomach but if we show our hand prematurely we could loose her forever. He will send her so far away we will never find her or worse he'll hold her hostage to save his own skin. Or we could die and have nothing to show for it."

Hikaru turned her back to him. Pulled out another cigarette and snapped her fingers igniting a small flame, lighting up her habit. After a drag, "Mokona please contact CLAMP."

Clef heaved a sigh of relief.

"But Clef, I'm gonna talk to them."

TBC